The Political Imagination: Ancient Greek Ideas

tylised blue-green photos of a monk, a pixellated dog, a close-up spore, a person on a hill, a toy robot and a banana wrapped in chains

This series explores the vocabulary of ancient Greek political ideas which lie at the intersection of rhetoric, philosophy, ethics and politics. The six ideas—political office, justice, equal law, democracy, expertise, and the nature of social growth—are central to the organization of power and the values it might serve. By drawing on Greek literature, history and philosophy to articulate these ideas, and testing them against contemporary dilemmas such as climate change, these lectures will expand the listeners' political imaginations.