Book Seven – “Going Higher”

In our lives, we each desire to take ourselves to something higher. We want to acquire better status, more wealth, or a better life in general. We are born with our heads looking up to what we can achieve.

What really is the highest state worth achieving? Are material things going to give us the most amount of joy or are they a waste of time? Socrates addresses these issues in Book Seven of Plato’s Republic. Through the use of the very well known allegory of the cave, Socrates talks about how we are moving to achieve the ideal state of being (i.e. wisdom and truth.)

Book Six – “The Philosopher King – The Man Who Steers The Ship”

It is part of the nature of man to desire to live with other people. Humans desire to live in community together. A community is when two or more people gather with a common cause or purpose. When there is a group, there is a diversity of opinions and ideas. Everyone has his or her own idea of how something should be accomplished. This is why groups need leaders.

Just like a boat needs to be steered, a group needs a leader with the wisdom to know the direction to take things. For Socrates, being a philosopher and a lover of truth is the highest role in life and is what is most needed in a leader. Socrates states that the leader of the city should be the philosopher king. The question is what would the philosopher king look like. What would he value? In book six of Plato’s Republic, Socrates, Glaucon, and Adeimantus continue to discuss who the philosopher king will be and how they will find him.

Book Five – Building the City as a Family

As part of being human, we live in families, communities, and cities. These groups are where we find our identity. Unity among the members of these communities is essential.

We must be guard ourselves to make sure what we do is the best for the community. Only the men and women whom are best for each other should marry. Those who are married will produce the children, which will be the next generation of the community. We need to have the best guardians and the best leaders. Just like this, in Book Five of Plato’s Republic, Socrates understood the importance of protecting the city of today and ensuring a great city of tomorrow; protecting against the forces and factions that could tear it apart.

Book Four – For The Sake Of The City

Sacrifice is a common theme throughout life. It is commonly drawn upon in pop culture. Just about every movie seems to have some type of sacrifice as part of the story line. A man makes a sacrifice for his girl friend. The soldier sacrifices his life for his fellow troops.

In Plato’s Republic Book 4, Socrates, Adeimantus, and Glaucon, while continuing to build their utopian city, start to realize the level of sacrifice that will be required. Will the guardians be able forgo the “savage masters” of their appetites for personal wealth for the sake of the city?

Book Three – Shaping The Mind, Body, and Soul

Everyday we have hundreds of things that are competing for our attention. They are all trying to influence us. They want us to buy their product, to make a certain decision, or to walk a certain path on the road of life.

If you were to take a survey of what the main influences on our culture, what would you find? Would it be something to be proud of? Maybe on the list there would be things like MTV, Tom Cruise, or Dan Brown.

Socrates did not have MTV, Tom Cruise, or author Dan Brown but there were many things that shaped their regime. The poets, the writers, and the actors played a significant role in defining what was praise worthy and what is blame worthy within the regime. Physical training and the lifestyle that a person leads is something that will have a long-term effect on the life of justice within the city. How people relate themselves to the city also makes a big difference. In Book Three of Plato’s Republic, Socrates and his friends dive into what are the influences and the needs of the city.

Book Two – Why Are We Just?

Most action movies today have the theme of the antagonist desiring great power. He wants to avenge some wrong. He wants to rise up against an oppressor. He goes out on his personal vendetta, exacting his revenge, and protecting his self-interest.

Sometimes the news feels like the movies. Recently there was a story about a U.S. Congressman wrapping ninety thousand dollars in tin foil and putting it in his freezer. There are stories of corporate corruption and celebrities getting no serious penalties for their latest drug escapades. It is easy to start to doubt justice. In Plato’s Republic Book 2, Glaucon and Adiemantus starts to ask the question of whether justice is something we do because we are compelled by law or because it is the highest end.

Book One – What is Just? What is Right? What is Due?

Humans are very diverse. We come in every size, shape, and can be found all over the world. We were all born with what the Declaration of Independence calls a natural right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” One aspect of our humanity that connects us all is that we are all searching for answers to questions like how do we run our lives, how are we going to pursue happiness, and what will be right and just in a situation.

The questions of how to run our lives is something that we see strewn throughout literature. In Douglas Adam’s book the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the characters are looking for the answer to the ultimate question. In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” he asks which road he should take, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both…” Finally, in Plato’s Republic Book One, what is just and what is right are the questions the characters wrestle with and explore.