The Republic

The Republic is a Socratic dialogue in which Socrates and his interlocutors try to define justice in the individual and in the city. The discussion begins with ordinary claims about honesty, advantage and power, then builds an imagined city whose classes, education and rulers are used to examine the structure of the soul. The dialogue moves through philosopher-rulers, poetry, property, family life, tyranny, knowledge and the afterlife, making political order a way of testing larger questions about truth, character and moral judgement.