Good in Theory: A Political Philosophy Podcast

This episode covers the last bit of book 10 of Plato’s Republic. Imagine you get to choose your reincarnation. You can come back as a tyrant, a sports star, a swan, whatever you want. What do you pi...

19 Juli 202133min

Socrates thinks that poetry is like candy: delicious but bad for us. If we consume too much, it’ll rot our souls. That’s because the poets just pander to our passions with no concern with or knowledge...

5 Juli 202145min

This episode covers book 9 of Plato's Republic. In this episode, Socrates is going to finally answer the question that started it all. Back in book 2, Glaucon and Adeimantus challenged Socrates to p...

19 Juni 202136min

How does politics affect personality? In the ideal city, the perfect laws and education create philosopher kings. But what about everywhere else? In this chapter, Socrates gets down to some real-worl...

7 Juni 202149min

This episode covers book 7 of Plato's Republic. Socrates is what I call a “philosopher of desire.” He cares more about the questions than the answers, the journey than the destination, the boner tha...

14 Maj 202155min

Is it ok to laugh at The Cosby Show? To rock to “Rock With You”? To eat with the knife that was used to murder your family? Does bad luck make you a bad person? It may seem reasonable to separate t...

19 Apr 202154min

This book covers parts of books 5-6 of Plato’s Republic. Who should rule the city in speech? Philosophers of course! In this episode, Socrates explains his most famous political proposal: philosophe...

29 Mars 202143min

This episode covers book 5 of Plato’s Republic. What do you do when the private family causes too much corruption? Nationalize it! Create a giant family monopoly that includes every citizen in one gia...

16 Mars 202133min