Plato’s The Republic was written roughly around 380BC and yet can often be related to political systems of a country and the way people live today. A majority of the book is spoken through a Greek philosopher, Socrates, whom taught Plato about the life of a philosopher. Socrates was a citizen of Athens and was considered to be an outcast, as many philosophers typically were. He was accused of not believing in the Gods of Athens and corrupting the youth with his teachings. Socrates would eventually be condemned by the council in Athens and sentenced to death around 399BC.
The story of The Republic begins in Piraeus, a port of Athens, with Socrates and Glaucon conversing. Before leaving the city, they are invited to Cephalus’ home where they
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The cave allegory helped prove how the philosopher would be worthy of becoming the philosopher king and created the perfect government system for their city. Once this government is formed, they know how to effectively structure the city and raise the next guardians and philosophers to maintain their perfect society. After their society has found harmonious living, this proves the process required to make a just city. Using this, they can now focus on the soul as a whole rather than the whole city. Socrates shows that the three parts of the soul, reason, thumos, and appetites must work in harmony much like the city to achieve optimal success. Only through harmony can the soul just. When the soul is just, the body can function properly as a whole. At this point, the quest for knowledge can be achieved. Through knowledge, one can ultimately achieve the good. The importance of moving from the sensible to the intelligible realm is to use knowledge to bring us to the good, or else inevitably suffer in the end from inner