This class has a limited enrollment of 25 students.  For more information see: Limited Enrollment Classes

Course Description:  We will read and discuss selections from Plato's Republic to understand the philosophical issues he is grappling with and the political context that motivated his writing it. We will explore the relevance of both the issues and the context to our contemporary situation. It is essential to have either an electronic or hard copy of the of the complete Republic that you can read at home and bring to class. Recommended translations: G.M.A. Grubbe, The Republic (Hackett), Francis Cornford, The Republic of Plato (Oxford), my favorite but out of print. It has been replaced at Oxford with a translation by Robin Waterfield. Probably is fine too, but I haven’t checked it for this class.

Location: Pavilion

Dates/Times: Tuesdays, Jan 21 to Feb 11, from 11:00 am to 12:15 pm.

Instructor: Robert Stecker

Robert Stecker received a Ph.D. from MIT. He has taught philosophy since 1973, and published many books and papers on the Philosophy of Art, of Mind and Language, History of Philosophy, and Ethics.