Tamar Gendler, teaching Yale's Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature (PHIL 181), examines Plato's argument for state censorship of poetry. She opens with two modern examples that echo Plato's concerns before turning to the Republic itself, laying out his claim that because humans are vulnerable to non-rational persuasion, and imitative poetry is a potent form of it, the state has grounds to censor such poetry. Gendler connects this argument to earlier themes in the course on the limits of rational self-regulation, then considers the flip side: how our weak control over non-rational responses to representations also makes fiction potentially beneficial, not just dangerous. The lecture runs in four parts, moving from historical framing through Plato's texts on censorship and education to a discussion of when engaging with fiction does good rather than harm.