Reviews

Who would have thought a man walking around asking questions would give us the definition of justice. Socrates' dialogues with the citizens of Athens as recorded by Plato are akin to peeling an onion, one question leads to another until the topic of discourse becomes clear. This ended up being referred to a Socratic Questioning and like all philosophers, he's not the custodian on knowledge rather the midwife to bring it forth.

In the Republic, Socrates undertakes to indulge different high standing members on the society on their understanding of justice and makes follow up inquiries to get to the atomic and universal definition of justice. Is the world a just place?..... He relates justice to all facets of life and considers it the foundation of building a proper republic (christened The Republic according to Plato).

Is it just for subjects to obey their rulers? ...........................................

yeagleyreads's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

jpowerj's review against another edition

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4.0

I mean, it's a bit weird to review this. I think readers over the past 2000 years have done a pretty good job of analyzing it. But all I gotta say is, IMO get a reading guide or a lecture series to go along with your reading, since the context of how this book has impacted our contemporary philosophical thought and "Western society" in general is what I got the most out of in my reading!

thereaderintherye's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

2.25

zacktheguy's review against another edition

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5.0

Not going to lie, I understand why this has stood the test of time. Plato, and allegedly Socrates, have a lot they would like to teach. I took a philosophy course that focused on this text at UT Austin. I enjoyed this text and the questions it posed. HOWEVER, I could not imagine reading this outside of a classroom setting.

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