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The Republic

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Plato's The Republic . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Republic: Introduction

The republic: plot summary, the republic: detailed summary & analysis, the republic: themes, the republic: quotes, the republic: characters, the republic: symbols, the republic: theme wheel, brief biography of plato.

Historical Context of The Republic

Other books related to the republic.

• Full Title: Republic
• When Published: First transcribed circa fourth century BC.
• Literary Period: Classical
• Genre: Philosophical dialogues
• Setting: The house of Cephalus, in the Piraeus, or port section of Athens, Greece, around the 5th century BC.
• Antagonist: Thrasymachus and other debaters
• Point of View: First Person (Socrates is the narrator)

Extra Credit for The Republic

The Socratic Method. The method Plato has Socrates use in Republic, that is, asking leading questions that provoke discussion and encourage his audience to follow his train of thought until they arrive at the solution he favors, is called in Greek elenchus , and in English the "Socratic method." You can see the Socratic method particularly clearly in Book I of Republic, but Plato also uses it in many of his earlier works.

Aristotle's Teacher. Just as Plato is the most famous follower of Socrates, Aristotle is the most famous of Plato's students. Other followers include the Neo-Platonists, philosophers like Plotinus and Proclus who took Plato's ideas about the nature of reality and his theory of forms and developed them even further. The Neo-Platonists influenced Saint Augustine, one of the fathers of the early Christian Church.

The Republic

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A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

Chapters 11-12

Chapters 13-14

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Social and Psychic Repression

Plato is often criticized for legitimising social repression. In The Republic , Socrates says that “subjection to the principle of divine intelligence is to everyone’s advantage. It’s best if this principle is part of a person’s own nature, but if it isn’t, it can be imposed from outside” (341). In other words, one ought to accept the moral and social order Socrates prescribes. However, those who do not can be “punished” (342). This is to ensure that they conform, through fear, to that order anyway. Or at least it is to ensure that they do so until they can be made to understand their own best interests.

Related Titles

Allegory Of The Cave

The Last Days of Socrates

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Ancient Greece

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Order & Chaos

Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics

Politics & Government

Required Reading Lists

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Truth & Lies

Plato’s Republic: A Critical Guide. Cambridge Critical Guides

Peter c. meilaender , houghton college. [email protected].

Table of Contents

This contribution to the “Cambridge Critical Guides” series brings together a number of fine scholars to examine many central topics of Plato’s Republic . Nevertheless, this should not be mistaken for an introductory “companion.” In keeping with the purpose of the Critical Guides series (to offer “cutting-edge research volumes on some of the most important works of philosophy”), this volume, in the words of its editor, “is not a preparatory book or synopsis for those planning to read the Republic for the first time,” but rather is “for veterans of the text who are looking for thoughtful, detailed excursions into the problems Plato’s text and ideas pose” (2). In a first draft of this review, I attempted to do justice to each contribution with a detailed description and comments, only to discover that I had vastly exceeded the permitted length. So I offer here only the barest summaries, knowing that I do much less than full justice to individual essays. (I can only hope that I will not suffer psychic disharmony and years of torment in the afterlife as a result.) Where I occasionally add some observations, this reflects my own interests more than it does the merits or demerits of any particular essay.

The volume opens with a pair of essays addressing Plato’s authorship of the Republic . G.R.F. Ferrari contrasts the role of the dialogue’s “internal narrator,” Socrates, with that of its author, Plato. Unlike several dominant interpretive approaches, which portray Socrates as firmly in control of the dialogue’s progress, Ferrari argues that Socrates at various points (such as the openings of Books II and V) indicates his own surprise at the conversation’s course and finds himself forced to respond to unexpected or unwelcome objections. Plato thus draws our attention to his own authorial presence. Rachel Barney argues that the Republic , like many ancient works, is an instance of ring-composition, in which themes from earlier in a work are returned to and developed more fully later. Barney suggests that such ring-composition is not merely a literary device, but reflects a Platonic-Aristotelian conception of philosophic method, in which philosophy first argues toward first principles on the basis of hypotheses, and then works its way back again from those first principles, explaining the relevant hypotheses as it goes. She illustrates her claim with a detailed look at the relationship between the Book X discussion of mimetic poetry and the earlier discussion in Books II and III.

