Plato Reading: Buddy Read

[Leni]

I think we will find that there are weeks where we have a lot to discuss, and weeks where we shrug and say, "ok, so that happened, I've got nothing. Let's see what happens next". And then there will be weeks where we scratch our heads collectively and say, "let's slow down and turn to some reference books". We'll just have to be a bit flexible and adjust the schedule as we go.

That said, I don't mind a slightly faster pace, and I like to plan my reading in months. So I suggest Euthyphro and Apology for February, then in March we do Crito in one week and then dedicate the rest of the month to Phaedo? I mean, we could probably squeeze in Meno the final week, but we all have other commitments too.

After that we can see where we are? I think we can probably rein it in a bit. Shave a few weeks off each dialogue. (Let's worry about Republic when we get there.) Of course, this makes it harder to plan for those who intend to come back for a particular dialogue.

[Wim]

Plato: Complete Works by Plato, Hackett Publishing Co. + Plato: The Man and His Work and I will for the republic also check in parallel The Republic of Plato

[Cynda]

I will go with what is decided. I am mostly grateful to have everyone's company and input. Everything else is details. 🍏🍎🍏

[Levi]

Mods, can you create a poll for the Plato-buddy-read-group with the following options?

Keep schedule at 20-30p per fortnight
Change schedule to 20-30p per week

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Levi wrote: "Mods, can you create a poll for the Plato-buddy-read-group with the following options?

Keep schedule at 20-30p per fortnight
Change schedule to 20-30p per week"

I can do that, but keep in mind we cannot regulate who will vote.
When would you like it to start, and what day do you want the poll to end?

We will not advertise the poll anywhere but this thread and I will not put in on the home page, so it will be a harder to find by accident.

[Carolien]

So, as a person coming to this with no previous background in reading Plato, my suggestion would be somewhere in between the above. I can understand the wish to read this at a faster pace, but some of us will need additional time for research.

My proposal would be that we use weekly readings, but at some logical points have a 2 week break with no reading to allow those who may be going at a slower pace time to catch up. So maybe do Trial and Death in weekly readings and then give a 2 week break before starting Meno. Then give a break after Gogias and a break after Symposium before we start The Republic. I know I may very well lose motivation if I fall behind significantly so the breaks will give time to catch up where necessary.

[Gaurav]

What Carolien suggests seems most accomodating for all kinds of readers. Some people might want to join us at later date and the suggested grace period can help them catch up with us.

In the meantime, we can look into other references or attend to our other reading commitments. But I like the idea of a poll and I think we should do that before we decide on anything.

[Leni]

I agree. Good idea, Carolien.

[Lilly]

Wim wrote: "Lilly wrote: "@Wim:
As I argued before, it all depends on how much you want to glean from this read, whether you just want to barge through the text, or get all the subtle arguments. In your perso..."

Well, I was looking at it more from a general perspective. But as I said before: Why don't we just start and then adjust the pace for the individual works once we get there?

[Lilly]

Levi wrote: "Personally I would be all for reading at a faster pace, however since there were at least a couple people asking for the slower pace, I would want to see them chime in on that.

Here's a suggestion..."

I think our discussion so far indicates that we might really want to adjust the pace for the works individually, I think you're right with that, Levi. I would say the early works can be read faster.
Euthyphro, Apology, and Krito (no one has asked for Laches, Lysis, Charmides, and Ion so far) can be read faster.
Works like Gorgias and Philebos (I know Leni asked for it, though it is at the moment not on the list) I would strongly advise to read on a slow pace.

As for Wim's suggestion to read Republic fast: It might seem like many weeks, but consider that it is also a lot longer than other works by Plato. Maybe we can adjust that as we go. It is after all at the bottom of the list, after we have already tackled Gorgias; so maybe we should just re-evaluate our comfort for various reading paces at that time; needs may well change as everyone grows accustomed to Plato.

Apart from Plato's work just needing time to think, I must also add as a personal matter that, throughout the year, I will often not be able read at too fast a pace, as I still have obligations in real life, and I also want to read something besides Plato. I think this will be the case for some of the others as well.

As for the suggestion to go at different reading paces per person: I think that would be possible, though not everyone would profit from the discussion while actually reading. Which might be a drawback for the more complicated works. But in that case, I would really suggest that we use different threads per work, so that different topics can be discussed at the same time.

[Levi]

Thank you Katy. Can we have the poll include the following questions?

#1
Read Trial and Death faster, at 20-30p per week (6 wks total)
Read Trial and Death slower, at 20-30p per fortnight (12 wks total)
#2
Read Meno/Gorgias/Phaedrus/Symposium faster, at 20-30p per week (13 wks total)
Read Meno/Gorgias/Phaedrus/Symposium slower, at 20-30p per fortnight (26 wks total)
#3
Read Republic faster, at 20-30p per week (10 wks total)
Read Republic slower, at 20-30p per fortnight (20 wks total)
#4
Insert a 2 week break after Trial and Death, after Gogias, and after Symposium, so people have a chance to catch up.
No breaks

Let's have the poll start today and end on Feb 14.

And group, this is just the schedule we’ll start with; I fully intend to check in with the group as we go along and re-evaluate. Once we get into the weeds of actual reading, I’m sure feelings will change.

[Levi]

It’s been noted that the earlier works are a lot easier to read than the middle works, and there’s been considerable back and forth about how fast to read Republic, so I have just split up the poll into three separate questions for how fast people want to read each.

To me it makes a lot of sense to read the earlier works faster and then slow down and re-evaluate after a bit. But let’s just see what the people vote for.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Poll # 1
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Poll # 2
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Poll # 3
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Poll # 4
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Hope that is what you were expecting. I can always delete the polls and try again if you were looking for something else. Have fun, the polls are open now.

[Lilly]

Thanks Katy and Levi :)

[Levi]

Thank you Katy, that's perfect.

Everybody please vote!

[Levi]

Alright, everyone has already voted, so I have updated the calendar accordingly. We are now set to wrap up by Jan 21 instead of Apr 30 of next year.

Results:
- People voted for having the two-week breaks almost unanimously.
- People voted for reading the early and middle period quickly by a large margin.
- People voted for reading the Republic slowly by a narrow margin.

My idea is to re-evaluate after we get a little ways into Gorgias and again after we get a little ways into Republic to verify people are still good with the pace.

It has been suggested to start up a new thread for discussing each dialogue. Since the first 5 dialogues are all short and related to each other (the Life and Death of Socrates), I'd like to just do those in one thread, and then start breaking it up by thread after, if that's fine with everyone.

Looking forward to start reading and discussing with all ten of you in five days! It's going to be an enlightening, thought-provoking ride.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

The threads sound okay to me. Keep in mind that with Buddy Reads each book can have its own thread, and are limited to one thread per book. But you can put as many books in a thread for a buddy read as you feel is appropriate.

[Wim]

I found another great support book on the trial of Socrates which I will use: Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Plato and the Trial of Socrates

[Levi]

Mods, can you start us a thread for reading The Trial and Death of Socrates?

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Levi wrote: "Mods, can you start us a thread for reading The Trial and Death of Socrates?"

You can access that thread with this link:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Levi]

Thank you!

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

You are welcome