The Republic

1. What is Plato’s aim in The Republic?

2. Which of Socrates’s interlocutors asserts that justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger?

3. Which of the following terms best describes Thrasymachus?

4. What advantage does the Ring of Gyges confer on its wearers?

5. According to Glaucon, to which of the following classes do the majority of people relegate justice?

6. According to Socrates what is the fundamental principle on which all human society should be based?

7. Which of the following is not a term applied to the first city Socrates describes?

8. Which of the following classes of society populates the first city?

9. Which of the following is not considered an important aspect of the warriors’ education?

10. What is the aim of the warriors’ education?

11. Which of the following is not considered an aspect of the soul by Plato?

12. Which of the following statements is false?

13. Which of the following is not a characteristic that marks the lifestyle of the guardians?

14. What is the main purpose in propagating the myth of the metals among the citizens of the just city?

15. What is the role of women in the city?

16. What distinguishes the lover of sights and sounds from the philosopher?

17. According to Socrates, what is the ultimate subject of study for the philosopher-kings?

18. To which of the following does Socrates compare the Form of the Good?

19. According to Socrates, what is the lowest grade of cognitive activity?

20. What is the difference between thought and understanding

21. What does Socrates mean to illustrate with the allegory of the cave?

22. At what age does a guardian finally become a philosopher-king, provided that he passes through all of the various tests?

23. Why is the philosopher king most fit to rule the city?

24. Which of the following statements best approximates Socrates’s attitude toward democracy?

25. How do we know that the philosopher’s pleasure is the greatest possible pleasure?