The Republic
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Written around 375 BC, The Republic is Plato’s searching exploration of justice, political life and the nature of the good. Framed as a conversation led by Socrates, it begins with a deceptively simple question — what does it mean to be just? — and gradually unfolds into a vision of an ideal city, whose order reflects the structure of the human soul. Along the way, Plato considers education, poetry, the duties of rulers and the relationship between knowledge and power, while introducing some of the most enduring images in philosophy, including the Allegory of the Cave.
Both a dramatic work of extraordinary intellectual range and a foundational text of Western political thought, The Republic has shaped centuries of debate about government, morality and the responsibilities of the individual. Its arguments remain provocative, not least in their proposals for philosopher-rulers and the organisation of the state. At once philosophical enquiry and imaginative construction, it stands at the centre of Plato’s work and continues to ask what kind of life — and what kind of society — is worth pursuing.
From the book
“The highest reach of injustice is, to be deemed just when you are not.”
— Plato, The Republic (trans. Benjamin Jowett)
On The Republic
“If any books change the world, Republic has a good claim to first place.”
— Simon Blackburn, The Guardian