The Republic
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Philosophy students and humanities and social science enthusiasts who need training in primary texts
- Readers of politics and law who want to understand the origins of questions about justice and regimes
- Teachers and book club leaders looking for a classic text that can be discussed chapter by chapter
- General readers willing to read slowly and think deeply, and to accept the mode of argument in dialogue form
Not a good fit for
- Readers who want quick, conclusion-style knowledge and are unwilling to follow long arguments
- Complete beginners unfamiliar with ancient Greek history and the dialogue form who have no need for a guide
- Readers who only want plot or story and lack patience for abstract discussion
Reading tips
- Read Book One first to grasp the starting point of the question of "justice", then proceed book by book, restating the core argument in your own words after each book.
- Keep pen and paper ready to mark key images and turns in the dialogue, especially where Socrates asks counter-questions and where his interlocutors concede.
- Use a reliable guide or glossary to clarify basic frameworks such as the city and the tripartite soul before returning to the text.
- In a book club, divide the work by topic—education, poetry and imitation, the philosopher-king—and have each person gather textual evidence before discussing.
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
FAQ
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About the author
Plato (c. 427–347 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher. Reliable details of his life are limited in public sources, and his thought and writings are generally known through later accounts. The library holds 65 of his works, including the multi-volume Republic (Πολιτεία), the Symposium, and the Phaedo. These works are mostly dialogues with Socrates as the central figure, unfolding through question and answer around justice, the governance of the city, love, the soul, and knowledge, combining philosophical inquiry with dramatic literary form. The Republic, which discusses the ideal city and justice, is especially influential. Plato's style is marked by analogy, argument, and open-ended conclusions, and he has had a lasting influence on later Western philosophy and political thought.
