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What are readers saying about Republic?
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-05 10:09:46.
(Language: English)
 
Great Book that is an absolute classic. Not for the faint of heart or for those not willing to put time and thought into reading. This is the ONLY interpretation of the Republic worth reading.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-10-30 05:51:10.
(Language: English)
What can I really say? This is one of the most-read books in history, and also one of the most influential in the area of political theory.It will challenge your ideas about democracy, the role of education in government, censorship, and social classes. Some of what Plato says is troubling; some of it seems like it was written just yesterday.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-01-24 01:54:25.
(Language: English)
After reading this, I have come to the conclusion that our current society is governed by merchants...and that we're in a lot of trouble if we don't find a way to integrate a philosopher rule with less focus on the bottomless greedy pit that is the quest for monetary gain, in which all of our value is now, unfortunately, focused...no more greedy merchants governing our lives...
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-28 07:59:28.
(Language: English)
This book is a joy to read and a great work of art. It is the starting point, if you want to understand the modern world and how we got to where we are. Plato is an authoritarian and his ideas are very frightening, the more so because so many of them have been adopted. (eg. Deceiving people for their own good b/c you know best; all children are children of the state = Leninism; censorship and ban on free expression = cultural revolution in China; immortality and martyrdom (Socrates' death)= Christianity.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-05-29 07:22:14.
(Language: English)
This translation was excellent: easy to read, only moderately difficult to understand, and interspersed with the translator's comments to give the reader a guide through what is a very difficult book to read. That being said this book should be on a must read list. It truly is the foundation of western philosophy and a lot of the arguments used to justify why good will always prevail over evil were directly wholesale incorporated into Christian doctrine and for good reason...because Plato's argument of 2 realities...the objective, immutable realm of truths and the subjective world of change that we live in is so very reminiscent of how Christ describes our world and God's world.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-10 01:43:24.
(Language: English)
Excellent food for thought, and a great source for quotes.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-11-05 12:14:57.
(Language: English)
I like to think Plato was spouting his own ideas rather than Socrates' at this point in his work. I like to think of Socrates as a fellow who would never have espoused the totalitarian mentality Plato endorses here. Nevertheless, an important work in the history of philosophy, politics, and social theory.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-06 04:24:27.
(Language: English)
A very important book which probably influenced ideas of Nazism and Socialism
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-22 05:28:43.
(Language: English)
Read the book for Philosophy class. I found parts of the book to be really long and drawn out too much. I felt like if I wasn't required to read it I would've given up after the first hundred pages or so. The good things I took from it were the fact that this book was written 2,000 years ago and yet the issues still hold true today. Also, there are some good self-reflecting and principles that people should acknowledge in their life.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-18 08:14:03.
(Language: English)
The essential read for anyone with a remot intrest in philosophy, how we learn, or morallity. The breath and depth of this work remain astounding centuries later. Proof Plato knew his stuff. :)
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-09-28 10:01:32.
(Language: Spanish)
La República es considerada uno de los diálogos de Platón que mejor y más densamente expresa su pensamiento.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-05-04 07:31:58.
(Language: English)
There are already 1000's of reviews of this treasure.. All I want to add is to read it carefully and spend some time on Book 10, the last chapter.. It is about reincarnation. I was shocked and intrigued. My philosophy professor at NU said this chapter was a 'joke' thrown in at the end for Plato's peers and students that hadn't grasped any meaning from Books 1-9. Since ancient Greeks were not authors of humor, but avid examiners of the meaning of mans existence, I beg to differ. This is a book worth exploring :)
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-07-21 07:27:08.
(Language: English)
While there a lot of worthwhile pre-socratic philosopher (Xenophon, Zeno, Peraclites, Pythagoreas, etc), Plato's Republic represents the first major work of Greek Philosophy that I would full-heartedly recommend to even the general reader. I like the style of writing & the arguments still hold up today (like his criticism of Democratic reforms which were beginning to shift away from the Athenian model). A lot of what we understand about philosophy (perception vs. reality, theory of forms, etc.) stems from this work.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-19 02:09:24.
(Language: English)
This is a cornerstone. This work constructs an 'ideal' government from the ground up. The framework is not exactly appealing to the majority, but the fact of the matter is that it makes sense. Maybe one good reason why we have conflict, war, and hardship in life is because the framework for our government is nothing like this due to the way government has evolved. There is literally no probable way in which we could at present switch to Plato's view of government- it would cause the war of all wars -but I couldn't help but think while studying this for a class that Plato was right; and how different our lives would be if his form of government would have prevailed. Some of the main reasons to read this book are: Plato's dissection of the soul into three main parts (extremely interesting), how he thinks a philosopher should rule, how a democracy is the second to lowest form of government available, how children should be taken away from their parents at birth, and of course for the allegory of the cave (one of the main themes used in the movie 'the Matrix').
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-25 08:46:47.
