The Republic
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Birth name of Aristocles, later nicknamed Platon that
means broad,
A Greek Philosopher
student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle
Plato’s father, Ariston, came from the kings of Athens
and Messenia. His mother, Perictione, might be related to
the 6th century BCE Greek statesman Solon. Its still
unknown
Born between 429 and 423 BC in Athens or Aegina but it is
unsure
Founded one of the earliest schools the Grove of
Hecademus or Academus
Death: On a bed while some Thracian girl was playing the
flute, or at a wedding feast, or simply in his bed
Bio
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Book 1: SOCRATES – GLAUCON, Topic: "Of Wealth, Justice,
Moderation, and Their Opposites"
Book 2: SOCRATES – GLAUCON, Topic: The Individual, the
State, and Education
Book 3: SOCRATES – ADEIMANTUS, Topoic: "The Arts in
Education"
Book 4: ADEIMANTUS – SOCRATES, Topic: "Wealth, Poverty,
and Virtue"
Book 5: SOCRATES - GLAUCON – ADEIMANTUS, Topic:"On
Matrimony and Philosophy"
Book 6: SOCRATES – GLAUCON, Topic: "On Matrimony and
Philosophy"
Book 7: SOCRATES – GLAUCON, Topic: "The Philosophy of
Government"
Book 8: SOCRATES – GLAUCON, Topic:”On Shadows and
Realities in Education"
Book 9: SOCRATES – ADEIMANTUS, Topic:"On Wrong Or Right
Government, and the Pleasure of Each"
Book 10: SOCRATES – GLAUCON, Topic: The Recompense of
Life
Guide
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Socrates is the main guy of the argument, he is the wisest
and has a very open mind about society and justice.
Cephalus: he is an old wise man who is at peace, but is full
of thoughts on how to make money, and is restrained by only
seeing his point of view.
Polemarchus: son and heir of Cephalus, after the first
argument he drops out, because he is not yet wise, he goes
by rules not principles of life and cannot keep up with
Socrates
Thrasymachus: he is a Strong man nicknamed
“Chalcedonian giant”, but has no skills he is nothing compared
to Socrates and cannot back up Cephalus and Polemarchus, is
silenced at the end of the first book.
Glaucon: represents the youth, but unlike Thrasymachus he
can keep a point and is able to keep faith in just and true, he
has a more adolescent prospective, he opens the topics
Adeimantus: is much more mature than Glaucon, he pursues
the arguments, and wants to stick to what seems more
important.
Characters
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The main setting of the Republic is the house of
Caphalus. Socrates visits Caphalus to have a
conversation with him, they start an argument
about justice and how its worth while, as they
speak other characters jump in. Starting with the
old Athenian who worked for his money and
wealth, who is followed by the practical man of
that day regulating his life by basic truth; to him
succeeds the wild generalization of the Sophists,
and lastly come the young of the great teacher,
who know the sophistical arguments but aren't
completely convinced by them, they want to
know more until they can be sure.
They all build the Republic by adding ideas and
getting corrected by Socrates.
Setting
Soul
 Appetite: usual needs like hunger, thirst, and
other human desires
 Rational: thinking, Logos, decides what good
and bad, true or false
 Spirited: Emotions, love honor
Class type
Producers: Basically they middle class that make
up the city, like farmers, welders, architects,
merchants, doctors, actors, artist etc.
Auxiliaries: Protect the city, enforce laws, keep
peace at home, and make sure producers obey
Guardians: Philosopher kings, most important
ones, they go through special training.
The Soul and The Types of Classes
The importance on the allegory of the cave is that it
will be the way the guardians will be trained. The
guardians are responsible for ruling the city. They are
chosen from among the ranks of the auxiliaries, and
are also known as philosopher-kings.
 They need to be educated to the max to be able to
keep the republic in control. Without the guardians
Plato's society wouldn’t work.
 The cave is actually the academy they will be in. To
study and be trained for years. By the time they are
led out and experience life. They will want to know
more and protect more. Everything that they learned
will keep adding on. And as they reach a certain age
they will be worthy enough to rule.
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Allegory of the cave
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“So when men are mistaken in their
judgments, Polemarchus, it will often be
right for them to injure their friends, who
in their eyes are bad, and help their
enemies, who are good. Which the very
opposite of what we said Simonides
meant.” (Plato, The Republic, 1974, Page
12)
Audience
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“And so our is the only state in which we
shall find the shoemaker sticking to his
shoemaking and not turning pilot as well,
the farmer sticking to his farming and not
taking on court work into the bargain, and
the soldier sticking to his soldiering and
not running a business as well, and so
on?” (Plato, The Republic, 1974, Page 92)
Epanalepsis
Well then, what is the use of justice in
peace time, and what do we get out of it?
(Plato, The Republic, 1974, Page 10)
 Come, then; could the eyes properly
perform their function if instead of their
own peculiar excellence they had the
corresponding defect? (Plato, The
Republic, 1974, page 38)
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Rhetorical Question
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“I don’t expect to escape from you, ‘I Returned; ‘ask your
questions. Though you’ve heard about it often enough, and
either don’t understand for the moment, or else are
deliberately giving me trouble by your persistence – I
suspect It’s the latter, because you have certainly often
been told that the highest form of knowledge is knowledge
of the form of the good, from which things that are just
and so on derive their usefulness and value. You know
pretty well that that’s what I have to say, and that if we
are ignorant of it the rest of our knowledge, however
perfect, can be of no benefit to us, just as it’s no use
possessing anything if you cant get any good out of it. Or
do you think there any point in possessing anything if it’s
no good? Is there any point in having all other forms of
knowledge with out that of the good, and so lacking
knowledge about what is good and valuable?”( Plato, The
Republic, 1974, page 229)
Tone
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“And is not the same also true of more
and less, double and half and the like, or
heavier and lighter, quicker and slower, of
hot and cold, and indeed of all similar
correlative terms?” (Plato, The Republic,
1974, Page 145)
Antithesis
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“And just as it was right to think of light
and sight as being like the sun, but wrong
to think of them as being the sun itself, so
here again it is right to think of knowledge
and truth as being like the good, but
wrong to think of either of them as being
the good whose position must be ranked
still higher” (Plato, The Republic, 1974,
234)
Simile
Biography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato
 Facts
http://www.egs.edu/library/plato/biograp
hy/
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Works cited