This program is normally offered every other year and ran last in Summer 2022. However, it won't run in Summer 2024, a possibility for Summer 2025 is considered.
Academics
This seminar takes as its text Plato’s Republic, by any account one of the most influential, widely studied, widely admired texts of the Western tradition, and one of the greatest pieces of writing of any age. The Republic covers a huge range of philosophical issues. Its focus is on the correct conception of justice, both the sort of justice that we find at the level of the political state, and the sort of justice that we attribute to individuals when we think of them a being morally just agents. Along the way, Plato offers not only a sketch of what he thinks the ideal city, or society, would look like, but also a penetrating analysis of human psychology, a theory of knowledge which still attracts philosophers· today, an educational program centering on mathematics as a means of coming to see the truth, and an analysis of how societies can fall away from the ideal. Plato argues passionately that women should be political leaders alongside men in the ideal society, but in a surprise twist, the book culminates in a savage and controversial attack on art and literature, in which Plato deploys his insights about human psychology and the nature of truth to show that his ideal society can make no room for art and literature because of their power to corrupt the minds even of decent people.
Instructor: Benjamin Morison (bmorison@princeton.edu). Professor, Department of Philosophy
The Setting
The course will be conducted as a seminar, at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, with more than eighty hours spent in the classroom discussing this difficult and powerful text. There will also be excursions and other opportunities designed to expand and deepen your understanding of the text: a visit to the Louvre where we will learn about the sort of art Plato argued against so vociferously; walking tours of the major monuments of Paris, etc.
French language skills are not required.
Academic Calendar
Students arrive to Paris on June 27th and classes begin June 28th. Classes end on July 29th, and students are free to leave on July 30th.
Housing
As a participant in this summer faculty-led program in Paris, you will be housed at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, located at 17 Boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris.
You will be placed in a “Single Comfort” room. These rooms have a single bed and private bathroom (shower, washbasin and toilet) in the event students need to isolate/quarantine. You will have the use of shared kitchens (with stoves, microwave and a mini oven). Tableware is not provided.
Included services:
- Bedlinen
- Internet access (wired or wireless)
- Access to an individualized refrigerator
- Housekeeping: every day in common areas, once per week in bedrooms
Available upon payment of a supplement:
- Towels
- Additional housekeeping
Students will have access to:
- The house's shared kitchens (free of charge)
- A laundry (washes= €3.50; drying is free of charge)
- The tennis courts (Please ask for prices)
Program Fee
- Program fee: $4,800 – includes instruction, mandatory excursions, lodging, and local transportation
- Out of pocket expenses (estimated): $3,150, of which: $1,500 flight, $1,000 meals, $30 books, $620 personal expenses
Students who receive financial aid at Princeton are eligible to apply for funding for summer study abroad through the Dean's Fund.
Application Process
In order to apply, please do the following:
- Click "apply now" here on the GPS brochure to begin an application.
- The application deadline is February 11, 2022.
For more information, please email Professor Morison or Olga Liamkina in the Office of International Programs (olga.liamkina@princeton.edu).
