The Republic by Plato - 0 - Introduction
Introduction
Quote
"God, there goes Socrates again, pretending to be an ignoramus."
Notes and Key Takeaways
Plato lived from 427 - 347 BC, and grew up during the Peloponnesian War.
He was a devoted follower of Socrates, who was executed by the state towards the end of the war on charges of irreligion and corrupting the youth.
Plato wrote dialogues using Socrates as the main character discussing the fundamental questions of philosophy, which have since become the foundation for all of Western philosophy.
In The Republic, Socrates meets with a group of friends to discuss morality, justice, and how to build an ideal society. Remember, the Peloponnesian War, and the plague that happened along with it, brought about the complete breakdown of order and society all across the Greek world, and it probably served as a provocative stimulus for thinking about these questions.
The version I'm be reading is the Oxford World's Classics version, translated by Robin Waterfield, first published in 1993, and reissued in 2008.