Millerman School

Plato's Republic · Book I · 36 minutes

The first lecture

Last fall I led a ten-week seminar on Plato's Republic. Each week opened with recorded lectures that go through the text line by line. This is the first one. It starts with Socrates walking down to the Piraeus and stops where he asks his first question about justice.

I'm running the seminar again this winter for six to eight people. It meets on ten Tuesday evenings starting January 12, 2027. What it involves Ask me about a seat

Michael Millerman lecturing on Plato's Republic 36:38

Enter your name and email, and the lecture will open here.

I'll also email you the link, along with a few notes on the Republic and the January seminar. You can unsubscribe at any time. This page records how much of the lecture you watch.

I'm running the seminar again this winter for six to eight people. It meets on ten Tuesday evenings starting January 12, 2027. What it involves Ask me about a seat

The lecture is open. Have Allan Bloom's translation nearby if you can. It's the one on screen, and the lecture covers 327a to 331c.

In this lecture

Once the lecture is open, click a line to jump to that point.

The lecture ends at 331c with Socrates' question. In the seminar we read the rest of Book I in the first week, then one book a week until March. What the seminar involves

The seminar

The seminar is for six to eight people who want to read the whole Republic closely, one book a week, from January 12 to March 16.

Ten weeks is enough time to read the Republic as a single book. The question Thrasymachus raises in Book I, whether the just life is better than the unjust one, comes back in Book IX. Each week you discuss the book with the rest of the group, and I send you a video reply to what you've written.

Before Tuesday
Read that week's book and watch my recorded lectures on it, like this one.
Tuesday evening
90 minutes on Zoom with the whole group, from 7 to 8:30 PM Eastern. We go through the book together and discuss it.
During the week
Write a short summary of the book. I reply to each one with a video.
Three times
A 45-minute call with me, one on one, about anything in the book you want to talk through.

The Republic bears on current arguments, including arguments about AI, and we discuss them where the text raises them.

  • DatesTuesdays, January 12 to March 16, 2027
  • Live sessionsTen Tuesdays, 7 to 8:30 PM Eastern (New York time), on Zoom
  • LecturesRecorded lectures on all ten books
  • FeedbackA video reply from me to each of your ten summaries
  • One on oneThree 45-minute calls
  • AfterwardsYou keep the lectures and my video replies
  • SeatsSix to eight
  • MinimumFour. If fewer have enrolled by December 15, the seminar won't run and everyone gets a full refund.
  • TuitionUS$5,000, or three payments of $1,750
Talk to me about a seat

The first step is a fifteen-minute call. If the seminar suits you, I'll send you the enrolment link afterwards. You can also write to me with any question about the reading or the schedule.

"Michael teaches how to read the books. If I'd just read the Republic, I wouldn't have gotten what I did from the course."

Steve, on last year's seminar

Michael Millerman is a writer, teacher and lecturer, and runs Millerman School. He has a PhD in political science from the University of Toronto and has written books on Heidegger, Leo Strauss and Alexander Dugin.