Republic | 
| Author: Plato
Creator: C. D. C. Reeve
Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company
Category: Book
List Price: $10.95
Buy Used: $5.00
You Save: $5.95 (54%)
New (22) Used (185) from $5.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 7599
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3rd
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 392
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 0872207366
Dewey Decimal Number: 321.07
EAN: 9780872207363
ASIN: 0872207366
Publication Date: September 30, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Since we sell hundreds of books a week I cannot guarantee that your book will be free of highlighting, will not have bent corners and will have CD. However, we do try our best to catagorize inventory properly. Our books may have bent corners and minor highlighting. Most do not but some do. We will try our best to make sure you get a good quality book but sometimes a bad one does sneak through. Please contact me if you think something has not been catagorized properly. We only sell U.S. Editions. If it does not say U.S. edition it is probably a cheap international edition that will not work for your class - no matter what they say. Since we sell hundreds of books a week I cannot guarantee that your book will be free of highlighting, will not have bent corners and will have CD. However, we do try our best to catagorize inventory properly. Our books may have bent corners and minor highlighting. Most do not but some do. We will try our best to make sure you get a good quality
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| Customer Reviews:
 Plato republic January 18, 2008
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
This was a Christmas gift for my college age son. Book was in excellent shape and delivered in a timely manner.
The Noble Lie and the body politic January 15, 2008
Plato's philosophies regarding how to organize society is very real in today's modern world. The ideas regarding the honor class are clearly seen if one looks closely. I think this book should be required reading at some point in high school--perhaps people would be better able to see the reasoning behind many social structures thereby allowing them to make more informed decisions about what they believe and to whom they consider to be good leaders.
Many people know about its importance although nowadays, just a few read it! December 20, 2006
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
The Republic is a grandiose work, without doubt the most important of Plato and one of the most impressive mankind' s intellectual monuments. Although it has regarded the Republic as the first politic utopia, one must not interpret this book solely as a work that it purposed itself as the description of an ideal State, but, above all as a text disposed to offer norms that, applied to the existent regimes at its historical moment, would rectify its deficiencies, specially in what concerned to Athenian democracy.
According Plato, the foru historical regimes are: the timocracy, the oligarchy, the democracy and the tyranny. So the democracy remained in a transient state between oligarchy and tyranny.
But this extraordinary essay does not exhaust itself in the theory of the State. Also contains the essence of the metaphysics and the theory of the knowledge. Specially famous the cavern's allegory, that exposes through a myth ( what so weird didn't you?) the platonic theory of the knowledge.
It has been said - with knack - that Peloponnesian War was the first ideological war in the history, dispute in which Esparto and Athens confronted themselves I mean the authoritarianism of the first one against the Athenian democracy, a true maritime Empire in those ages. and I think to myself that for Athens, the dispute was still more dramatic whereas some of their main families were traditionally enemies of its democratic system and obviously were congenial with Esparto, being perhaps the fundamental device that impulsed Plato to write this supreme bequeath for the posterity.
Thrasymachus was right, Socrates was wrong October 28, 2005
5 out of 25 found this review helpful
I just had one brief comment to make, more on the concept of justice as a whole as expounded on in The Republic, rather than on the many other facet's of Plato's classic.
Early on in the book there is the famous exchange between Socrates and the Sophist, Thrasymachus. Socrates asks him for his definition of Justice, and Thasymachus responds that "Justice is the interest of the stronger."
Socrates then uses his famous eponymous method to seemingly demolish the Sophist's position, and then presents his own view instead.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Thrasymachus here, if only on practical and historical grounds. Justice usually is the interest of the stronger. Perhaps this is not what Justice should be in human and social terms, but that's the reality.
Socrates' definition is a nice ideal to strive for, but it rarely works out that way in practice. If one thinks of Thrasymachus' definition as simply pragmatic and realistic, and Socrates' definition as being the ideal that a true republic (or whatever society) should strive for, then I think this is a more accurate view of the situation. Socrates makes Thrasymachus' idea appear invalid, but in fact, his idea is more accurate in terms of how things actually work out in most parts of the world (and even in the US) than is Socrates' idea.
