McNamara, English 197
Reading Questions for Plato's Republic
Book I
1. Cephalus, unlike others who have grown old, does not feel sorry for himself. Why not?
2. According to Cephalus, what part does wealth play in his contentment?
3. Why does Socrates want to know whether Cephalus' wealth was inherited or self-made?
4. What is Cephalus' view of what it means to do right?
How does Socrates show that Cephalus' definition is inadequate?
What is Cephalus' response to Socrates' demonstration?
5. Polemarchus attempts to defend the view of justice as giving each person his or her due,
which he (re)interprets to mean helping friends and harming enemies. By the end of the
chapter, he has changed his mind. What contradictions has Socrates shown to arise from
Polemarchus' initial belief?
6. Thrasymachus argues that might makes right. Socrates shows that argument to lead to a
contradiction. What is it?
7. Cleitophon offers to rescue Thrasymachus' argument. How? And why does Thrasymachus
refuse Cleitophon's help?
8. How does Thrasymachus try to rescue his own position? What contradiction does Socrates
find in the revised position?
9. Are Socrates' arguments sound?
10. When the running dispute between Socrates and Thrasymachus about how to proceed with
their deliberations comes to a head, Thrasymachus wants to be given a chance to "speak
[his] mind at length," but Socrates is determined to proceed by question-and-answer.
Explain as best you can why each prefers the method he does.
Book II and Book III
1. After Glaucon and Adimantus offer their praises of injustice, Socrates shifts the focus of
discussion from the individual to the state. Why?
2. Why does the State come into existence, according to Socrates?
3. What does Socrates believe to be the best way to organize human labor? Why?
4. Socrates has begun by describing an ideal state, but now shifts to discuss a less ideal one. In
what way is the state as Socrates will discuss it less ideal? How is it different from the
one he began with in the previous chapter?
5. In what ways are we to take seriously Socrates' analogy of the Guardians with well-bred
watch-dogs?
6. How are the guardians to be educated? What roles do Homer and the stories of the gods play
in their education? What is the function of literature in the ideal state? Are some modes
of literature more valuable or desirable than others? Explain.
Book X
1. According to Socrates, what is the nature of imitation?
2. What are the three arts that Socrates claims are concerned with everything?
3. What is the relation between imitation and the truth, according to Socrates?
4. What part of the soul does imitation appeal to?
5. In the case of tragedy, what does the poet imitate? To what part of the soul is it related?
6. Why does Socrates exclude the poet from the well-ordered state?
7. What exceptions does Socrates make to his general rule? What poems will he allow in his
well-ordered state? Why?
8. Do the poets and Socrates differ on the question of what constitutes justice? If so, how?