A NEW REPUBLIC

Plato's dates are from 428 to 348 BC. In his youth Plato associated with Socrates, his teacher in Athens, but when Socrates was executed in 399 BC, Plato fled to Megara and there determined to immortalize his beloved master in his famous dialogues. Soon after he set up his academy in Athens, the first university in history, and among his illustrious students was Aristotle who, after Plato's passing at 80 years of age, set up his own school called the Lyceum. The Republic is Plato's most important dialogue. Its theme is Justice or Right living and how to acquire it. It has three parts: what justice or right is not. What Justice is. And how to get it.

University of the Philippines

Plato’s The Republic seeks to answer the question “what is justice?” and attempts to reflect the philosophical of views of his teacher Socrates. The book begins with some of Socrates’ friends trying to figure out what justice is: (1) Justice is telling the truth and returning what you received (Cephalus), (2) justice is giving each his due (Polemarchus), and (3) justice is the advantage of the stronger (Thrasymachus). Socrates rejects each of these definitions. He starts a discussion to find out what true justice is and to discover whether the just man or the unjust man is happier. I admire Plato’s philosophy. He seems to be saying that “just” human beings produce “just” societies. There can never be any justice or goodness in this world if there is no justice or goodness in the human heart. This is a profound concept. While many tend to focus primarily on structures, rules, and rewards, Plato brings us to the heart of the problem, which is the problem of the human heart.

In his Republic, Plato seeks to understand what justice is and, moreover, how a just society can come to fruition. Starting with a basic village, he theoretically builds a kingdom from scratch, ultimately arriving at the conclusion that for an ideal (just) state to exist, a philosopher, who he considers to be the most just man, must be king. To understand how he develops this argument, I will first examine Plato's definition of a just man and why Plato asserts that this just man is most fit to rule. Then, I will look at why Plato believes the philosopher is indeed the most just of men and, moreover, how, if at all possible, that philosopher can claim a place on the throne. Finally, in an effort to understand whether Plato's ideal ruler can possibly exist in today's society, I will entertain contemporary criticism of the philosopher-king. On the whole, I hope to leave the reader with a solid grasp of Plato's reasoning in favor of the philosopher-king and of how we can interpret the philosopher-king from a modern perspective.

Plato Journal, 2012

Various ancient sources refer to the Platonic work that we know as Republic in the plural. Aristotle seems to have made it possible to refer to politeiai as 'constitutions', actual or written, and therefore some of our texts are best explained as references to Plato's two written constitutions, Republic and Laws. One neglected reference that may perhaps be explained in this way occurs in the anonymous Antiatticista. A large number of references from the Alexandrian school of Platonism in late antiquity cannot be explained in that way, and should be understood with reference to the prevalent interpretation of the Republic, which gives equal weight to the internal (psychic) and external (civic) constitutions. The trickiest question is what it means in the titles of three commentaries dating from the early imperial era.

Kritika&Kontext

The paper argues that there are two republics in the text of the Republic as we now have it, one expressed in Books II-IV and the other in Books V-VII. Based on the early books, the argument continues, one finds a distinction between what type a person is (what part of its soul is predominant in it) and whether a person is virtuous (what part of its soul rules it). Consequently, anyone, not only philosophers, can be just.

Society, 2009

Choice Reviews Online, 2006

Rhetoric and public affairs, 2018

This essay deconstructs the utilitarian argument justifying the social arrangement of Plato's Republic.

In the traditional interpretation, The Republic is a continuation of the discussions in Gorgias, according to which virtue and polis laws are tricks invented by a mass of weak people to capture the lust for power of the best individuals, few in number but naturally inclined to leads. The theses of Calicles of Gorgias resemble the ideas set forth by Trasymachus in Book I of The Republic. The central political theses expressed by Socrates in The Republic are: the best rulers are wise, the best rulers rule for the benefit of those led and not for their sake, it is very unlikely that a city will have the best rulers because there is a chasm between the values ​​of most people and the values ​​of the wise, the greatest harm to a city is civil strife for who should rule, harmony between citizens as to who should rule, and harmony requires the city to cultivate virtue and the rule of law. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.27958.57922