Three essays deal with political themes. Rachana Kamtekar ponders why Socrates spends so much time describing the ideal city in order to produce a definition of justice—a harmonious condition of the individual soul—that makes no reference to politics. She argues, first, that Socrates must provide a fairly elaborate description of the city in order to clarify the connection between justice within the soul and just actions; and, second, that doing so helps him reply to his interlocutors’ challenges both by portraying a city in which the laws do not merely serve the interest of the rulers (Thrasymachus), and also by showing first what justice is, before arguing that it makes its possessors happy (Glaucon and Adeimantus).

Nicholas Smith tackles one of the Republic ‘s central interpretive difficulties, the “happy philosopher” problem: although the ideal city requires philosopher-kings, philosophers would rather philosophize than rule and must thus be compelled to govern. Smith’s solution has two parts. First, he suggests that refusing to rule would create psychic disharmony within the philosophers’ souls, because the shame and dishonor it occasioned would reflect not simply obedience to reason, but rather an inappropriate suppression of spiritedness. Second, he points out that the philosophers’ education is not complete when they return to the city. They still need their fifteen-year apprenticeship in rule before they can fully understand all the consequences that flow from having seen the Good. I am not sure that the first part of Smith’s argument avoids circularity—it seems that in order to explain the dishonor or shamefulness of not ruling, one would need an explanation of why indulging the spirited part of the soul in its desire for this particular form of honor is in fact good for the philosophers. That, however, merely restates the original problem of why it is preferable for them to return to the cave. Nevertheless, this is a very clever essay.

Zena Hitz explores Book 8’s discussion of degenerate regimes. She argues that each of these regimes pursues a characteristic dominant end: timocracy pursues honor, oligarchy wealth, and democracy freedom. (Tyranny, marked by unrestrained, lawless desire, has no single end.) The deterioration from one regime to the next reflects the gradual victory of the soul’s appetitive over its rational part. She further argues that each degenerate regime possesses a kind of shadow-virtue or image of order that represents the remnants of reason still present within it. Timocrats suppress their desire for wealth out of fear of shame; oligarchs’ love of wealth enables them to suppress their unnecessary desires; democrats establish a shadow of moderation under the guise of lawfulness. This description of the shadow-virtues of degenerate regimes is reminiscent of Augustine’s later description, in the City of God , of republican Rome as pursuing “splendid vice,” driven by its love of honor to suppress its other vices for the sake of this one, and in the process becoming, though not fully virtuous, nevertheless better than it would otherwise have been.

Two authors deal with Plato’s description of the soul. Mark McPherran, in an essay he describes as “aporetic,” puzzles over the problem of moral responsibility in the Myth of Er. The myth is supposed to absolve the gods of responsibility for our misfortunes by emphasizing that we ourselves choose our fates. But because each soul’s choice is profoundly shaped by its pre-existing character, which was itself determined by the life lived as a consequence of its previous choice, and so on, it is unclear how an unphilosophic soul could ever break the vicious cycle trapping it in unjust and miserable lives. Christopher Shields probes an apparent contradiction in Plato’s moral psychology. The tripartite division of the soul developed in Book IV is crucial to the Republic ‘s argument. But if the soul is composed of distinct parts, then—since Plato appears to believe that composite entities are subject to disintegration—it cannot be immortal, as Socrates argues in Book X. Shields resolves this dilemma through a detailed examination of what Socrates actually means in describing the soul as comprised of “parts.” He reads Socrates as claiming not that the soul has three distinct components, but rather that the one soul can be described under different aspects or features. Socrates thus helps us think through the difficult psychological problem of a single, undivided soul that nevertheless experiences internal discord—at least until it has become truly just.

