What do you think?
Rate this book
Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Plato and the Republic
Plato is one of the most important figures in Western thought. The Republic is his most important, and most widely studied, work. This GuideBook will steer the reader clearly through this work.
Plato and the Republic will introduce and
* Plato's life and the background to the Republic
* The text and ideas of the Republic
* Plato's continuing importance to Western thought
Ideal for students coming to Plato for the first time, this GuideBook will be vital for all students of Plato in philosophy, politics and classics at all levels.
Plato and the Republic will introduce and
* Plato's life and the background to the Republic
* The text and ideas of the Republic
* Plato's continuing importance to Western thought
Ideal for students coming to Plato for the first time, this GuideBook will be vital for all students of Plato in philosophy, politics and classics at all levels.
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
248 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1995
12 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 3, 2014
Find the Full Review to The Republic
: Here>>
The following is only a skeletal memory framework I prepared in parallel with my notes. Posted here for self-reference. Also, glad to discuss any of the points - if anybody can make sense of it!
Later ancient editors, not Plato himself, divided the Republic into ten ‘Books’, and the divisions are largely arbitrary. The abrupt transitions and the common play across books force the following grouping on the reader.
Book 1
1. Dismiss age as authority - Cephalus (age as substitute to wisdom? - Also represents wealth)
2. Dismiss conventional views of justice (also overturn arrogance and false authority)
- Wealth?
- Giving as per due?
- we have not found out what justice is, but we have discovered several things that it is not.
3. Might is Right? - Overturned by an enquiry into purpose of any occupation, including that of ruler
- Plenty of “Arguments from Analogy” here - functions of doctor, pilots, etc
4. Perfect Injustice is Perfect Bliss! - Overturned by arguing that in an unjust life (ignorant, no friends, no peace), happiness not possible - Thrasymachus converted.
5. Intro over: All the questions that have been asked here will be raised again later: the definition of ''Justice," the function of the ruler, the intelligence, strength, and happiness of the just man.
Book 2+3
1. What intrinsic value does Justice have?
- Unjust man who has a reputation for being just - perfect bliss!
- Seeming just better than being just?
2. Glaucon and Adeimantus have now given Thrasymachus' view its final and very forceful statement.
- Show in particular is why it is better for a man to lead a just life than to lead an unjust life.
- For if justice is really a good thing, then it must still be good even when it is stripped of its "adornments" - the rewards and good reputation that normally go with it.
3. S says let us look at the macro level first - STATE
4. Construction proceeds
- Necessary citizens populated
- Luxuries added - for a fully "civilized" state.
- So, says Socrates, we shall need poets and painters, artists and musicians, servants and ladies' maids.
- Now the territory of our little state will have become too small for the growing population - we shall want a slice of our neighbors' territory
- War => Soldiers needed! => Great training needed
- Discretion and philosophic temperament" To be inculcated - need for perfect education!
- each man must have only one job or function in life
5. Lengthy account of the education and training of the Guardians
- Minds and character - Censorship, baby!
- Physical + Military Training - Temperance and Gymnastics
6. Three classes of citizens: the rulers, the auxiliaries, and the craftsmen
- Myth of the Metals - Time for the “grand and noble lie”! - Mythmaking, baby!
Book 4+5
1. Spartan Style Guardians - Utilitarian approach to happiness!
2. Legislation - leave it alone, let us not bother! Ha!
3. Four great virtues of wisdom, courage, discipline and justice.
- Wisdom - ruler
- Courage - Auxiliaries
- Discipline (often called ''temperance") - in all! - Crucial
- Justice is the residue and the root - the base of the first three!
- So? what makes our state just is simply the fact that each citizen performs one role in life, the role to which he is best suited!!
4’. Justice-in-the state" has now been defined
5. If this definition of justice-in-the-state is to throw light on "justice-in-man," then - man, like a state, is also made up of three "parts'' or "elements."
6. We discover the three parts of the mind:
- a) reason,
- b) the emotional or spirited part,
- c) desire.
