Seminars

Read together. Think together.

Structured, facilitated seminars on the great texts. Small groups, sustained inquiry, and the kind of conversation that changes how you see the world.

Upcoming

Join a seminar

Open to All12 weeks

Justice and the Good Life

Plato's Republic (complete)

A comprehensive journey through Plato's masterwork. We'll wrestle with the nature of justice, the structure of the soul, the philosopher-king, and the famous allegories — reading slowly, arguing carefully, and letting the text reshape how we think.

The Ring of Gyges

Justice in the Soul & City

The Allegory of the Cave

The Philosopher-King

The Allegory of the Sun & Divided Line

Poetry and the Soul

Facilitator

Dr. Catherine Ashford

Begins

April 14, 2026

Enrollment

18/24

Enroll Now

Intermediate10 weeks

Faith, Doubt, and the Brothers

Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov

Dostoevsky's final novel is a cathedral of ideas — faith and atheism, freedom and suffering, the existence of God. We'll read it as both literature and philosophy, with special attention to the Grand Inquisitor, Father Zosima, and the problem of innocent suffering.

The Karamazov Family

Ivan's Rebellion

The Grand Inquisitor

Father Zosima's Teachings

Dmitri's Trial

Alyosha and the Boys

Facilitator

Prof. James Thornton

Begins

April 21, 2026

Enrollment

14/20

Enroll Now

Open to All8 weeks

Aristotle on Human Flourishing

Nicomachean Ethics, Books I–IV

What does it mean to live well? Aristotle's answer — that happiness is activity of the soul in accordance with virtue — has shaped Western ethics for millennia. We'll examine his arguments closely, testing them against our own experience and contemporary challenges.

The Function Argument

Virtue as a Mean

Courage and Temperance

Generosity and Magnificence

Pride and the Great-Souled Person

Justice (preview of Book V)

Facilitator

Dr. Elena Vasquez

Begins

May 5, 2026

Enrollment

21/24

Enroll Now

Past seminars

Browse previous seminars. Discussion threads remain open for continued dialogue.

Augustine's Confessions

Facilitated by Fr. Thomas Aquino

Completed Feb 2026View threads →

Homer's Iliad

Facilitated by Prof. Diana Kolev

Completed Jan 2026View threads →

Dante's Inferno

Facilitated by Dr. Lucia Ferreira

Completed Dec 2025View threads →

Tocqueville's Democracy in America

Facilitated by Prof. Robert Kim

Completed Nov 2025View threads →

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Facilitated by Dr. Margaret Chen

Completed Oct 2025View threads →

Thucydides' Peloponnesian War

Facilitated by Prof. Marcus Webb

Completed Sep 2025View threads →

Want to facilitate a seminar?

If you're a professor or scholar interested in leading a reading group through ICD, we'd love to hear from you.

Propose a Seminar