Two essays focus on issues of Plato’s philosophical method. J.H. Lesher offers a close and detailed examination of the meaning of sapheneia in Plato’s famous image of the divided line. He argues that common translations such as “clarity,” “precision,” or “truth” do not fully capture the meaning of the word as Plato uses it. After examining the word’s appearances in Plato’s texts as well as other ancient sources, Lesher concludes that its meaning is best understood as a “full, accurate, and sure awareness” of an object or idea. Hugh Benson elucidates two distinctions between the dianoetic and dialectical methods in the simile of the Divided Line. First, dianoetic mistakenly regards its hypotheses as truly known when they are not, whereas dialectic regards them as only hypotheses until successfully traced back to the unhypothetical first principle. Second, dianoetic tests its hypotheses in light of what it takes to be the true or essential consequences of the Forms, but which are in fact only contingent ones, resulting from their appearing in a particular context (as philosophers appear vicious or useless within already existing, imperfect states). Dialectic, however, because it truly understands the Forms themselves, can test its hypotheses against the Forms’ genuine and essental consequences, not their accidental, contextual features (so that philosophers are seen to be beneficial for states when the true nature of philosophy is correctly understood).

The volume closes with a pair of essays on Platonic education. C.D.C. Reeve focuses especially on the meaning of Socrates’ puzzling claim that education consists not of putting sight into the eye of the soul, but rather of turning the soul in the right direction so that it will see properly. To do so, he covers a remarkable amount of ground, discussing epistemological, ontological, and ethical issues as he moves toward a description of educating the whole soul. Perhaps the most charming moment of his essay comes in his chastened portrait of the philosopher-kings: far short of omniscience, their achievement of the city’s good requires that their own knowledge be supported by many other forms of knowledge possessed by different citizens who, though not philosophers, make substantial contributions to the city’s flourishing. Malcolm Schofield’s essay (perhaps the finest contribution in the volume) highlights the importance of music—not simply poetry and the spoken word, but music itself—to the Republic ‘s educational scheme and Platonic developmental psychology. Schofield argues persuasively that Plato regards music itself as tremendously influential. Musical modes and rhythms shape the young soul to admire beauty and order, so that when people reach the age at which their reason can be actively engaged, they are already predisposed toward and derive pleasure from the beautiful and good. Schofield buttresses his argument by examining the continuing importance that Plato attributes to music in the Laws . Schofield might wish to consider one discussion that should ultimately be understood as an attempt to take seriously Plato’s teaching about the importance of music: the much (but unfairly) maligned chapter attacking rock’n’roll in Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind .

In thus grouping the essays thematically, I have omitted one contribution, the chapter by Julia Annas examining the link between the Republic and the story of Atlantis in the Critias . Annas argues that Plato’s account of ancient Athens as the ideal, virtuous city that defeats imperialist Atlantis only to be destroyed itself in the ensuing catastrophe illustrates the core ethical argument of the Republic : that virtue is its own reward, to be purused regardless of whether reputation, wealth, or other benefits flow from it. She closes with some enjoyable speculations about why Plato might not have completed the Critias . I admit that, as my placing it here may suggest, this essay seemed to me an awkward fit in the collection, since its focus is really on the Atlantis story rather than the Republic itself.

The book’s shortcomings have less to do with the particular contributions, which are of a high quality, than with the nature of the volume. There is no interplay among the contributors, despite opportunities: Barney’s essay, for example, might be taken to reinforce Ferrari’s argument; both Reeve and Smith highlight the philosophers’ need for political practice in order to complete their education; and Schofield’s discussion of music’s effect on the soul returns us to Shields’s examination of tripartition.

Furthermore, there is a certain tension built into the goal of the “Cambridge Critical Guides,” aimed as they are at a relatively advanced audience. A volume such as this is essentially equivalent to a themed special issue of a journal. The effort to include contributions covering most of the dialogue’s important topics produces such a diverse set of essays that few other than reviewers will read the book straight through, while most readers will find themselves primarily interested in only a subset of the essays.

On the other hand, the breadth of scope does mean that anyone venturing the whole volume will finish it with a good sense of current scholarly debates about the text. And almost every reader will find at least something here that is of interest.

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Plato’s Republic: An Introduction Essay

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Introduction

Historical overview, work listed.

