Analysis of "Republic"

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Philosophy is a Greek word meaning "love of wisdom." Throughout Plato's Republic, wisdom plays an important role. According to Plato, education is wisdom and all of our knowledge is not acquiring information, but remembering it from the past. He felt that wisdom is a skill that comes to us naturally as we are just removing the veil of ignorance. His search for the true meaning of justice leads to a discussion with his peers of education and what part it should play in the ideal state that they have developed. He feels everyone has to be willing to learn and have courage in order to acquire knowledge. Glaucon challenges Plato to "praise justice as a good of that kind...because of its very self...and how injustice harms [them]" (367d). Socrates is up to this challenge, and in response to Glaucon's challenge, Plato directs his focus on the ideal state to then narrow it down to the individual soul, thinking if they are both just, then he has found justice. He answers Glaucon's challenge by thinking in terms of the individual and their mind, linking the level of wisdom to the position of individuals in the ideal state and the noting the difference between the four regimes.

Plato believed that education is of great importance, and disagrees with democracy and any other form of government that allows uneducated people to rule. Plato enforced that the best state is that in which there is a ruler that will rule unwillingly in terms of desire, but willingly for the good of the people. He believed the purpose of education is to put you in touch with the natural harmony of what the spheres are. The Republic's purpose is to show that everyone should be educated to their highest ability and only those with the qualities of virt...

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...reasing number of violent crimes and lack of moral in the world today as the viewers cannot differentiate illusion from reality.

In conclusion, Plato responds to Glaucon's challenge by showing the four regimes, aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, and democracy and tyranny, in order from most just to least, connected by a decreasing amount of education and increasing in chaos. This demonstrates that the just man is happier than the unjust man and shows Glaucon that justice has instrumental value because it prevents punishment and also intrinsic value as it is valuable in and of itself. Plato states that the philosopher is the happiest, and justice is beneficial intrinsically.

WORKS CITED

Plato. Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Indianapolis: Cambridge, 1992.

Stevenson, Jay. The complete idiot's guide to philosophy. 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Alpha, 2002.

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