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Plato's Republic (complete) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Albert A. Anderson (Editor), (Translator) "Socrates: I went down to the Piraeus yesterday with Glaucon, Ariston's son..." (more)
Key Phrases: mimetic poets, unjust person, mimetic poetry, The Iliad, The Odyssey, Plato's Republic (more...)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Plato was a teacher who used the dialogue form as a means of challenging his students to think deeply about how to live the best possible human life. Consider this hypothesis: Plato wrote each book of The Republic to be performed by actors playing the characters of Socrates, Glaucon, Adeimantus, Thrasymachus, and the others. When Book One was performed, he then invited his students, the brightest and best young people in Athens, critically to respond to each and every argument, issue, and question posed by the characters. Rather than passively watching and listening, they were lured into the process and challenged to evaluate and improve on the ideas presented in the performance. Based on their responses, Plato then wrote Book Two. The same process was repeated, and Book Three was generated. In this way all ten books evolved as part of a dynamic and creative dialectic intended to take place in the soul of each participant including Plato himself. That would also mean that the work is not yet finished, because each new participant joins in the ongoing process of interpretation and evaluation. In that way, Plato s ideas are inscribed in the medium of the soul, which continues to live. Agora Publications, Inc., invites you to join in this same drama that has been playing for more than 2,400 years.

Language Notes

Text: English, Greek --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

Paperback: 408 pages
Publisher: Agora Publications, Incorporated (July 15, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1887250255
ISBN-13: 978-1887250252
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #613,587 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Plato

Benjamin Jowett

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Socrates: I went down to the Piraeus yesterday with Glaucon, Ariston's son. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
mimetic poets, unjust person, mimetic poetry, unnecessary pleasures, unique excellence, unjust people, entire republic

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Iliad, The Odyssey, Plato's Republic, Harvard University Press

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 2 books:

Works and Days (Oxford University Press academic monograph reprints) by Hesiod on page 79, and page 217
The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. 1: The Spell of Plato by Sir Karl Raimund Popper on page 4

100 books cite this book:

The Blackwell Guide to Plato's Republic (Blackwell Guides to Great Works) by Gerasimos Santas on 6 pages
The Blackwell Guide to Plato's Republic (Blackwell Guides to Great Works) by Gerasimos Santas on 6 pages
The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. 1: The Spell of Plato by Sir Karl Raimund Popper on 5 pages
Conduct and Behavior as Determinants for the Afterlife: A Comparison of the Judgments of the Dead in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece by Gary A., Ph.D. Stilwell on 4 pages
The Seduction of Culture in German History by Wolf Lepenies in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Classics of Moral And Political Theory by Michael L. Morgan

Discusses:

Exiling the Poets by Ramona A. Naddaff

Discusses:

The Blackwell Guide to Plato's Republic by Gerasimos Santas

Discusses:

The Cambridge Companion to Plato by Richard Kraut

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	71% buy the item featured on this page: Plato's Republic (complete) 4.8 out of 5 stars (6) $18.00
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Republic of Actors, September 27, 2005

By	FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Plato's 'Republic' is one of the most important works of ancient Greek philosophy, and one of the foundation pieces of political science and political philosophy of that and subsequent ages. It was one of the first pieces I read when undertaking a political science degree.

Plato was not only a great philosopher, but also a great writer. While few master the classical Greek language sufficient to undertake its study in the original language, the text appears in countless translated forms of varying degrees of integrity. This particular translation is one that is often used in schools, and is fairly careful to the original text.

The text is traditionally divided into ten sections, although some scholars see this as being a function of the papyrus and scrolls of original composition more than being integral to the structure of the text itself. One of the interesting features of the Republic is that it was not originally intended for scholars and philosophers primarily, but for the common (albeit educated) reader, and remains one of the more accessible texts of ancient Greek philosophy.

In typical fashion, this is done in a dialogue fashion, with the lead character Socrates (fashioned after Plato's teacher, the great philosopher Socrates, although the words Socrates utters in this and many other Platonic dialogues are undoubtedly Plato's own). There is a discussion on method (the Sophist Thrasymachus shows up early to make disparaging comments about the Socratic method) whilst trying to determine an adequate definition of justice, as well as a discussion on the virtues and/or utility of wealth and old age early in the text. Socrates moves the discussion of justice away from the individual toward the communal, and this is where the political philosophy gets played out in full.

Book II shows the setting out of an ideal city (city-states being the most common form of political organisation in Greece at the time of Plato, with Athens and other cities competing for dominant role). Division of labour becomes an immediate necessity if a city grows beyond a small village setting, according to the theory here. These essentially become classes of people, with different rights and responsibilities, and different expectations of education and material well-being. The guardians or army class is the first one introduced, including an extensive discussion of the type of education and indoctrination such a class should have - this involves political and religious aspects.

It follows from this discussion that censorship is not only tolerated, but selectively preferred. The guardian class is elaborated upon - they are to be divided into rulers and helpers (officer and enlisted class, perhaps?), and they should live separately from the city they guard, owning no private property so as to not be corrupted or corruptible.

After establishing the just foundation of the city, the discussion returns to justice for the individual (interesting to note that what is not discussed is if justice is attainable in a non-ideal city). Justice, after all, is that state when everyone is doing what he or she should be doing, not meddling in other affairs, and exhibiting the virtues of moderation, wisdom, and courage. Justice becomes one of the virtues, and is part of an inner state of the soul of one living in such a society.

