The Conversation

Guide to the classics: Plato’s Republic

Author: Matthew Sharpe, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Deakin University

An illustration of the allegory of the cave from Plato's Republic.4edges/Wikimedia Commons

Western philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato, the old saying goes. And The Republic (c. 375 BCE), featuring Plato’s teacher Socrates in dialogue with several friends, is unquestionably central to Plato’s thought.

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