About the book
Plato's Socratic dialogue sets Socrates in conversation with Glaucon, Polemarchus, Thrasymachus and other citizens of ancient Greece, all searching for what justice means and what an ideal civilization would look like. The debates range over truth, social class and the role of art, with Socrates steering the argument from one question to the next. The dialogues have long been read as a work of both ethics and politics, and they helped shape Western philosophy and literature. At their center sits a problem that remains open: how to build a perfect society out of very imperfect people.
Mark Manson called it the origin of political science and a critique of government that still matters, and Maria Popova said it is the one book she would require every public official to read. David Heinemeier Hansson, co-founder of Basecamp, found it accessible and fun to follow, closer to a play than a book, even while doubting some of the leaps in Socrates' logic.
We hope you love the books people recommend! Just so you know, The CEO Library may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page.
This book has 4 recommendations
Maria Popova (Founder/BrainPickings.org)
Tim Ferriss: "If you could guarantee that every public official or leader read one book, what would it be?"
Maria Popova: "The book would be, rather obviously, Plato's The Republic. I'm actually gobsmacked that this isn't required in order to be sworn into office, like the Constitution is required for us American immigrants when it comes time to gain American citizenship."
Mehdi Kajbaf (Co-Founder/Matboard and More)
Socrates and Plato were big influencers for me. Plato’s Republic is a foundational book for me.
David Heinemeier Hansson (Co-Founder/Basecamp)
I’m about a third through this and still can’t tell whether Plato is making a mockery of Socrates ideas for the idyllic society or not. So many of the arguments presented as Socrates’ are so tortured and with so disconnected leaps of logic that it’s hard to take it at face value. Yet still, it’s good fun to follow the dialogue. It reads more like a play than a book, and again, immensely accessible. It’s fun to see the lines that continue from a book like this to the considerations of the Stoics all the way to Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations and then onto a modern critique and history in that Debt: First 5,000 Years. A conversation spanning millennia.
Mark Manson (Author)
The origination of political science and a brilliant critique of government that is still important today.
Get this book on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books
See more books recommended by
Maria Popova, Mehdi Kajbaf, David Heinemeier Hansson, Mark Manson
See more books written by
Often recommended alongside
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (2 shared recommenders)
- Man’s Search for Meaning – The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust by Viktor E. Frankl (2 shared recommenders)
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (2 shared recommenders)
- The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker (2 shared recommenders)
- On the Shortness of Life by Seneca (2 shared recommenders)
- Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert (2 shared recommenders)