Plato: Republic (Paperback)

~ (Author), G. M. A. Grube (Author), (Author) "On his way back from the Piraeus, where he has been attending a religious festival, Socrates meets Polemarchus and goes with him to the house..." (more)
Key Phrases: unjust person, spirited part, philosophic nature, Harvard University Press (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Since its publication in 1974, scholars throughout the humanities have adopted G M A Grube's masterful translation of the Republic as the edition of choice for their study and teaching of Plato's most influential work. In this brilliant revision, C D C Reeve furthers Grube's success both in preserving the subtlety of Plato's philosophical argument and in rendering the dialogue in lively, fluent English, that remains faithful to the original Greek. This revision includes a new introduction, index, and bibliography by Reeve.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company; 2nd edition (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872201368
• ISBN-13: 978-0872201361
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,703 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Necessary Reading For ANYONE, July 27, 2000

By	John DePoe (Iowa City, Iowa USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Plato's Republic is unparalleled in its coverage of all areas of life. While Plato addresses metaphysical issues, he does so with language and analogies that most people can grasp with studious reading. But Plato talks about much more than metaphysics. Marriage, music, war, kings, procreation and more are all topics of discussion for Plato's dialog. In addition to the teachings about life, this book also offers a great introduction to philosophy. The famous "cave story" illustrates not only the purpose of philosophy, but also the inherent difficulties. While this book is absolutely necessary for students of philosophy and religion, I think there are golden truths for all people no matter what they do.

So, why this particular translation of the work? This translation offers the best ease in reading while mainting a tight grasp of the original Greek meanings of Plato's text. Besides, it isn't that expensive.

This book is clearly a timeless classic, and if you can't read classical Greek, this translation is probably the best you will get.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bedrock of Modern Philosophy, October 20, 2001

By	"the_kenosha_kid" (Kenosha, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

In the "Republic," Plato may or may not have accomplished what he set out to do, which is to define justice and prove that it is superior to injustice, irregardless of either's consequences. However, what he DID do is set the foundation for over two thousand years of thought. Read this work slowly; within each of the seemingly-simple discussions there is a world of though to be discovered. Anyone with the least bit of background in philosophical readings can literally read page-by-page, discovering the sources of many of the greatest philosophers of all-time. The "Republic" is not so much a work of literature as it is an explosion of thought; a ten-book brainstorm of one of the greatest minds of all-time. By the work's end, whether or not you feel Socrates to have successfully answered Glaucon's challenge is almost irrelevant, for the argument will have already left your mind reeling.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Translation But Poor Edition, February 11, 2006

By	Steven Larsen (Philadelphia, USA) - See all my reviews

This translation, the Grube-Reeve, was recommended to me along with Bloom's. I chose this. It is very readable with chapter summaries by the author.

The physical quality of this edition was a bit of a dissapointment. Hackett puts out editions cheaper than most, but usually they are of better quality than this. The paper is one step from newsprint. Not awful, but I would have liked something better.