The Logic of Social Control and Transformation in Plato’s Republic: John Proios

John Proios, University of Chicago
Date: March 6th 2026
Location: MIT 361
Talk starts at 4:00 PM

What preserves the character of a society? Conversely, what makes one kind of society change into another kind? Plato addresses both of these questions in the Republic. The purpose of this talk is to distinguish and elaborate two principles in Plato’s analysis: social domination and social education. Social domination is the control (by a social group or individual) of the vital institutions: political offices, economic practices, and cultural art, among others. Education, by contrast, is the shaping of individual psychologies in accordance with these vital institutions: teaching people, in other words, to be the kinds of people who participate in the institutions without meaningful resistance. I show how these principles emerge as distinct but related variables in Socrates’ analysis of the four degenerate kinds of city in Republic VIII as well in his earlier discussions of the just or beautiful city and in his critique of democratic Athens. This interpretation puts us in a position to resolve or recontextualize a number of issues about the political and social theories of the Republic, such as the causes of civic decline and the role of poetry in social constitution.