Interesting parts of the Republic include the very early idea for equal rights and responsibilities for women, particularly in the guardian class. It is unclear whether Plato was aware of how self-serving his dialogue would seem, since his argument leads to the `natural' conclusion that the only ones who could really be in charge in such an ideal city would be the philosophers. Plato is not an advocate for democracy, and pokes fun quite a bit at democratic structures; he similarly disapproves of most of other types of government (oligarchy, plutocracy, timocracy, etc.) - one can discern the frustrated politician here.

However, the real power of the Republic lies in Plato's remarkable images and metaphoric stories in the second half of the dialogue. These include his expositions on theories of the Forms, and trying to explain what the Good is, and how humankind interprets such things. The images of the ship, the Sun, and the men in the cave are powerful images that have lasted in popular literature since the time of Plato.

This is a classic of Western literature and of world literature.

The particular text here is from Benjamin Jowett's translation of 1873. It has been rendered into a form for public performance by actors; the editor makes the reasonable claim that Plato might have had the intention of having this acted out for and among the students. This same technique could be used to put more life into the material for present-day students. While the interpretation of the text may be a bit sketchy at times (there are much better editions available now than Jowett's), it still is an intriguing idea.

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The classic--what did you expect?, October 26, 2005

By	magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: Plato's Republic (Hardcover)

There probably isn't much I can add in a scholarly vein to what people have already said about Plato. So I thought I would make a few personal observations from the standpoint of a somewhat philosophically literate, 21st century man who is reading such an august classic in middle age.

I came to this book with more of a background in modern epistemology and the philosophy of science than in classical philosophy. So political philosophy isn't exactly my strong suit, but nevertheless I found the book interesting reading in a way I hadn't really thought of before.

Actually, I had read portions of this book 20 years ago when I was a young student first studying philosophy, and I have to say, there is something to be said for having a more mature outlook in approaching such a venerable work. At the time I thought political philosophy pretty dull stuff, and besides, I felt there was no real way to answer any of the important political questions that get debated here, despite the easy way Socrates disposes of everybody else's half-baked opinions and theories.

The fact is, if you move ahead 2400 years and read something like Karl Popper's "The Open Society and Its Enemies," an advanced modern work, you can see how much, or how little, political philosophy has progressed in the last 24 centuries.

Well, that may be true, but at least with this book you know where it basically all started. The best way to decide this issue is to read the book and decide for yourself.

Although entitled "The Republic," this society isn't like any republic you've probably ever read about. Plato proposes an ant- like communism where there is no private ownership of property, philosophers are kings, kings are philosophers, people cultivate physical, moral, and ethical qualities, and the idea of the good takes the place of political and social virtues.

Another odd facet is that the bravest citizens are permitted more wives than those less brave in battle. And then there is the infamous proposition that all poets and artists are to be banished since they are harmful purveyors of false illusions.

I find the Socratic method as a way of moving along the dialogue between the participants sort of interesting, and it is certainly an effective device. However, none of these people, even the famous Sophist Thrasymachus, are really Socrates' intellectual equal, so he really doesn't have much competition here.

(Cheap shot from the "Peanut Gallery"--not to digress too much, here, but if Socrates was supposed to be so wise, how come he married such a shrewish woman for a wife, Xantippe? They joked about how funny and incongruous that was even in Socrates's day).

There was one other thing I was wondering about. If ancient Athens disproportionately had so many towering intellects, relative to its small population (about 20,000 people, most of whom were slaves anyway), you'd think they would show up in Plato's dialogues more. But all we seem to get are second-raters who are really no match for the clever Socrates. Of course, since the dialogues we have were written down by Socrates' most famous student, Plato, perhaps the cards were stacked a little in his teacher's favor.

Yet I would say this is still a great book. Classical scholars say there are more perfect, less flawed dialogues than Plato's Republic, but none that are as profound, wide-ranging, and as influential and important for later philosophy. As someone once wrote, in a sense the entire history of western philosophy "consists of nothing but footnotes to Plato." After finally reading it, I can see why there is so much truth to that statement.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love the CD version of this book., November 15, 2008

By	From_Plano_TX "a_customer_from_plano" (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plato's Republic (complete) (Audio CD)

The CD version is $125, but you get all 10 books of the Republic on 10 CDs. Each book has its own CD, each an hour or longer. It's not just 1 reader. The book is a dialog and the audio book version has a number of actors playing the different roles of the dialog. William Siglis plays Socrates and he does a wonderful job. He has a distinctive voice and performs his role very well, inflecting his voice, chuckling, he acts!

I gasped at the price, but I say it is well worth it. You get over 20 hours of stimulating discourse. There is nothing else like it. The reviews for the paperback book are mingled with this review of the CD.

Here's a link to the CD version if you haven't found it yet (it is under "Also Available as: audio CD"

Here's the link: Plato's Republic (complete)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Reason allows us to live for something
I read Plato's Republic for a graduate philosophy class. I paid close attention to Plato's thesis of courage in his Republic, which I expound below. I found G. M. A. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Michael A Neulander

5.0 out of 5 stars Really great
This version is a really nice one, better than others I've seen. It's easy to navigate because it has the table of contents and the text is actually formatted.

Published 14 months ago by E-Reader

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Makes me wish I had read it when I was younger. Perhaps I wouldn't have liked a required reading in school, but as an older adult I found it interesting.

Published on October 20, 2007 by Bruce Armstrong

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