Plato’s Republic: A Philosophical Commentary

Plato was a teacher who used the dialogue form as a means of challenging his students to think deeply about how to live the best possible human life. Consider this hypothesis: Plato wrote each book of The Republic to be performed by actors playing the characters of Socrates, Glaucon, Adeimantus, Thrasymachus, and the others. When Book One was performed, he then invited his students, the brightest and best young people in Athens, critically to respond to each and every argument, issue, and question posed by the characters. Rather than passively watching and listening, they were lured into the process and challenged to evaluate and improve on the ideas presented in the performance. Based on their responses, Plato then wrote Book Two. The same process was repeated, and Book Three was generated. In this way all ten books evolved as part of a dynamic and creative dialectic intended to take place in the soul of each participant including Plato himself. That would also mean that the work is not yet finished, because each new participant joins in the ongoing process of interpretation and evaluation. In that way, Plato s ideas are inscribed in the medium of the soul, which continues to live. Agora Publications, Inc., invites you to join in this same drama that has been playing for more than 2,400 years.