Furthermore, one only has to think of the U.S. and how much influence the special and monied interests have on the political process to see that Thrasymachus is basically right. Money is power, and power is what politics is all about. And whoever has money controls the political process.
Not that this is right or even desirable, it's just the way things are. Finally, it seems to be human nature to falsely profess to high ideals that one has no real intention of following oneself, but that if one can get others to ascribe to them, you will have an advantage. Perhaps this is another factor at the root of politics, in addition to the obvious ones, which are the money, power, and sex that ultimately drive it.
Life in an unreal ideal world September 19, 2005
14 out of 19 found this review helpful
Plato's 'Republic' is one of the most important works of ancient Greek philosophy, and one of the foundation pieces of political science and political philosophy of that and subsequent ages. It was one of the first pieces I read when undertaking a political science degree.
Plato was not only a great philosopher, but also a great writer. While few master the classical Greek language sufficient to undertake its study in the original language, the text appears in countless translated forms of varying degrees of integrity. This particular translation is one that is often used in schools, and is fairly careful to the original text.
The text is traditionally divided into ten sections, although some scholars see this as being a function of the papyrus and scrolls of original composition more than being integral to the structure of the text itself. One of the interesting features of the Republic is that it was not originally intended for scholars and philosophers primarily, but for the common (albeit educated) reader, and remains one of the more accessible texts of ancient Greek philosophy.
In typical fashion, this is done in a dialogue fashion, with the lead character Socrates (fashioned after Plato's teacher, the great philosopher Socrates, although the words Socrates utters in this and many other Platonic dialogues are undoubtedly Plato's own). There is a discussion on method (the Sophist Thrasymachus shows up early to make disparaging comments about the Socratic method) whilst trying to determine an adequate definition of justice, as well as a discussion on the virtues and/or utility of wealth and old age early in the text. Socrates moves the discussion of justice away from the individual toward the communal, and this is where the political philosophy gets played out in full.
Book II shows the setting out of an ideal city (city-states being the most common form of political organisation in Greece at the time of Plato, with Athens and other cities competing for dominant role). Division of labour becomes an immediate necessity if a city grows beyond a small village setting, according to the theory here. These essentially become classes of people, with different rights and responsibilities, and different expectations of education and material well-being. The guardians or army class is the first one introduced, including an extensive discussion of the type of education and indoctrination such a class should have - this involves political and religious aspects.
It follows from this discussion that censorship is not only tolerated, but selectively preferred. The guardian class is elaborated upon - they are to be divided into rulers and helpers (officer and enlisted class, perhaps?), and they should live separately from the city they guard, owning no private property so as to not be corrupted or corruptible.
After establishing the just foundation of the city, the discussion returns to justice for the individual (interesting to note that what is not discussed is if justice is attainable in a non-ideal city). Justice, after all, is that state when everyone is doing what he or she should be doing, not meddling in other affairs, and exhibiting the virtues of moderation, wisdom, and courage. Justice becomes one of the virtues, and is part of an inner state of the soul of one living in such a society.
Interesting parts of the Republic include the very early idea for equal rights and responsibilities for women, particularly in the guardian class. It is unclear whether Plato was aware of how self-serving his dialogue would seem, since his argument leads to the `natural' conclusion that the only ones who could really be in charge in such an ideal city would be the philosophers. Plato is not an advocate for democracy, and pokes fun quite a bit at democratic structures; he similarly disapproves of most of other types of government (oligarchy, plutocracy, timocracy, etc.) - one can discern the frustrated politician here.
However, the real power of the Republic lies in Plato's remarkable images and metaphoric stories in the second half of the dialogue. These include his expositions on theories of the Forms, and trying to explain what the Good is, and how humankind interprets such things. The images of the ship, the Sun, and the men in the cave are powerful images that have lasted in popular literature since the time of Plato.
This is a classic of Western literature and of world literature.
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