Online: Plato's Republic: A Constitution in Ten Steps

This series of ten online lectures seeks to assist the reader and merely curious alike in understanding Plato’s Republic, a work which remains just as controversial today as when it was written. Rejecting the popular interpretation of the dialogue as a political treatise, we will instead find our entrypoint by understanding the Republic in the context of its historical moment, and within Plato’s greater philosophical project. Such an understanding will provoke the following questions—is the perfection of the state the highest sense of perfection in the human being? And how is the good man possible in the corrupt state? In working our way towards answering these questions, we will better understand Plato’s masterwork—so too will we hope to better understand ourselves  and our own moment as we navigate the unique challenges of 21st century life.

The series will begin on Thursday, January 30th, 2025, taking place every Thursdays at 6 PM EST. The program will run for ten weeks until Aptil 3rd.

There is no need to read along to attend or participate. Registration for this event qualifies as registration for the entire series. In you are looking to register for this series after January 30th please email andrewfairweather@nypl.org . Otherwise, click here to register through the event's main page.

The full schedule of the series is as follows:

• Book I: Thursday, January 30,  6 PM
• Book II: Thursday, February 6, 6 PM
• Book III: Thursday, February 13, 6 PM 
• Book IV: Thursday, February 20, 6 PM
• Book V: Thursday, February 27, 6 PM
• Book VI: Thursday, March 6, 6 PM
• Book VII: Thursday, March 13, 6 PM
• Book VIII: Thursday, March 20, 6 PM
• Book IX: Thursday, March 27, 6 PM
• Book X: Thursday, April 3, 6 PM

We will be working from the classic Benjamin Jowett translation of the Republic found for free on Project Gutenberg, though you may read from whatever translation is most convenient for you.

Major Works Cited:

• Annas, J. (1981). An introduction to Plato’s Republic. Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press
• Arruzza, C. (2019). A wolf in the city : tyranny and the tyrant in Plato's Republic. Oxford University Press
• Dodds, E.R. (2004). The Greeks and the irrational. Berkeley : University of California Press
• Frank, J. (2018). Poetic justice : rereading Plato's Republic. Chicago, IL : The University of Chicago Press
• Ferrari, G.R.F. (2007). The three-part soul. In Ferrari, G.R.F. (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to Plato’s Republic (pp. 165-201). Cambridge University Press.
• Gadamer, H. (1980). Plato and the poets. Dialogue and dialectic : eight hermeneutical studies on Plato. (pp. 39-72). New Haven, CT : Yale University Press.
• Gadamer, H. (1980). Plato’s educational state. Dialogue and dialectic : eight hermeneutical studies on Plato. (pp. 73-92). New Haven, CT : Yale University Press.
• Howland, J. (2018). Glaucon's fate : history, myth, and character in Plato's republic. Philadelphia : Paul Dry Books.
• McCoy, M.B. (2020). Image and argument in Plato's Republic. Albany : State University of New York Press.
• Munn, M.H. (2000). The school of history : Athens in the age of Socrates. University of California Press.
• Reeve, C. D. C. (2013). Blindness and reorientation : problems in Plato's Republic. Oxford University Press.
• Roochnik, D. (2003). Beautiful city : the dialectical character of Plato's "Republic". Ithaca : Cornell University Press.
• Roochnik, D. (1996). Of art and wisdom : Plato's understanding of techne. Pennsylvania State University Press.
• Strauss, L. (1978). On Plato's Republic. In The city and man. University of Chicago Press.
• Strauss, L. (1957). Plato’s Republic. University of Chicago Press.