Plato's Republic

The author, by his own admission, is neither historian nor classicist. Even though it is not mentioned, through the pristine formulations, critical but not arrogant analysis, it becomes perfectly clear that the author is, in fact, a fellow philosopher. A true philosopher does not write a hagiography......more

hmmmmm........ Having just read the Republic I read this hoping to gain a clearer, but deeper understanding of it. I rarely read secondary texts and went in with fairly high expectations, thinking that clarifying and expanding was kind of the point of secondary texts. But this book seemed to be aimed......more

Plato is one of the dominant forces, if not THE dominant force in the history of Western philosophy. It has been said (with a load of exaggeration but also a grain of truth) that Western philosophy consists of nothing but footnotes to Plato. I love Greek history and am an admirer of Greek thought an......more

The Republic is an fascinating and enigmatic book--in many ways, it influence of "Western" philosophy is almost strange given its esoteric calculations, anti-democratic sentiment, obvious theological assumptions, and a mathematical logic that is purely geometric being applied to political and social......more

(Jim Cook’s review). First, let me say I enjoy the “books that changed the world “ series from Atlantic, of which Blackburn’s Republic is one. The best of these is the one by Francis Whehan on Marx’s Capital. Although Blackburn is not a terribly sympathetic reviewer his account is reasonably balance......more