
Open Socrates
The Case for a Philosophical Life
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Narrated by:
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Agnes Callard
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By:
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Agnes Callard
About this listen
An iconoclastic philosopher revives Socrates for our time, showing how we can answer—and, in the first place, ask—life’s most important questions.
Socrates has been hiding in plain sight. We call him the father of Western philosophy, but what exactly are his philosophical views? He is famous for his humility, but readers often find him arrogant and condescending. We parrot his claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living,” yet take no steps to live examined ones. We know that he was tried, convicted, and executed for “corrupting the youth,” but freely assign Socratic dialogues to today’s youths, to introduce them to philosophy. We’ve lost sight of what made him so dangerous. In Open Socrates, acclaimed philosopher Agnes Callard recovers the radical move at the center of Socrates’ thought, and shows why it is still the way to a good life.
Callard draws our attention to Socrates’ startling discovery that we don’t know how to ask ourselves the most important questions—about how we should live, and how we might change. Before a person even has a chance to reflect, their bodily desires or the forces of social conformity have already answered on their behalf. To ask the most important questions, we need help. Callard argues that the true ambition of the famous “Socratic method” is to reveal what one human being can be to another. You can use another person in many ways—for survival, for pleasure, for comfort—but you are engaging them to the fullest when you call on them to help answer your questions and challenge your answers.
Callard shows that Socrates’ method allows us to make progress in thinking about how to manage romantic love, how to confront one’s own death, and how to approach politics. In the process, she gives us nothing less than a new ethics to live by.
©2025 Agnes Callard (P)2025 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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The world’s leading high-performance coach and multiple New York Times best-selling author Brendon Burchard delivers the six habits of personal growth that will help you create the life of your dreams. Forged from Brendon Burchard’s personal experiences, data from his GrowthDay app, and his many years as a high-performance coach, The 6 Habits of Growth presents the tools you need to construct the life of your dreams.
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Don’t bother
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Deep Sleep Hypnosis: Fall Asleep Instantly and Sleep Well
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A lack of quality sleep can hinder your alertness and quality of life while awake, as anyone with sleeping issues already knows. Suffering through sleepless nights does not have to be your reality. Instead you can fall asleep fast and get quality sleep tonight and every night. Hypnosis has been used for centuries to cure many ailments, including the inability to get better sleep. You can help yourself improve the quality of your life with hypnotherapy.
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put me right to sleep
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12 Months to $1 Million
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By cutting out the noise and providing a clear and proven plan, this road map helps even brand-new entrepreneurs make decisions quickly, get their product up for sale, and launch it to a crowd that is ready and waiting to buy. This one-year plan will guide you through the three stages to your first $1 million: the Grind (months 0-4), the Growth (months 5-8), and the Gold (months 9-12). If your goal is to be a full-time entrepreneur, get ready for one chaotic, stressful, and rewarding year. If you have the guts to complete it, you will be the proud owner of a million-dollar business.
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Good, but a Little Misleading
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The Daily Stoic
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Why have history's greatest minds - from George Washington to Frederick the Great to Ralph Waldo Emerson along with today's top performers, from Super Bowl-winning football coaches to CEOs and celebrities - embraced the wisdom of the ancient Stoics? Because they realize that the most valuable wisdom is timeless and that philosophy is for living a better life, not a classroom exercise. The Daily Stoic offers a daily devotional of Stoic insights and exercises, featuring all-new translations.
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Not well made as audio
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Superstar comedian and Hollywood box-office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.
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Best Audiobook I Ever Listened To
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What listeners say about Open Socrates
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Placeholder
- 03-15-25
Interesting and thoughtful
I had no idea how interesting Socrates is! Highly recommended. Thought provoking and insightful. Now Socrates will be a part of my inner life.
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- Mark E Engelstad
- 02-15-25
The author is clearly not a narrator
I wanted to like this book. I waited for it-- and I'm not sure how it would read in print but having the author read the book was a serious mistake. It's like listening to somebody read a text in front of you. A lack of inflection and monotony that makes it hard to follow anything. If you're gonna try it, I recommend reading it.
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- Ruth Boitel
- 03-03-25
New insights on Socrates and human justification
Although many people criticize the author for reading the book herself, I don’t mind it at all. In fact, I find her intonations easier to attend to than many who, for instance, end every sentence as if it were a question. This book is interesting, well argued, and clear.
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- Virginia Marie Bazis
- 02-20-25
Hire a good reader next time!
I was very interested in this book, and so decided to buy it even though the preview showed that author was a mediocre reader. But her voice and inflections and mispronunciations gradually grate
ever-more annoyingly. Now I only listen for short periods of time. I’m only part way through, and I’m still interested enough not to return it, at least not yet!
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- Brent Armstrong
- 02-25-25
The Life Socratic
A modern guide for walking the path of a life in the way of Socrates. This book is smart, funny, relevant, and insightful. There are true gems in here. This book will make me a better man, father, student, friend, husband, and son. I'm so grateful for Socrates and the lessons Agnes Callard has pulled out of the Platonic texts. Well worth the listen and honestly cannot wait to do it again.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-21-25
Fine
Turns out the FBI’s witness protection program is actually a diabolical pyramid scheme to sucker criminals into doing infinity suicide missions for some cowabunga dumbass
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