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[An Academically Based Service Learning Course; General Honors]
Plato's "Republic" begins as a casual conversation among
Socrates and his friends about morality and justice, and ends up
constructing an elaborate utopian city which would promote justice
and happiness among all its citizens. It is no surprise that this
monumental project has engaged readers so intensely since antiquity,
for it manages to address so many of the perennial questions of
human existence: what, for example, constitutes the "good life"?
How do we balance the demands of the state and those of the individual?
On what criteria can a society base its ethical system? Beyond such
grandiose questions other very practical ones are discussed, such
as what kinds of art should be allowed in the ideal city, whether
women are fit for military service, or how children should be educated.
This seminar sets out to accomplish two intersecting goals: the
first is to allow students to savor the full text of the Republic,
and its relation to other Platonic works, through close, detailed
reading over an entire semester; second, it will approach Plato's
work as a dynamic and vibrant pedagogical text that can inspire
even young students to reflect on the most urgent, if often puzzling,
questions of life.
One of the three weekly meetings of the seminar will take place
at
University City High School (UCHS). We will work closely with a
high
school class and their teacher at UCHS, using Plato as a springboard
for discovery and discussion. Such a format would surely please
Socrates himself, who held that ongoing dialogue with others consitutes
the truest philosophical enterprise.
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