Apology
Plato · Ancient · Philosophy, dialogue
Ancient · Philosophy
The Republic
by Plato. The Republic asks what justice is by enlarging the question from a person to a city, then testing education, political power, knowledge, art, and desire against that model.
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- Date
- c. 375 BCE
- Origin
- Ancient Greece
- Era
- Ancient
- Genre
- Philosophy
- Canon tier
- Essential core
- Difficulty
- Challenging
- Length
- Long
- Reading time
- 14–20 hours
- Collection
- The Western Canon
Subjects and themes
Why it matters
Few books have more strongly shaped arguments about justice, education, censorship, expertise, political order, and the relationship between philosophy and public life.
This work is included on the basis of great books / bloom / harvard. Its cataloged influence level is 5 out of 5.
Before you read
Treat the dialogue as an argument in motion rather than a policy manual. Socrates repeatedly changes scale, introduces images, and follows provisional definitions to expose their consequences.
Historical context
The work belongs to a Greek world marked by rivalry among political regimes and by Athens’s recent instability. Its ideal city is also a device for examining the divided soul.
Edition and translation notes
Useful editions explain recurring Greek terms without pretending that one English equivalent settles their meaning.
What to read before
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Access and editions
2 reviewed free-access sources are available in the interactive reader. 1 edition recommendation is available.
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