Considerations on Play (παιδιά) and Liberal Education in Plato's Republic

Considerations on Play (παιδιά) and Liberal Education in Plato's Republic

Audio recording of a lecture given by Antoine Pageau-St-Hilaire on December 5, 2025 as part of the Dean’s Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean’s Office has provided this description of the event: “In both the Republic and the Laws, the leader of the philosophical conversation claims that the goodness of the πóλις and its citizens depend on the goodness or fineness of its civic play (παιδιά) (cf. Resp. 558b3-5, Leg. 803c2-e2). Why? Arguably, and following several hints from both dialogues, because good play and good education coincide. But even if this is true, we are then faced with a further question: why does good education coincide with good play? Why should good education be playful, or good play educative? At a crucial point in Book VII of Plato’s Republic, Socrates tells Glaucon that play is best suited to the education of a free person (έλεύθερος) (536e1-537a1). And it is quite clear from the context that he does not simply mean moral-political education, but also and chiefly philosophical education. In this lecture, I propose to examine the reasons that may lead Socrates to affirm such a thing, and for his interlocutor(s) to seemingly accept his affirmation (cf. 537a3). Why is liberal education playful? Or why is play especially suited to liberal education? How does this thought – although undeveloped in the context of its affirmation – relate to Socrates’ other famous comments on the nature of good education in the Republic, most notably that genuine education is a conversion of the soul and not a transmission of knowledge (521c6; cf. 518b6-d7)? Taking a close look at relevant passages from the text, I shall address these questions with the hope that they not only help us get a better grasp of Plato’s vision of good education, but also, and perhaps most importantly, that they help us understand better our own contemporary educational experiences.”

Santa Fe, NM

2025-12-05

Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online.

sound

mp3

English

SF_PageauStHilaireA_Considerations_on_Play_and_Liberal_Education_in_Plato's_Republic_2025-12-05

M4A

01:03:00