The Republic

The Original Unabridged and Complete Edition (Plato Classics)

By: Plato

Narrated by: Jeffrey Ito

The Republic is a Socratic dialogue, authored by Plato around 375 BCE, concerning justice, the order and character of the just city-state, and the just man. It is Plato's best-known work, and one of the world's most influential works of philosophy and political theory, both intellectually and historically.

In the dialogue, Socrates discusses the meaning of justice and whether the just man is happier than the unjust man with various Athenians and foreigners. He considers the natures of existing regimes and then proposes a series of hypothetical cities in comparison, culminating in Kallipolis, a utopian city-state ruled by a philosopher-king. They also discuss ageing, love, theory of forms, the immortality of the soul, and the role of the philosopher and of poetry in society. The dialogue's setting seems to be the time of the Peloponnesian War.

©2024 Plato (P)2024 Plato

I Finally Read It and I'm Glad I Did

I’ve always heard about The Republic but never actually sat down to read the full thing—until now. I’m really glad I did. It’s deep, for sure, but also surprisingly readable once you get into the rhythm of the dialogue. Socrates brings up some big questions about justice, leadership, and what makes a good society, and even though it was written so long ago, a lot of it still feels super relevant. If you’ve been curious about philosophy or just want to challenge your thinking, this original unabridged edition is a great place to start.

This reader is awful

He pronounces many of the words (let alone names) wrong and has such strange emphasis that I struggle to understand what the sentence is saying. Please get a pro to do this.

The book itself was good but narration is terrible

Review is for the audible quality. Terrible the guy sounded like he read the whole book while in the bathroom it was hard to understand due to the reverb and echo. His pacing of sentences was also very stilted. Only recommend this despite it being free for audible members.