In this book a distinguished philosopher offers a comprehensive interpretation of Platoās most controversial dialogue. Treating theĀ RepublicĀ as a unity and focusing on the dramatic form as the presentation of the argument, Stanley Rosen challenges earlier analyses of theĀ RepublicĀ (including the ironic reading of Leo Strauss and his disciples) and argues that the key to understanding the dialogue is to grasp the authorās intention in composing it, in particular whether Plato believed that the city constructed in theĀ RepublicĀ is possible and desirable.
Rosen demonstrates that the fundamental principles underlying the just city are theoretically attractive but that the attempt to enact them in practice leads to conceptual incoherence and political disaster. TheĀ Republic,Ā says Rosen, is a vivid illustration of the irreconcilability of philosophy and political practice.
Stanley Rosen is Borden Parker Bowne Professor of Philosophy and University Professor at Boston University. His previous books includeĀ The Elusiveness of the OrdinaryĀ andĀ Hermeneutics as Politics,Ā both published by Yale University Press.