The Noble Lie - Purposes of College Education, Lecture 7

College is a crucial institution in which our society works through its expectations for young people. This course explores the purposes of college education through the first great book on the philosophy of education, Plato’s Republic. We read The Republic in conversation with other thinkers including Aristotle, Confucius, John Stuart Mill, Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. For the 325th anniversary of Yale’s founding, we also explore the changing conception of college education at Yale over the centuries and read some of the college’s and the university’s key founding documents. Themes include the development of personal character, participation in a community, preparation for citizenship, and conversation with others on intellectual matters. We also explore some of the social and economic functions of college education. This course is offered as the DeVane lectures, open to the public. Syllabus: https://president.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2026-07/Purposes-of-College-Education-Pubic-Syllabus-2.pdf 0:00 Introduction to book three 1:22 Plato on character education 6:36 Imitation and habit 10:08 Censorship of the epics 20:10 Imitation and music 23:35 Music and character 27:10 The noble lie 36:45 Meritocracy and society 40:58 Early specialization