Video and Podcast Resources on Plato's Republic
25 videos and 25 podcast episodes on one of Plato's most influential works
At this point in my career any estimate as to how many times I’ve taught or talked about portions of Plato’s masterwork, The Republic, would be at best guesswork. I routinely cover parts of the text in my Introduction to/Foundations of Philosophy classes, often in Ethics classes, and occasionally in other classes as well. It is perhaps one of the most often referenced works of western philosophy and a great literary work as well (though I’d also say that many of the people who praise it don’t give the impression that they’ve actually read much of it!).
More than a decade back, I started producing core concept videos on the parts of it that I often taught. In fact the earliest of those video lectures were recorded directly from my class sessions at Marist College. Since then, I’ve been slowly adding to the stock of videos to cover other portions of the work that I had my students study. And over the years, I’ve also been converting those core concept videos into Sadler’s Lectures podcast episode, providing those same lectures with improved sound and in downloadable audio formats.
I definitely haven’t covered the entirety of Plato’s Republic at this point. But in the coming years, I’ll likely return to it, and produce a lot more videos and podcast lectures on the parts I haven’t yet gotten to. And as I do that, I’ll add links for those lectures to this resource page. At present, I do have 25 lectures in both video and podcast format.
Book 1
Wealth, Character And Happiness | watch video | listen to podcast
Polemarchus' Theory Of Justice, Friends & Enemies | watch video | listen to podcast
Thrasymachus' Definition Of Justice | watch video | listen to podcast
Knowledge, Practitioners, And Crafts | watch video | listen to podcast
Book 2
What Kind Of Good Is Justice | watch video | listen to podcast
The Origin And Nature Of Justice | watch video | listen to podcast
Representations Of Justice As Instrumentally Good | watch video | listen to podcast
The Ring Of Gyges | watch video | listen to podcast
Book 4
Distinguishing Parts Of The Soul | watch video | listen to podcast
Ideal City And Parts Of The Soul | watch video | listen to podcast
The Virtue Of Courage | watch video | listen to podcast
The Virtue Of Temperance | watch video | listen to podcast
The Virtue Of Justice | watch video | listen to podcast
Cardinal Virtues And Parts Of The Soul | watch video | listen to podcast
Injustice, Overreaching, And Faction | watch video | listen to podcast
Happiness Of Citizens And The City | watch video | listen to podcast
Book 6
The Divided Line, Truth, And The Faculties | watch video | listen to podcast
The Likeness Between The Sun And The Good | watch video | listen to podcast
Book 7
The Allegory Of The Cave | watch video | listen to podcast
The Philosopher's Return To The Cave | watch video | listen to podcast
Book 10
Ideas, Things, Imitations, And Their Makers | watch video | listen to podcast
Knowledge of Makers, Users, And Artists | watch video | listen to podcast
Poets, Knowledge, and Education | watch video | listen to podcast
Imitation. Poetry, And Parts Of The Soul | watch video | listen to podcast
Poetry And Corruption of The Soul | watch video | listen to podcast
If you decide to tackle Plato’s Republic, I hope these resources will be of use to you.