Plato's Republic: A Biography

While I have read and discussed many of the dialogues of Plato, some of them multiple times, I continue to explore differing presentations and critiques of his ideas. Simon Blackburn's short study of Plato's Republic is an excellent place to review one of Plato's most famous dialogues and learn from him. He presents The Republic in a topical manner with sixteen chapters that range from a discussion of custom and convention to a brief essay on "The Farewell Myth". The latter, the Myth of Er from Book X, was a text used prominently in a memorial service for one of my teachers at the University of Chicago more than two decades ago. Its power is demonstrated in the vivid memory of not only my own reading but the memory of that memorial. show more
With emphasis on both the best known passages like "The Ring of Gyges" and the "Myth of the Cave", but also less well-known sections of the ten books that comprise The Republic, Simon Blackburn makes a thorough overview in this small, 161 page, book. With the addition of valuable suggestions for further reading this is both a good starting point for those unfamiliar with Plato or an excellent review for old hands in the reading and study of this founding father of Philosophy. show less

Some very useful insights, but felt the author could be a little too harsh at times, interpreting Plato too much at face value and from a strictly materialistic point of view, in the manner of Bertrand Russell. There were some mistakes in my view too, such as Blackburn's assertion that Plato proposed a caste system. This would imply that there was no movement within the tripartite system from one class to another, whereas Plato specifically says that bronze or silver-souled parents could give birth to a gold-souled child. Likewise, gold-souled parents could give birth to silver or bronze-souled children. In any case, Blackburn falls too readily for the idea that Plato is putting forward a blueprint for a utopian society, rather than show more provoking the reader into thinking for himself / herself. show less

Some very useful insights, but felt the author could be a little too harsh at times, interpreting Plato too much at face value and from a strictly materialistic point of view, in the manner of Bertrand Russell. There were some mistakes in my view too, such as Blackburn's assertion that Plato proposed a caste system. This would imply that there was no movement within the tripartite system from one class to another, whereas Plato specifically says that bronze or silver-souled parents could give birth to a gold-souled child. Likewise, gold-souled parents could give birth to silver or bronze-souled children. In any case, Blackburn falls too readily for the idea that Plato is putting forward a blueprint for a utopian society, rather than show more provoking the reader into thinking for himself / herself. show less

Blackburn is a very readable philosopher - not a common thing. This book is very enjoyable and Blackburn does a great job of picking out the main points of interest in Plato's masterpiece and discussing them in an intelligent and easy style. However, it seems fair to say, he isn't particularly sympathetic to Plato, and this occasionally leads him into uncharitable readings, I think (e.g. the accusation that Plato denied the possibility of social mobility in his ideal society). Also, the book is less historically informative than other books in this series (e.g. Janet Browne's excellent book on Darwin's Origin of Species). However, it is still highly recommended.

Gareth Southwell is a philosopher, writer and illustrator.

"Must we not acknowledge...that in each of us there are the same principles and habits which there are in the State; and that from the individual they pass into the State?"

What does it mean to be good? What enables us to distinguish right from wrong? And how should human virtues be translated into a just society? These are the questions that Plato sought to answer in this monumental work of moral and political philosophy, a book surpassed only by the Bible in its formative influence on two thousand years of Western thought.

In the course of its tautly reasoned Socratic dialogues, The Republic accomplishes nothing less than an anatomy of the soul and an exhaustive description of a State that both mirrors and enforces the soul's ideal show more harmony. The resulting text is at once mystical and elegantly logical and may be read as a template for the societies in which most of us live today. show less

It's hard for me to rate this because I have not actually read Plato's Republic but checked this out thinking it was a translation of Plato's Republic. From what I can tell though, Blackthorn does a good job of pointing out the flaws in reasoning as well as some of the important ideas we can take away from Republic. He definitely does a great job of tracing Platonism's influence throughout the millenia. Now I am more determined than ever that I need to read Republic.

Having read Plato's republic, this book helped me understand it even more.