Customer Reviews

The Republic

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The Republic by Plato is a famous philosophical treatise of the 4th century BC concerns itself chiefly with the idea of justice, as well as such Platonic theories as that of ideas, the criticism of poetry, and the philosopher's role. Source of the famous cave myth and prototype for other imaginary commonwealths, including those of Cicero, St. Augustine, and More. Benjamin Jowett translation.

even though the book was shipped fast sections of the book were falling from the spine. that fact made it not such a great buy

This book was just jaw dropping. Everyone knows the concepts of good and bad, everyone has their own belief that so and so is better than so and so and vice versa, a good person will bring out the attributes of the good life, a bad person will bring out the attributes of a wicked life, and each will try to prove theirs is better than the latter. Socrates single handedly proved the good life is much better than the bad/dishonorable life. Socrates proved this as a fact! In a series of questions and answers. The book is an interesting read, it will expand your horizons about life in general, and it will make you think twice about which life you'd be interested in heading towards.

I in my opinion believe every school should have a philosophy class, students should take that class as prerequisite if they want to go to college or university, and this book should be given to every student and read out loud once every week.

Translation is key when buying a book like this. The Republic is a must read for anyone and everyone, but not Dover Thrift.
The translator Allan Bloom has served me well for the past 5 years.

in the Republic, Plato. envisioned his ideology of what a free and fair society should look like. the book emphasises on the perfection of a perfect society, which will be free of corruption, discremination, race division, and partiality.

the author was aware of the alarming rate of corruption gripping the world we are in. he sketched a plan for a state to be run and maintained. a state that will based on law and order. specifically, Plato was hitting the nail on justice and equity of law, he stressed that a society should not be making laws based on a portion of the jurisdiction rather order should be maintained on equality and fair justice.

The book is a treaty on how a social society and a normal state is to be ressuracted from the clamouring segregation of the rich state and the poor society. in his work of art plato pulls the trigger of justice towards equity, unity and peace of justice. its such a great book, it is more than the wordings on it because it contains ancient landmarks of literary work of art, the work has been done long ago, and it grammer complex needs not be rushed but remember that the day a man stops reading, he stops growing intellectually. how i wished books were paste. i could have kept reading each day first thing as i woke up from the sleep. The Republic needs not be rush, just slow and steady because it is a treaty and not a mere thriller novel. but its a try from all intellectual aspirants. so dont let go. if you do, you missed a book from one great thinker.

This is more of a review of the translation, as opposed to the text itself. The Republic is a classic, and like Shakespeare, or the Mona Lisa, needs no review or comment. This is not to say that I agree with everything Socrates-Plato says, but that this book lifts you higher, weather you agree or disagree.

Tom Griffith deserves an award for rendering a bouncy translation that makes the text come alive. This translation ranks among my favorites. Its strength is that it renders the Greek into a colloquial, conversational English, as opposed to the stiff and ossified academic dronings that make higher education such a joy!

He follows the pattern set by Seamus Heany ("Beowulf), and J. B. Phillips ("The New Testament in Modern English"), where the language illuminates the text, and engages your mind. Too often, the translators' end product-the language-gets in the way of the ideas and joys of the text. I was able to plow through this book in a fortnight because the language flowed so well.

I wish we could get more translators to get the gift of tongues, and to render these classic texts into the tongue of angels!

This translation of Plato's Republic is very easy to read and understandable. As someone who needed to read this book quickly for a class, I found this translation to be much more accessible than other translations I've encountered.

F. M. Cornford is possessed of the rare distinction among translator's of being not only a philologist but a celebrated historian and a deeply philosophical scholar. His English translations of Plato are unparalleled if only because he understands the subject matter better than any historian, and understands the language better than any philosopher. His work is consistently above par.

An eminently readable edition of a classic and essential text.

This book kept my interest until about 3/4 of the way through the first book. I guess it was just the common sense that they were revealing that piqued my interest. Then after reading 3 pages of the second book, i wanted to throw it into the garbage can. This book has made me realize that philosophy books are only for the people who can not dream up their own ideas and theories. These tpyes of books are only for the wannabes, the fools, who are too lazy to come up with their own ideas. These books are meant for the scholars who do everything wihtout passion and love and without feeling. This book will teach you nothing that you can not figure out for yourself. In my opinion, you should only read fiction books and autobigoraphies as some of these types of books will stimulate your thinking and will enable you to come to some sort of conclusion.