- In a good and well-educated man, reason will always be in control of the other two parts of his mind
7. The three parts of the mind correspond exactly to the three classes of the state: reason corresponds to the rulers, the emotional part corresponds to the auxiliaries, and desire corresponds to the craftsmen class
8. The four Cardinal Virtues in MAN:
- A man is wise if he has wisdom in the reasoning part of his mind, and
- He is courageous if he has courage in the emotional or spirited part.
- A man is disciplined or self-controlled when his reason is in charge, and when his emotions and desires do not struggle against his reason.
9. Justice? We saw that a state was just when each of its three classes performed its proper duties and did not interfere with the others. And so it is with a man.
10. Interlude: Freud’s classification: the ego, the superego, and the id??
11. “well-ordered-soul”!! Is Justice
12. Whenever the natural order of the three parts is upset, the result will be injustice!
13. Digression: Life in the Ideal State - Equality of Women (and commonality of Family)
- Like one large family, baby!
- All brothers and sisters
- Throw in a bit of eugenics too!
14. ALL this Practical, at all?
- No :) admits S
15. Define Philosopher! - Wisdom Vs Opinion!
16. Theory of Forms, baby! - the real vs the image
Book 6+7
1. Why should a Philosopher rule? - Because they know best!
2. Then why are they so useless in normal societies? - Because they get no opportunity!
- Let the ideal state come -then we will see who is useless!
3. Back to Education - what is the highest Good?
4. Theory of Ideas, baby! - visible vs intelligible forms!
- Analogy of the Sun => Allegory of the Cave
- Bonus: Mathematical posturing! :)
5. So, how to educate based on this? - Branches of study!
- The five branches are: arithmetic, plane geometry, solid geometry, astronomy, and harmonics
6. But these five branches only the first step - main thing: science of logical argument - "Dialectic"
7. Or grasping the real Good or Idea by logic and argument!
8. Study Program:
- 0-18 - gymnastics first, then literature and music
- Test and select the Best
- 18-21 - military training
- Selection again!
- 21-30 - Selected taken for advanced course in Mathematics!
- Rest remain as soldiers
- @ 30, again selection!
- 30-35 - those sleeted will study Dialectic!
- @ 35 - those selected are now sent for junior level training in admin
- @ 50 - the best become philosopher-kings! Yay!
Book 8+9
1. So, back to Self - why is a Just life better?
2. Four types of states and four types of men: Timocracy, Oligarchy (or Plutocracy), Democracy, and Tyranny (or Despotism)
3. The Decline of the State and of the Individual: Or Four stages of Decay of our Ideal State!
4. First Honor, then Money, then Freedom and finally power is craved in this degenerative process!
5. Democracy only the Second worst, baby!
- In State and Man - treat all his desires and pleasures equally and ''democratically" => everyone/ every faculty not doing its own assigned job - bingo, loser!
- Tyrannical man - base desires are now the tyrants - worst form of existence!
6. Who can best distinguish the pleasures of the four types and control them? - Philosopher, only!
7. Only he knows the pleasures of Knowledge (out-of-cave experience, baby!)
8. More Mathematical Posturing! :)
9. Unjust man starves that part of him that is truly human, his reason
- he flatters and overfeeds the worst and most inhuman parts, his lusts and desires!
- If a man is to lead a good and happy life, he must be guided by reason.
10. And if his own reason is not powerful enough to control his life, then he should be guided by the reason and intelligence of others
11. Ideal State, baby!
Book 10
1. Censorship, Afterlife, Transmigration of souls, the whole shebang! (S was embarrassed, in his defense!)
τελείωσε
The following is only a skeletal memory framework I prepared in parallel with my notes. Posted here for self-reference. Also, glad to discuss any of the points - if anybody can make sense of it!
Later ancient editors, not Plato himself, divided the Republic into ten ‘Books’, and the divisions are largely arbitrary. The abrupt transitions and the common play across books force the following grouping on the reader.
