The Republic of Plato: Second Edition

by Plato and H. D. P Lee

Book Overview

Plato's The Republic is widely acknowledged as the cornerstone of Western philosophy. Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, it is an inquiry into the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465069347
• ISBN13: 9780465069347
• Release Date: October 1991
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great for newbies to Plato

I have bee intimidated to launch onto the world of the Republic - however I bought this book with the hope that I could read AND understand the book that is probably the most referenced piece in political science, philosophy, etc. I was delighted to read this book for two major reasons - 1. The translation is in easy to comprehend modern English 2. Prior to each section the author prospectively reviews and calls attention to the pertinent ideas. This is a wonderful book for new-to-the-platonic-world and maybe even for old hats.

Very good for an inexpensive translation

I'm wrapping up a semester of teaching this translation of Republic, and I've had few complaints. Waterfield's editorial hand is visible, but that in itself, in the hands of a competent teacher, leads to good discussions above and beyond Plato's ideas. With regards to Plato's masterwork, there's no good place to start save reading it for oneself. Plato is dead wrong in places (with regards to poetry and marriage just to get rolling), but his genius is that he's wrong as an idealist philosopher, encouraging readers to assert and refine their own ideals as counter-arguments. In other words, in order to refute Plato, one must out-Plato Plato. Deconstruction is fine for deconstructionists, but a good discussion of this juggernaut of ancient thought is the life for me.