Plato is one of the most known Greek philosophers in history. As a student of another great philosopher, Socrates, Plato learnt a lot and involved himself in the many issues that affected his society. Plato literatures continue to be important references in philosophy, even in the current times. Platonic schools that evolved from Plato’s work were the main form of school in the classic Greek and played a major role to formation of the society. Plato, Socrates and Aristotle made strong philosophical arguments that remain relevant more than Two thousand Five Hundred years after they have left. The issues of society and justice have always been important in philosophy. Most of Plato’s literatures focus of society, social problems and leaders. Plato dialogues address the moral and ethical issues in his society in a different approach that draws implied conclusion.

Most of Plato’s literatures are structured in form epistles and dialogues. Dialogues make the major part of his philosophical writing and it is through them that his philosophical thoughts are obtained. Plato’s dialogues bring out philosophical issues in the society, divergent arguments towards the issues and convincing conclusion. Use of dialogues makes Plato unique in his work.

Plato is a renowned Greek philosopher in Classical Greek period. He is also remembered as the pioneer in western academies through his Platonic schools. Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, the great Greek philosophers, are closely related (Barnes & Chadwich 107). Plato was a student to Socrates, borrowing much from him while Aristotle was a student to Plato. This lineage of philosophers formed an important foundation to other philosopher after them. Memories of Plato are brought out through his sophisticated dialogues and letters. Plato’s dialogues numbers to thirty-five with The Republic as the leading and most referred Dialogue. One unique factor in Plato’s dialogues is that Plato’s personal position on issues is not expressed explicitly. The main character in most dialogues is Plato’s mentor, Socrates, who represents Plato’s position.

Plato arguments for nature of justice

Plato’s dialogues bring out the nature of justice in the society. The nature of justice has been a major issue in philosophy and ethics. From early days philosophers, individual and the society in general have tried to understand justice. The definitions of justice in the societal or individuals level differ across different part of the world. In consequence, the way people understand justice influence how they relate with each other. Plato addresses the issue of justice in most of his dialogues (Barnes & Chadwich 7). He tries to understand how his society defined justice and the consequences of these definitions. Plato does not leave the issue at descriptive level alone but he criticizes the definition to find their strength and weakness.

Plato’s dialogues bring out common themes in justice. In most of his dialogues, Plato sees justice as a balance between the three main elements of the soul. The three elements of the soul are explained as the desire or drive, appetite, and reason (Sayers 51). According to Plato and Jowell, “…we shall expect to find that the individual soul contains the same three elements and that they are affected in the same way as are the corresponding types in society,” (54). The balance between these three elements in every individual determines whether and an individual is capable of justice. On the other hands, the dialogues show that imbalance in these elements is what make an individuals to act in unjust way. Desire, one of the elements of the soul is defined as the drive or motivation behind an action. The implication made by this element is that, for every action, there is a motivation. Appetite on the other hands is seen as the element of the soul that makes someone to be spirited towards as action. As implied by most of the dialogues, being spirited makes individual to act out side towards the goals set by the desire. Finally, reason is the element of the souls that rules over both desire and appetite. The relationship between desire, appetite and reason is brought out in the allegory of Phaedrus (Sayers 57). One of the horses in the allegory represents the desire while the other horse represents the appetite. On the other hands, the driver of these horses represents the reason. The sun, the goal at which the horses and driver head toward, represents the prime goal in life. As justice is viewed as one of the most important goal in life, the sun also represents justice. Plato emphasizes on the need for a balance between the three elements of the soul. The story of Icarus gives warning to lack of such a balance. Individuals should not fly too close to the sun or too low to the ground.

According to Plato, the nature of justice in individuals can be understood by reviewing the nature of a society. Plato’s dialogues help him review a society and postulate the ideas nature of a society to reflect the nature of justice. Plato argues that the balance between the three elements of the soul in the society soul reflect the balance in individuals (Sayers 87). In search of and ideal nature of justice, Plato set out for a plan for a just society.

Plato views a small state as the best example where the nature of justice can be addressed. A small state enables division of labor, specialization. Division of labor and specialization enable different needs of different people to be met through combined effort of members of the society. “…we decided that a society was just when each of the three types of human character it contained performed its own function,” (Plato, & Jowett 54). Problems observed in a society according to Plato include some people in the society seeking luxury; some people who are not members of the society may seek to benefit from the society and inability of society to be protected by the guardians alone. The issue of guardian of the society is a major issue in the society. The main question on guardians is how the guardian would be checked given that the guardians themselves are prone to injustice. Presence of guardians in the society involves allocating some powers to some part of the society. The power allocated to some part of the society has to be checked but there are no other guardians to check the society.

