Books
Thalassa Editions
The Republic
Plato
Platonism · Intermediate
The founding text of Western political philosophy, argued with and against for over two millennia.
Plato · first circulated c. 375 BCE
Free edition: The Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett (1817 to 1893). Public domain.
Main ideas
- Justice examined in both the soul and the city.
- The allegory of the cave and the education of the guardians.
Important themes
JusticeKnowledgePolitical order
Reading context
Written a generation after Athens lost the Peloponnesian War and executed Socrates. The question is whether justice pays even when nobody is watching, and the ideal city is built as a model large enough to read the soul by.
How to approach it
Book 1 works as a dialogue on its own. If you read nothing else, read the sun, line and cave in Books 6 and 7. Ask throughout whether the city is a political proposal or an image of a person.