Book 1
1. Dismiss age as authority - Cephalus (age as substitute to wisdom? - Also represents wealth)
2. Dismiss conventional views of justice (also overturn arrogance and false authority)
- Wealth?
- Giving as per due?
- we have not found out what justice is, but we have discovered several things that it is not.
3. Might is Right? - Overturned by an enquiry into purpose of any occupation, including that of ruler
- Plenty of “Arguments from Analogy” here - functions of doctor, pilots, etc
4. Perfect Injustice is Perfect Bliss! - Overturned by arguing that in an unjust life (ignorant, no friends, no peace), happiness not possible - Thrasymachus converted.
5. Intro over: All the questions that have been asked here will be raised again later: the definition of ''Justice," the function of the ruler, the intelligence, strength, and happiness of the just man.
Book 2+3
1. What intrinsic value does Justice have?
- Unjust man who has a reputation for being just - perfect bliss!
- Seeming just better than being just?
2. Glaucon and Adeimantus have now given Thrasymachus' view its final and very forceful statement.
- Show in particular is why it is better for a man to lead a just life than to lead an unjust life.
- For if justice is really a good thing, then it must still be good even when it is stripped of its "adornments" - the rewards and good reputation that normally go with it.
3. S says let us look at the macro level first - STATE
4. Construction proceeds
- Necessary citizens populated
- Luxuries added - for a fully "civilized" state.
- So, says Socrates, we shall need poets and painters, artists and musicians, servants and ladies' maids.
- Now the territory of our little state will have become too small for the growing population - we shall want a slice of our neighbors' territory
- War => Soldiers needed! => Great training needed
- Discretion and philosophic temperament" To be inculcated - need for perfect education!
- each man must have only one job or function in life
5. Lengthy account of the education and training of the Guardians
- Minds and character - Censorship, baby!
- Physical + Military Training - Temperance and Gymnastics
6. Three classes of citizens: the rulers, the auxiliaries, and the craftsmen
- Myth of the Metals - Time for the “grand and noble lie”! - Mythmaking, baby!
Book 4+5
1. Spartan Style Guardians - Utilitarian approach to happiness!
2. Legislation - leave it alone, let us not bother! Ha!
3. Four great virtues of wisdom, courage, discipline and justice.
- Wisdom - ruler
- Courage - Auxiliaries
- Discipline (often called ''temperance") - in all! - Crucial
- Justice is the residue and the root - the base of the first three!
- So? what makes our state just is simply the fact that each citizen performs one role in life, the role to which he is best suited!!
4’. Justice-in-the state" has now been defined
5. If this definition of justice-in-the-state is to throw light on "justice-in-man," then - man, like a state, is also made up of three "parts'' or "elements."
6. We discover the three parts of the mind:
- a) reason,
- b) the emotional or spirited part,
- c) desire.
- In a good and well-educated man, reason will always be in control of the other two parts of his mind
7. The three parts of the mind correspond exactly to the three classes of the state: reason corresponds to the rulers, the emotional part corresponds to the auxiliaries, and desire corresponds to the craftsmen class
8. The four Cardinal Virtues in MAN:
- A man is wise if he has wisdom in the reasoning part of his mind, and
- He is courageous if he has courage in the emotional or spirited part.
- A man is disciplined or self-controlled when his reason is in charge, and when his emotions and desires do not struggle against his reason.
9. Justice? We saw that a state was just when each of its three classes performed its proper duties and did not interfere with the others. And so it is with a man.
10. Interlude: Freud’s classification: the ego, the superego, and the id??
11. “well-ordered-soul”!! Is Justice
12. Whenever the natural order of the three parts is upset, the result will be injustice!
13. Digression: Life in the Ideal State - Equality of Women (and commonality of Family)
- Like one large family, baby!
- All brothers and sisters
- Throw in a bit of eugenics too!
14. ALL this Practical, at all?
- No :) admits S
15. Define Philosopher! - Wisdom Vs Opinion!
16. Theory of Forms, baby! - the real vs the image
Book 6+7
1. Why should a Philosopher rule? - Because they know best!
2. Then why are they so useless in normal societies? - Because they get no opportunity!
- Let the ideal state come -then we will see who is useless!
