Republic
A dialogue about justice, education and political order.
Plato
Greek philosophy · dialogue and inquiry
The person behind the ideas
Plato was an ancient Athenian philosopher whose dialogues investigate knowledge, ethics, politics, and reality.
Biography sources
Biography reference →At a glance
- Born
- c. 429 BCE
- Died
- 347 BCE
- Era
- Classical Greece
- Notable works
- Republic · Apology
- Tradition
- Greek philosophy · dialogue and inquiry
Ideas and outlook
Plato explores ethics, knowledge and political life through dialogues. Their dramatic speakers let the reader follow questions, disagreements and incomplete answers rather than hear only a finished doctrine.
About the works
Apology
Plato’s presentation of Socrates’s defence; not a verbatim trial transcript.
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Other quotes across journeys
The courage to wonder
for wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.
Theaetetus 155d
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Theaetetus 155d, Socrates speaking; excerpt
Plato’s character Socrates responds to Theaetetus’s perplexity in a dialogue about knowledge. The words belong to a dramatic philosophical exchange, not a recorded interview with the historical Socrates.
Read the source ↗The Horizon
for wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.
Theaetetus 155d
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Theaetetus 155d
Plato’s character Socrates responds to Theaetetus’s perplexity in a dialogue about knowledge. The words belong to a dramatic philosophical exchange, not a recorded interview with the historical Socrates.
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From Socrates to the Stoics
the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already
Republic · Book VII, 518c · excerpt
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Republic · Book VII, 518c · excerpt
Plato’s character Socrates is speaking. The passage describes turning the whole soul toward knowledge of the good, within an argument about educating rulers. It is not simply a modern message about confidence, nor a claim that every opinion is already true.
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