The Republic-in-Speech Anonymous College

Historically, readers of Plato’s Republic have understood the book to be offering a blueprint of sorts for an ideal political regime, one that might actually be brought into being. Certainly, this view has some evidence to support it. But others have argued that the Republic was never intended to describe a regime that could be brought into being. In this paper I argue that, despite some evidence supporting the contrary, Plato did not intend for his city-in-speech to be a blueprint for any actual regime, as seen through the purpose of Socrates’s illustration, his approach in designing the city, and his reluctance in explaining the minor details of its structure.

Before arguing positively for my argument, I will examine the support of the negative. Those who argue that Plato intended for his ideal political regime to be implemented do so on the basis of some textual evidence. For example, Socrates refers to this regime as “the just city” (e.g. 435b); since Socrates loves just things (as does Plato, by extension), they would argue that he would be in favor of instituting this “just city” in the real world, based on the implicit premise that good things are made better when they are actualized. The term “just,” however, is...