(Language: English)
Mostly consists of some pretty solid ideas of ways to enrich society through proper exposure to and training of children in the fines arts. The importance of contributing to, and holding forthright to the letter and spirit of your governing body's constitution is a big theme also. Most of the book consists of conversations between Plato and Socrates (from Plato's point of view, of course) and while I believe both of these men to be great thinkers, much of their philosophy was unfortunately influenced by the widespread pederasty of the society in which tjey lived. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they were victims of circumstance. To the contrary, being the influential civic leaders they were, they could easily have helped (by the writings in this book for example) to change this disturbing practice, but instead they were caught up in the debauchery and used their societal position to sing it's praises and perpetuate the sickness of ancient Greece. In the end, as interesting as it was to read Plato's thoughts and ideas firsthand, I believe you could get as much from reading historical interpretations of Plato's works, without having to be exposed to the disturbing sickness of pedophilia that engulfed his society.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-20 10:12:16.
(Language: English)
Although he makes some good points, for the most part this book is the communist manifesto of its day. A kingdom ruled by philosopher kings and all property held in common. Yawn, I am sorry but Plato must of influenced the current administration and anybody who believes in unrestricted, abusive government power. Just reading this made me sick, just my opinion. Aristotle is closer to what I take as more rational. Again you see bad ideas have always been a constant through out history.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-05 03:04:39.
(Language: English)
Seems silly to give it stars; nonetheless. Of course it's worth reading, and will repay you well for your time. Of note to me was the contrast between the nature of the dialogue between the first portion, where the scene is set, and the larger part of the work. At first, the discussion is quite like a dramatic play, and Socrates has to work hard to carry his point. Once Plato turns to discussing the ideal state, as a supposed means to uncovering the disputed answer to the original question of whether justice pays better than injustice, Socrates' interlocutors (prim. Glaucon) become very spineless indeed. Perhaps Plato means the reader to notice this and become 'devil's advocate' for himself.
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Ale posted a review at 2009-05-30 09:10:21.
(Language: English)
What a great and sensitive writer was Plato! As Leiser Madanes said: "Plato is creating Philosophy." He's opening the gates to the Gardens of Philosophy. Many of the problems of today and ever are first thinked here. May be his vision is mainly mental, not very empiric but nevertheless was mathematical! Not too much in numeric but in method, the aproach to each problem is like a mathematician does. I conceed may be he's passional and exagerate, but he is making a line, a stand. What is Justice?, are women and men equals? How you can live a virtuos life?, why is so worthy to live in justice and virtue? He's absolutely right, the Education of the kids is fundamental for creating the best people, may be I don't fully agreed with the details, but he's in the right path. It's not easy, but climbing mountains is not easy...
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Isabelle posted a review at 2011-01-07 11:53:14.
(Language: English)
Plato brings up some valid points that history has proven time and time again. However there's many things that he argues for in this book that are borderline fascist. Therefore I have mixed feelings on The Republic. But if you're looking for something that will make you think and is great for group discussions then look no further than The Republic.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-09-07 10:48:09.
(Language: English)
I believe this was written around 400 B.C., and yet it is truly astounding the insight and social commentary that could apply to the present. The translation does get lost and it's not exactly clear what Plato/Socrates is trying to say some of the times. This was my first attempt at a philosophy/theory book, and I wouldn't recommend this to people who can only see in black and white. The ability to read between the lines is a requirement for this book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-19 10:48:02.
(Language: English)
Republic is an interesting book by Plato .... the dialogue between Socrates n four other philosophers was amazing keeping in view how long before these ideas were plotting in Plato's mind... many terminologies we are using today were used by him in 380 BC .... "justice" and "political philosophy" in book I and II, "the corrupt forms of government" in book IV are pleasurable to read. The most fascinating book VIII where the four form of governments are discussed .. and how 'democracy' can led to 'tyranny' is alluring. The whole concept of 'State' feels so charismatic to read .... looking forward to read essays of Plato.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-08 09:39:21.
(Language: English)
Tough read.
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Melissa posted a review at 2009-07-04 06:30:45.
(Language: English)
I admidt that I have not read the entire book- only the parts that were assigned in Phil I and Various Government and Political Theory classes. The parts I read were brilliant though. I once was at a party hosted by myself and some new roommates in NY. The roommates were aspiring actresses recently graduated from Syracuse, and so were their guests. One of the guests- a guy, went on to tell us how whilst meditating with a candle, he came up with the cave analogy. My guests were all New School GPIAs- and knew the cave analogies true origins, and I called him on it by saying- you mean its just like Plato's cave analogy. He fumbled- and then came up with, I have not read it, so I must be some kind of genius for coming to the same conclusion on my own. Now- I view that as an early indication that I should not have been living with the roommates, as the company they kept was not jiving with either myself or my company.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-04-15 10:05:54.
(Language: English)
Say what ever you want about Plato, one thing is for sure, Reading Plato will amazingly sharpen your mind, make you a better thinker and a better talker. (I don't think ,though ,he would let me write those sentences... ) For those of you who haven't read Plato yet, I'm sure you'll enjoy these intellectual dialogs between Socrates and other main characters. Besides philosophy, its really cool to read people's dialogs that have been written thousands of years ago. talking about good and evil, politics, opinions, math ,love, justice and so on...
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