The Republic by Plato

Okay one review down. Here’s another.

The Republic by Plato

This was a tough one. I had previously read this book as a sophomore in college and then picked it up again for Thinking Man (see the last entry for background.) Honestly, this is a tough one to get through. But it’s totally worth it if you can slog through the dense prose and antiquated language.

What the book is “about” is Plato, via Socrates, arguing with some dudes about how to create the perfect government. The government that Plato arrives at is a little autocratic. In his ideal state kids abilities are pegged and they are provided the job they are best at. This will ensure they are always “happy.” The idea being that you’ll naturally gravitate towards what your good at so if you’re always doing what your good at you’ll always be happy. But Plato’s conception of the perfect government isn’t where the action is at in this book.

No, the real action in Plato comes from the analogy of the cave. This is fairly famous example from the book but it is good. In this analog Plato talks about forms. Without going too in-depth forms are what reality emulates and the closer that we get to the form the closer reality gets to perfection. But we can never get there completely. Why is this the aforementioned “action?”

Because The Republic sets the ground for all of modern philosophy until the 1960s and the arrival of non-rational philosophy. Several hundred years after Plato’s death Augustine would synthesize Christianity with Platonic philosophy. How did he manage to do this? The reason is that as Christians we believe that this world is just a fallen “preview” of heaven. We can live in this world but we look expectantly to the next. This is very similar to Plato’s idea of forms.

"So in about 2000 years people who study
us won't be qualified to do anything except serve food!"

How does it help me to be a Man?

This book, in addition to the stuff mentioned above, also discusses the topics of justice, fairness, government, religion, and more. Once you read it you will understand why philosophers have constantly referred back to this book for centuries. Furthermore, you will see through Plato’s rigorous questioning how we can refine and improve our arguments and the arguments of others.

Recommendation

As mentioned earlier this book is a tough read and not very exciting. You could read the cliffs notes but don’t cheat yourself! Taking the time to read and understand The Republic is a reward in and of itself. Read it at least once so that you understand all of the basic questions of all of western philosophy.