3. Back to Education - what is the highest Good?
4. Theory of Ideas, baby! - visible vs intelligible forms!
- Analogy of the Sun => Allegory of the Cave
- Bonus: Mathematical posturing! :)
5. So, how to educate based on this? - Branches of study!
- The five branches are: arithmetic, plane geometry, solid geometry, astronomy, and harmonics
6. But these five branches only the first step - main thing: science of logical argument - "Dialectic"
7. Or grasping the real Good or Idea by logic and argument!
8. Study Program:
- 0-18 - gymnastics first, then literature and music
- Test and select the Best
- 18-21 - military training
- Selection again!
- 21-30 - Selected taken for advanced course in Mathematics!
- Rest remain as soldiers
- @ 30, again selection!
- 30-35 - those sleeted will study Dialectic!
- @ 35 - those selected are now sent for junior level training in admin
- @ 50 - the best become philosopher-kings! Yay!
Book 8+9
1. So, back to Self - why is a Just life better?
2. Four types of states and four types of men: Timocracy, Oligarchy (or Plutocracy), Democracy, and Tyranny (or Despotism)
3. The Decline of the State and of the Individual: Or Four stages of Decay of our Ideal State!
4. First Honor, then Money, then Freedom and finally power is craved in this degenerative process!
5. Democracy only the Second worst, baby!
- In State and Man - treat all his desires and pleasures equally and ''democratically" => everyone/ every faculty not doing its own assigned job - bingo, loser!
- Tyrannical man - base desires are now the tyrants - worst form of existence!
6. Who can best distinguish the pleasures of the four types and control them? - Philosopher, only!
7. Only he knows the pleasures of Knowledge (out-of-cave experience, baby!)
8. More Mathematical Posturing! :)
9. Unjust man starves that part of him that is truly human, his reason
- he flatters and overfeeds the worst and most inhuman parts, his lusts and desires!
- If a man is to lead a good and happy life, he must be guided by reason.
10. And if his own reason is not powerful enough to control his life, then he should be guided by the reason and intelligence of others
11. Ideal State, baby!
Book 10
1. Censorship, Afterlife, Transmigration of souls, the whole shebang! (S was embarrassed, in his defense!)
τελείωσε
April 25, 2013
This book was hugely helpful to me in understanding "Republic" and it provides excellent recommendations for further reading. Pappas goes through Plato's text and numbers the parts of Plato's arguments, then uses the numbers in later chapters to link the development of ideas through the book. I find this approach very helpful for explaining the tangents that appear throughout the dialogue and then relating the tangents to the main arguments presented by Thrasymachus and Plato's brothers.
September 30, 2021
I only read half of this book also. It is slightly better than the one by Annas, since it avoids much of her tediousness, but he is doing something even worse for me, isolating "premises", once again even in places where there is nothing further to discover than what everyone would think even without the supposed added clarity that they sometimes provide. I don't understand why would anyone choose to alienate all his non-professional readers like that. Other than that, it is a much lighter and less exhaustive than Annas but that's definitely a plus for me.
Read
July 6, 2020The best book ever about philosophy topic and I think the adults must read it and suggest to the young people and every college must study it.
I highly highly recommended to everyone who seek happiness justice and know politics
I highly highly recommended to everyone who seek happiness justice and know politics
April 14, 2014
I read this companion to Plato's "Republic" in preparation for a major pass/fail exam in philosophy and I was pretty impressed. The book is interesting, fast-paced, accessible, and yet advanced enough for graduate students in philosophy like myself who are coming to Plato's work for the first time. Highly recommended.
July 7, 2016
A really great book on Plato's Republic, but more than a guidebook: it does put forth an interpretation of Plato that is not always generally accepted. Our professor constantly criticized Pappas for making certain arguments. One should read this book with a critical mind. As an introduction, a more neutral book might be better.
Read
November 28, 20161
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews