Since the death of Socrates a little more than 2,400 years ago, there have been many thousands of books written about politics. Many scholars would argue that the best is Aristotle's Politics, but others believe that the best is the book that we know as Plato's Republic. I agree with the latter group. The “Republic” is the most penetrating, the most thorough, and the most beautiful book ever written on the subject of politics, on the nature of philosophy, on the tension between the two, and on the resolution of that tension. It ought to be read over and over again. It is a book of such transcendent excellence that each new reading opens the problems of politics to clearer and better understanding and appreciation.

Some time after Plato's death, scholars attached the subtitle On Justice to it. To accept uncritically both the title “Republic” and the subtitle “On Justice” is to burden oneself with some hindrances to proper understanding of the book. These things and the numerous misdirections that various translators impose must be peeled away. It is my earnest desire that the following sketch does not also introduce such hindrances.