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Why Is The Republic: Important Ideas And Argument

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Why Is The Republic: Important Ideas And Argument
The Republic: Important ideas and arguments.

INTRODUCTION
The fundamental aim of the Republic is to define justice. In the pursuit to defining justice Socrates engages in a range of discussions in these discussions many important ideas and arguments are presented. This essay will discuss five of the most important ideas and arguments displayed in the Republic as well as stating the reasons for their importance in Plato’s justice argument. The essay concludes with reasons why these ideas are relevant in today’s society.

IDEAS AND ARGUMENTS
To exemplify why being just has more benefits than being unjust, Plato puts forward a couple of arguments. First, being unjust places strain the individual whereas the just individual is peaceful and calm, Plato uses the example of the tyrant, where the tyrant is motivated by lust, the greed for money and power (Plato, 1993:579d-580c).

Plato …show more content…
The analogy of the sun highlights the Form of the Good. The sun is a source of light the sun allows for visibility in the visible realm. The sun is the Good, just like the sun brings things in the visible realm to life, the Good brings the Forms in the intelligible realm to life (Plato, 1993:508b-509c).

The analogy of the divided line explains the different forms of truth and knowledge. The division between the visible realm and intelligible realm is made. The visible realm is divided into two; the lowest form being imagination and above it the physical objects of the imagination. The intelligible realm consists of another division which consists of mathematical reasoning and lastly the highest form of knowledge, the Forms. To understand the metaphysical and epistemological theory, Plato uses the allegory of the cave (Plato,
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