The Republic

Key Facts

full title  ·  The Republic

author  · Plato

philosophical movement  · Plato was his own philosophical movement, known as “Platonism.”

language  · Ancient Greek

time and place written  · Plato wrote The Republic in Athens around 380 B.C.

speaker  · As in nearly all of Plato’s works, Socrates acts as Plato’s mouthpiece.

areas of philosophy covered  · Though The Republic is primarily concerned with defining and defending justice, it is in no way limited to ethics and political philosophy. It also presents bold and fascinating theories in the fields of epistemology and metaphysics.

philosophical movements opposed  · Plato’s main opposition in The Republic is the Sophists.

other works by plato on similar topics  · For more on Plato’s political theory see the Laws. For more on his theory of Forms see the Meno, the Phaedo, and the Symposium.