Plato's Republic: A Biography (Books That Changed the World) - Softcover

Blackburn, Simon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802143644 ISBN 13: 9780802143648

Publisher: Grove Press, 2008

Synopsis

Plato is perhaps the most significant philosopher who ever lived and The Republic, composed in Athens in about 375 BC, is widely regarded as his most famous dialogue. Its discussion of the perfect city--and the perfect mind--laid the foundations for Western culture and has been the cornerstone of Western philosophy. As the distinguished Cambridge professor Simon Blackburn points out, it has probably sustained more commentary, and been subject to more radical and impassioned disagreement, than almost any other text in the modern world. A clear and accessible introduction to philosophy’s first superstar” (Kirkus Reviews), Plato’s Republic explores the judicial, moral, and political ideas in the Republic with dazzling insight. Blackburn also examines Republic’s influence and staying power, and shows why, from St. Augustine to twentieth-century philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Western thought is still conditioned by this most important, and contemporary, of books.

About this title

About the Author:

Simon Blackburn is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of Think, Truth and the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy.

Review:

"Plato's Republic . . . which Blackburn rightly suggests is the first book to shake the world, is loaded with perennial questions that every generation must struggle with. How are we to live our lives? What is virtue and can it be taught? Are pleasure and good the same?"

"Backburn . . . clarifies A. N. Whitehead's claim that all philosophy is merely footnotes to Plato."

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0802143644
• ISBN 13: 9780802143648
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192