Plato’s ideal state constitute of a state where people needs are achieved, each individual is involved on what they best at, only limited luxuries are allowed to the members and a military protection friendly to members of the society exist. Limited luxuries and military royalty is held as the most important of an ideal society. Plato believed that excessive luxury corrupts the soul and proposed a balance between luxury and power. He proposed the power of the society should only be delegated to members of the society who had control over their luxury.

Dialogue on the nature of justice in a state between Socrates and other individuals brought out the nature of justice in a clear way. Socrates is able to contradict the poor definition of justice. Socrates argues against Justice as doing good to friend by wrong to enemies by showing the danger of such a definition (Sayers 66). Socrates also brought out a strong argument against justice as giving back what belongs to the society. He give an example by showing that giving back a sword to its mentally unstable person would be just in conventional term, but unjust due to possible consequences.

Allegory of the cave

Knowledge and ignorance is an important theme in Plato’s dialogues. Plato understanding of knowledge and ignorance is brought out through his characters. Knowledge is viewed freedom from prison of ignorance and as light to the eye. The best account of knowledge and ignorance is narrated through The Allegory of the Cave. In the allegory, prisoners in the cave hold a wrong believe over the shadows that they see in the cave. A prisoner that is able to move out of the cave and discover the reality of the shadows represents the liberation nature of knowledge (Plato, & Jowett 243). One the other hand, individuals in the cave represents people in the society who remain imprisoned by ignorance. The allegory of the cave is a good example of the nature of our society. The cave represents the world. As the cave, the world hides many truths to people who live in it. The shadows in the allegory represent the images that the prisoners in the cave could see through their senses. The shadows show the deceptions which human is prone through reliance on sense information. True knowledge is not possible for all; it is only possible to those who engage in the journey for knowledge.

World of appearance is compared to the shadows in the cave. Plato viewed the observable nature of the world only as a reflection of other invisible ideas. Although he believed that appearances were important, he was against obsession on appearance at the expense of the actual truth of the appearances. The ideals, according Plato, constitutes of the Archetypes from which appearance derive. The journey to the exit of the cave is the struggle involved in acquiring knowledge and away from ignorance. Although the ideals are the most important elements for knowledge, the journey to knowledge starts with the shadows.

Allegory of the Cave is a good reflection of the journey to knowledge. People in the society today invest a lot of resources and time to acquiring knowledge. Although acquiring knowledge is not equal to being a philosopher, knowledge is part is part of philosophy. As exemplified in the example of the prisoners in the cave, the reality of sense information may be difficult to tell (Plato, & Jowett 97). The journey from ignorance to knowledge, thus, requires ability to question the truth of our perceived world. A philosopher is an individual who persevere the struggle in search of knowledge and continues with the journey until the end. Understanding of a philosopher according to Plato is a bit different form our current understanding. Contrary to our view of philosophy as love of opinion, Plato emphasizes a philosopher as someone who seeks knowledge that is able to transform the society. “ The process, I said, is not the turning over of an oyster-shell, but the turning round of a soul passing from a day which is little better than night to the true day of being, that is, the ascent from below, which we affirm to be true philosophy?” (Plato & Jowett 261). A philosophy leader, thus, is a leader who knowledge beyond sense knowledge as is seen as the ideal leader.

Duality nature of Plato’s Dialogues

Although Plato’s dialogues bring out a lot of philosophical knowledge, is fails in some elements. The dialogues bring out duality on some issues. The arguments made on nature of justice in the society bring out inconsistencies on definition of justice. For example in a dialogue in The Republic, Socrates describes Kallipolis as an example of an idea state. In the dialogue, Socrates implies that and idea state, where there was justice, was the state with strict division of labor (Sayers 56). Afterwards Socrates further argues that justice was the essential thing that brought in virtues in the city-state. However, Socrates argument on the nature of justice in the city was based on assumption that the perfect state was the most just. Since Socrates makes an assumption of the very conclusion be draws, his argument becomes invalid.

