The Republic

by Plato

Overview

Often ranked as the greatest of Plato's many remarkable writings, this celebrated philosophical work of the fourth century B.C. contemplates the elements of an ideal state, serving as the forerunner for such other classics of political thought as Cicero's De Republica, St. Augustine's City of God, and Thomas More's Utopia.
Written in the form of a dialog in which Socrates questions his students and fellow citizens, The Republic concerns itself chiefly with the question, "What is justice?" as well as Plato's theory of ideas and his conception of the philosopher's role in society. To explore the latter, he invents the allegory of the cave to illustrate his notion that ordinary men are like prisoners in a cave, observing only the shadows of things, while philosophers are those who venture outside the cave and see things as they really are, and whose task it is to return to the cave and tell the truth about what they have seen. This dynamic metaphor expresses at once the eternal conflict between the world of the senses (the cave) and the world of ideas (the world outside the cave), and the philosopher's role as mediator between the two.
High school and college students, as well as lovers of classical literature and philosophy, will welcome this handsome and inexpensive edition of an immortal work. It appears here in the fine translation by the English classicist Benjamin Jowett.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486411217
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	04/18/2000
Series:	Dover Thrift Editions: Philosophy
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Plato ranks among the most familiar ancient philosophers, along with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle. In addition to writing philosophical dialogues — used to teach logic, ethics, rhetoric, religion, and mathematics as well as philosophy — he founded Athens' Academy, the Western world's first institution of higher learning.

Read an Excerpt

Socrates: I went down yesterday to Piraeus with Glaucon, Ariston’s son, to pray to the goddess, wanting at the same time also to see the way they were going to hold the festival, since they were now conducting it for the first time. The parade of the local residents seemed to me to be beautiful, while the one that the Thracians put on looked no less appropriate. And having prayed and having seen, we went off toward the city. Spotting us from a distance then as we headed home, Polemarchus, Cephalus’s son, ordered his slave to run and order us to wait for him. And grabbing me from behind by my cloak, the slave said “Polemarchus orders you to wait.” And I turned around and asked him where the man himself was. “He’s coming along from behind,” he said. “Just wait.” “Certainly we’ll wait” said Glaucon.

Table of Contents

Preface and background to the Republic xiii

Introduction xxiii

Principal Dates xlvii

Current Opinions of Justice Refuted (Book 1) 1

Introductory Dialogue (Socrates and Cephalus, 328c-331d) 2

First Definition (Cephalus, 331a-d) 5

Refutation (332c-335d) 6

Third Definition (Thrasymachus, 338c-343a) 13

Refutation (339b-e) 14

Redefinition of Ruler (340d-341a) 15

Refutation (341c-343a) 16

New Argument (343a-348a) 18

Refutations of (a): i) 345b-348a) 20

Refutation of (b), 352d-354a 28

Conclusion (354a-c) 30

Justice Reexamined, in the State and in the Individual (Books 2-4) 31

Adeimantus (362d-367e) 35

The Problem Examined and Solved (368c-445e) 40

Second State of the State (372d-427c) 44

Elementary Education of the guardians (376c-415d) 48

Gymnastics (physical education), 403c-412b 73

Instilling and testing patriotism and leadership, 412c-415d 81

Living arrangements of guardians and auxiliaries (415d-427c) 85

Conclusion (427c-434d) 94

Wisdom = the knowledge of the guardians (428a-429a) 95

Courage = the auxiliaries’ opinion of “what is and is not to be feared” (429a-30c) 96

Temperance = agreement of all three classes about who should rule and be ruled (430d-432b) 97

Justice = each of the three classes “tending its own business” and not preempting the work of another (432b-434d) 99

Composition of the Soul (434d-441c) 101

Conclusion (441d-444e) 109

Degeneration Regimes and Souls, Interrupted (445b-449a) 113

Digression: The Best Regime and Men (Books 5-7) 114

Organization of the Best Regime (451c-461e) 116

Women and children will not be private possessions but common to all of the men. Marriage arrangements, eugenics (457c-461e) 122

