The Republic (AmazonClassics Edition) - Softcover

What is justice? In Plato’s Socratic dialogue, The Republic, the citizens of ancient Greece explore the world’s most fundamental question.

In search of an ideal civilization, Socrates leads Glaucon, Polemarchus, Thrasymachus, and others in debates about various subjects, including justice, truth, class, and art. For without righteousness, tyranny and injustice give rise to oligarchy.

The influential dialogues of The Republic helped shape all of Western literature and philosophical thought. It is as much a doctrine of ethics and politics now as it was for the ancient Greeks, and its dilemma remains: how to create a perfect society populated by very imperfect human beings.

AmazonClassics brings you timeless works from the masters of storytelling. Ideal for anyone who wants to read a great work for the first time or rediscover an old favorite, these new editions open the door to literature’s most unforgettable characters and beloved worlds.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Republic, this edition of The Republic (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

The son of aristocratic parents, Plato (428 BC–347 BC) was born in Athens, Greece. Very much influenced by the life, teachings, and even the death of Socrates, and thought to have traveled extensively, Plato ultimately created the Academy (the precursor to what we know as universities), where he taught Aristotle. Plato’s work in philosophy—concerning happiness, justice, virtue, ethics, dialectic, the Forms, and more—contributed to the founding principles of modern philosophical, political, literary, and psychological thought across the Western world.