Plato’s position is not well set out in some dialogues. The reader of the dialogues fails to separated Socrates and Plato’s position. Socrates, as a character, represents most of Plato’s views on topics under discussion but Plato also include Socrates own opinions. Some Plato’s dialogues seem to be aimed at winning arguments rather than expressing objective opinion. Socrates seems to undermine other characters opinions even when they seemed strong.

Plato’s work in philosophy is very relevant to the field of philosophy today. As one of the major classic Greek philosophers, most of current western thoughts constitute some of his opinions. Plato addresses justice, ethics and politics in his dialogues in details. For justice, Plato proposes a balance between desire, appetite and reason. The journey from ignorance to knowledge is exemplified in the example of the cave. Dialogue enables Plato to feature philosophical issues in the society in a more realistic way. Despite of the strength in the dialogues, some arguments bring about duality by contradicting some addressed issues. Plato will continue to be significant in philosopher despite of many other philosophers after him.

Barnes, Hare. & Chadwich. Founders of Thought . London: Oxford Paperbacks Oxford University Press, 1991.

Plato & Jowett. The Republic . New York. Vintage.

Sayers, Sean. Plato’s Republic: An Introduction . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999.

• Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”: Nature of Reality
• The parable of the cave by Socrates
• “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato
• “Confessions” by St. Augustine
• "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles Play Analysis
• “Apology” by Plato and the “Plea for Captain John Brown” by Thoreau
• Impact of Philosophies of African American Authors
• “Statesman” by Plato: A Critique
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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The Republic Essays

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The Alfarabi and Averroes texts take unique approaches to topics discussed by Aristotle in Politics and by Plato in his Republic . It is important to understand these approaches in relation to each other because it is the similarities and...

Criticisms of Poetry in Plato's Republic Anonymous

After much deliberation and many intense arguments, Socrates finally reaches a definition for justice and claims that leading a just life is worthwhile both for its consequences and for its own sake. Although these conclusions summarize the main...

The Virtuous City in Alfarabi and Plato’s Writings Anonymous

The concept of the virtuous city is central to both Plato’s and Alfarabi’s treatments of political science. The respective analyses of Plato and Alfarabi bear many similarities, but their final goals differ radically. Plato’s description of the...

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Essays on Plato Republic

The meaning of justice in plato’s republic, analysis of the perfect society in plato’s republic and its relation to totalitarianism, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

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My Attitude Towards Plato’s Republic and The Idea of State’s Justice

Application of the ideas in plato’s republic to facilitate improvement of life in the contemporary society, understanding plato's forms and the concept of philosopher-kings, a critical analysis of the city-soul analogy as illustrated by plato, let us write you an essay from scratch.

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A Poetry Critique in The Republic by Plato

The unfairness and misery of the dictator in the republic, a battle between art and decency in the republic, the analysis of plato’s republic: the issue of censorship, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

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The First Book of Plato’s Republic Review

Plato’s republic: analysis of allegories, the allegory of the cave: plato's concept of creating an ideal state, halfway reality or a full-scale fantasy: plato's 'the republic' and 'the allegory of the cave", the human nature and psychology from plato's perspective, a discussion of whether plato was a feminist, plato’s views on the concept of human knowledge, the possibility of utopia: analyzing plato’s republic, refutation of polemarch’s definition of justice in plato’s "republic", debatable notions in plato’s theory of forms, advantages and disadvantages of morality in plato's republic, the third wave in the republic by plato, a contrast between republic and symposium, two works by plato, the writing that helped shaped the world we live in, the allegory of the cave: relationship between human senses and virtual environments, relevant topics.

