It's philosophy time, friends. Join us for the first of three episodes about the ancient Greek philosopher Plato's book The Republic, the most influential work of philosophical literature ever written by a single author. It's the record of a long conversation Socrates has with some friends, in which they pick over two questions: what is morality? and does morality really have any intrinsic benefits for those who practice it? This conversation also covers what the ideal society should look like, including the best plan of education (heavily censored, obviously), how the ruling class should live (in communes with eugenically controlled matings, duh) and a surprising number of metaphors that mention shoemakers. Episode one covers the first half of The Republic, which focuses on politics.

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