Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick and Dr. Grabowski discuss a short, strange, and somewhat forgotten Platonic dialogue - The Hipparchus.
Check out our 15 Q&A Written Guide to the Hipparchus - great for small groups, homeschooling, autodidacts, and more!
What begins as a simple question—“What is the love of gain?”—quickly becomes a sharp and unsettling examination of the democratic soul. With no dramatic setting and a nameless interlocutor, the dialogue feels almost like overhearing Socrates in the marketplace, pressing an ordinary Athenian citizen on whether the desire for more is always shameful, or whether the soul might rightly love higher forms of gain: nobility, honor, and even wisdom itself.
What makes the conversation especially rewarding is how Socrates deliberately chooses a shocking example—the tyrant Hipparchus—and reimagines him as a lover of wisdom who sought to educate the city. In doing so, the dialogue quietly draws a parallel between the supposed tyrant and Socrates himself, both of whom attract the youth, challenge conventional order, and are ultimately rejected by a democratic culture that cannot tolerate excellence.
Along the way, listeners encounter an early sketch of the tripartite soul, a critique of the leveling effects of egalitarianism, and an aporetic ending that leaves the interlocutor “compelled rather than persuaded.” Brief, strange, and surprisingly profound, this episode is an excellent preparation for the Republic and a compelling invitation to reconsider what the soul truly seeks.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Plato's Hipparchus and its significance
01:54 Main themes: Love of gain, democracy, and wisdom
04:03 The character of Socrates and the setting of the dialogue
06:03 Hipparchus as a figure in political myth and history
07:58 Translation choices and interpretive approaches
10:00 The dialogue's structure and lack of dramatic setting
11:56 The definition of love of gain and greed
13:54 Socrates' critique of the love of worthless things
16:06 Hipparchus as a symbol of love of wisdom and fame
18:04 The political implications of Hipparchus' love of wisdom
20:00 The role of the democratic man and the love of gain
21:49 Socrates' pedagogical method and the nature of knowledge
23:52 The significance of the tyrant example and Hipparchus' myth
26:04 The character of the interlocutor and the setting of the dialogue
28:03 The introduction of Hipparchus and its layers of meaning
30:10 The political myth of Hipparchus and its revisionist history
32:00 Hipparchus' love of wisdom and the Herms
34:08 The allegory of knowledge and the tripartite soul
35:53 The love of gain as a love of wisdom and truth
38:08 The democratic man, shame, and the pursuit of philosophy
40:00 The role of philosophers in democratic society
42:01 The character of Socrates as a gadfly and teacher
43:48 The process of being compelled towards truth
45:54 Bloom's interpretation: Socrates as a political and epistemological figure
48:00 The significance of the short dialogues for understanding Socrates
50:12 The importance of humility and piety in reading Plato
51:57 Next week's discussion: Rival Lovers and the nature of wisdom
Key words: Plato Hipparchus, love of gain, philokerdia, Socratic dialogue, political philosophy, Alan Bloom, Thomas Pangle, Roots of Political Philosophy, democratic man, egalitarianism, leveling effect, tripartite soul, thumos, nous, appetitive soul, tyrant Hipparchus, Herms, Socrates as gadfly, aporetic dialogue, compulsion versus persuasion, preparation for Plato’s Republic, philosopher-king, Great Books podcast, Ascend the Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick, Frank Grabowski, classical education, ancient philosophy, Plato short dialogues, forgotten Platonic dialogues.