• Allegory of The Cave
• Nicomachean Ethics
• The Republic
• Enlightenment
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• Plato's Ideas On Censorship 925 words In Plato's Republic, he tries to develop a utopia for mankind. He utilizes conversation amongst people within in his book as a vehicle for larger and more serious topics to be discussed. One of the most important propositions made in these discussions is when Socrates and Glaucon are deliberating on the issue of censorship and its necessity in the beginning of "Book". Plato leads me to believe that censorship is a necessary evil that must exist to protect the city as a whole. The question arises...
• Analyses Of Socrates And Plato 2,116 words Life Plato was born around the year 428 BCE into an established Athenian household with a history of political connections - including distant relations to both Solon and Pisistratus. Plato's parents were Ariston and Perictone, his older brothers were Adeimantus and Glaucon, and his younger sister was Pot one. In keeping with his family heritage, Plato was destined for the political life. But the Peloponnesian War, which began a couple of years before he was born and continued until well after h...
• First Form Plato States 533 words Plato was a philosopher and educator in ancient Greece. He was one of the most important thinkers and writers in the history of Western culture. Plato was born in Athens into a family that was one of the oldest and most distinguished in the city. His father Ariston died when Plato was only a child. The name Plato was a nickname meaning broad shoulders. Plato's real name was Aristo cles. Plato had aspirations of becoming a politician, however these hopes were destroyed when his friend Socrates wa...
• Good And Noble Guardian Of The State 923 words Weisner, Merry E. Discovering the Western Past: A Look at the Evidence - Volume I: To 1789. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Pp. 379 In a period of a growing but stale state of human history, surrounded by tyrant rulers and complacent citizens, Plato of the Hellenic age was one of the forerunners of philosophical reason. Following the footsteps of his mentor Socrates who was forced to drink poison for his ideas of philosophy, Plato would further his master's study to create a prevalent sy...
• Plato's The Republic Men And Women 2,928 words Paradoxes are ideas that seem to be in opposition to one another but are mutually needed to function. In Plato's Republic he discusses several paradoxes. While reading The Republic we can see which side of these paradoxes Plato favors. We find which side he feels should be stressed so that we may live in a reasonable and safe society and be better human beings. There are three categories in which these paradoxes have been divided into: ethical, metaphysical and political. Plato was a legendary A...
• Reason And Madness In Poetry 1,708 words In what sense and how far is the genius master of his madness For it goes without saying that to a certain degree he is master of it, since otherwise he would be actually a madman. For such observations, however, ingenuity in a high degree is requisite, and love; for to make observation upon a superior mind is very difficult. -Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go. -Shakespeare, Hamlet Poetry is not inspiration. Poetry is neither reasonable, irrational, or a...
• Clever In Music And The Nonmusical Person 381 words Book I of Plato Republic sets the tone for the remainder of this piece of writing. It is in Book I that the reader is introduced to the method of argument and response that is so well documented in the remainder of Plato Republic. Thrasymachus, one of the antagonists in Plato Republic, makes his entrance in Book I, arguing with Socrates on many subjects, such as justice being the advantage of the "stronger", so to speak. Thrasymachus begins his reasoning about justice being, in actuality, the ad...
• Determination Of Truth In Plato's Republic 1,563 words Philosophy could be defined as the highest level of true clarity and understanding human thought can aspire to. It would thus seem strange to compare the ideal philosophical kingdom of Plato's Republic with George Orwell's 1984. Plato's writings form the cornerstone of Western philosophy, while Orwell's text tells of a totalitarian society where all free thought is stifled. However, the two men's versions of government, one utopian, the other horrific, spanning centuries of time, contain certain...
• True Forms As Plato 2,733 words THE REPORT: "The Good, the Bad and the Theory" (Assignment One) Table Of Contents INTRODUCTION: 3 THE THEORY: 4 THE GOOD: 9 THE BAD: 10 CONCLUSION: 11 REFERENCES: 14 INTRODUCTION: This essay shall illustrate the theories of Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, who had a great impact on education ideas for future generations. His theories shall be discussed, and then the negative and positive points of the theories shall be uncovered, and finally the position of my judgement, after considering a...
• Men In Plato's Ideal Society 1,957 words Plato's Republic Critics of The Republic, Plato's contribution to the history of political theory, have formed two distinct opinions on the reasoning behind the work. The first group believes that The Republic is truly a model for a political society, while the other strongly objects to that, stating it as being far too fantastic for any society to operate successfully by these suggested methods. In an exchange between Crito and Dionysius, this argument is first introduced, with Crito siding wit...

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