The Superiority and Possibility of Such a City (462a-473e) 126

Excursus: regulations for warfare (466e-471c) 131

Such a city is not impossible (471e-473c) 136

Reminder that the best state is only a model, not completely realizable in practice (472b-473b). It is possible only if philosophers become kings or kings philosophers (473c-3), 138

The Best Men: Philosopher Kings (Guardians), Book 5, 474b-Book 7 139

The Philosophic Nature (485a-503e) 147

Higher Education of the Guardians (504a-535a) 165

The Simple of the Sun (506e-509b) 168

The Simile of the Divided Line (509d-511e) 171

The Simile of the Cave (514a-521b) 174

Curriculum (521c-535a) 181

Plane geometry, 526c-527c 186

Harmonics, 530d-531c 190

Selection of the Guardians (535a-540c) 195

Brief Excursus (540d-541b) 200

Degenerate Regimes and Souls, Resumed From Book 5 (Books 8 and 9) 201

Cause of Change or Decline in a State: Civil War (545c-547c) 203

Degenerate Regimes and Men, Described and Compared (547c-592b) 205

Oilgarchy (rule of the wealthy few) and the oligarchic man (550c-555b) 208

Democracy (rule of the people) and the democratic man (555b-562a) 213

Tyranny (dictatorship) and the tyrannical man (562a-580a) 220

The five types are judged for their goodness and happiness and ranked in the order in which they were presented: Aristocracy and the aristocratic man are the best and happiness; tyranny and the tyrant are the worst and most miserable (580a-588a) 237

Conclusion: The aristocrat is just, the tyrant unjust. Therefore justice makes a man happy, injustice makes him unhappy (588b-592b) 247

Denunciation of Imitative Poetry (Book 10, 595a-608b) 251

Imitative poetry appeals to the emotions rather than to the mind (602c-605c) 259

Imitative poetry deforms character (605c-608b) 263

Immortality and the Rewards of Justice (608b-End) 265

Rewards of Justice and Punishments of Injustice in This Life (612b-614a) 269

Rewards and Punishments After Death (614a-621d) 271

Appendix: The Spindle of Necessity 279

Bibliography 283

What People are Saying About This

John Cooper

"Its increased accessibility promises to make it the number-one choice for undergraduate courses."
—Princeton University

Lloyd P. Gerson

"Loving attention to detail and deep familiarity with Plato's thought are evident on every page."
—University of Toronto

Interviews

Joe Sachs's translation of Plato's Republic is for students studying philosophy at the college level, as well as for the general reader interested in the major works of western civilization.

Editorial Reviews

"Must we not acknowledge...that in each of us there are the same principles and habits which there are in the State; and that from the individual they pass into the State?"

What does it mean to be good? What enables us to distinguish right from wrong? And how should human virtues be translated into a just society? These are the questions that Plato sought to answer in this monumental work of moral and political philosophy, a book surpassed only by the Bible in its formative influence on two thousand years of Western thought.

In the course of its tautly reasoned Socratic dialogues, The Republic accomplishes nothing less than an anatomy of the soul and an exhaustive description of a State that both mirrors and enforces the soul's ideal harmony. The resulting text is at once mystical and elegantly logical and may be read as a template for the societies in which most of us live today.

Vintage Classics are quality paperback editions of the world's greatest written works. They are durably bound and are printed exclusively on acid-free paper.

From the Publisher

This superior translation has an engaging, constructive tone. For introductory students with little or no historical background with which to appreciate the nuances of Plato's Republic, Tschemplik clearly sets the historical context and identifies the characters.

P.C. Kemeny

Plato’s musings on how society should function, as well as the nature of the people who inhabit society, is read by Bruce Alexander in this abridgment. The recording and Alexander’s performance are flawless. A veteran Shakespearean actor, Alexander has a voice that is rich and versatile in portraying each of the speakers in this dialogue. His accent also has an air of authority. He makes one suppose that the ancient Greek philosophers went to Oxford. This work is really delightful to hear as one follows the course of Socrates’ arguments and the questions thrown at him by the Athenians. The packaging is sturdy, and the enclosed outline is most helpful. Music at the beginning and end of each side does not distract from the performance. A wonderful introduction to Plato. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

DEC/JAN 02 - AudioFile