La República. Libro VII

by Plato, Platón

...

Genres: Philosophy, Read For School

89 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Plato (Greek: Πλάτων), born Aristocles (c. 427 – 348 BC), was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. He raised problems for what became all the major areas of both theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy, and was the founder of the Platonic Academy, a philosophical school in Athens where Plato taught the doctrines that would later become known as Platonism.
Plato's most famous contribution is the theory of forms (or ideas), which has been interpreted as advancing a solution to what is now known as the problem of universals. He was decisively influenced by the pre-Socratic thinkers Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, although much of what is known about them is derived from Plato himself.
Along with his teacher Socrates, and Aristotle, his student, Plato is a central figure in the history of philosophy. Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years—unlike that of nearly all of his contemporaries. Although their popularity has fluctuated, they have consistently been read and studied through the ages. Through Neoplatonism, he also greatly influenced both Christian and Islamic philosophy. In modern times, Alfred North Whitehead famously said: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."

Reviews

[Scott Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely one of my top 10 philosophical books of all time. It contains the classic ethos of Plato's Cave, theory of education, and anti-mechanistic pursuit of ends in goodness, truth, and beauty beyond the realm of becoming.

Read for Anselm House 2026 Fellowship.

[busé]

read for: introduction to literary theory

[Steph Cook]

It’s always such a pleasure to stumble across a piece of philosophy that almost immediately shifts the trajectory of your path. I think I will look back on Plato’s allegory of the cave as being one such philosophy.

[Berend Vendel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visionary, but too static

[Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's never that serious

[Atles · Rating 3 out of 5]

sympa, sans grande revelation, on y apprend le rôle des philosophes dans la république et la manière dont ils doivent être éduqué.

[★⋆★⋆★ Liv ★⋆★⋆★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for a class. It’s a philosophical classic, but like most in this genre it’s extremely wordy and unnecessarily difficult to understand.

[Ramona Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books VI and VII contain the crux of Plato’s view of knowledge. He uses the metaphors of the sun, the divided line, and the cave to explain his views. Plato has a dualistic view of the world: the physical realm and then the intelligent/ideal realm. In the example of the cave, the prisoners view the shadows on the wall as real. With the fire giving light and the gaze only in one direction, the prisoners assume the shadows on the wall are reality. The goal of a philosopher is to break those metaphorical chains and move from ignorance to knowledge. What one sees in the physical world is an imperfect form of the real thing. The real thing resides in the intelligent realm. Plato understands that absolute goodness is the ideal form that allows one’s intelligence to distinguish knowledge and truth.