The Republic (Thrift Editions) - Softcover

Plato

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486411214 ISBN 13: 9780486411217

Publisher: Dover Publications Inc., 2000

Synopsis

Famous philosophical treatise of the 4th century BC concerns itself chiefly with the idea of justice, as well as such Platonic theories as that of ideas, the criticism of poetry, and the philosopher's role. Source of the famous cave myth and prototype for other imaginary commonwealths, including those of Cicero, St. Augustine, and More. Benjamin Jowett translation.

About this title

Review:

"Must we not acknowledge...that in each of us there are the same principles and habits which there are in the State; and that from the individual they pass into the State?"

What does it mean to be good? What enables us to distinguish right from wrong? And how should human virtues be translated into a just society? These are the questions that Plato sought to answer in this monumental work of moral and political philosophy, a book surpassed only by the Bible in its formative influence on two thousand years of Western thought.

In the course of its tautly reasoned Socratic dialogues, The Republic accomplishes nothing less than an anatomy of the soul and an exhaustive description of a State that both mirrors and enforces the soul's ideal harmony. The resulting text is at once mystical and elegantly logical and may be read as a template for the societies in which most of us live today.

Vintage Classics are quality paperback editions of the world's greatest written works. They are durably bound and are printed exclusively on acid-free paper.

Book Description:

The late James Adam's edition of The Republic of Plato was published in 1902 and remains the most detailed and valuable critical edition available. D. A. Rees has written an introduction of 15,000 words for this edition. In it, he surveys Adam's work on the textual problems, language and meaning of The Republic.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications Inc.
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0486411214
• ISBN 13: 9780486411217
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320