![]() In order to clarify its argument, this Note further subdivides those ten books in its discussion. Since its first appearance, the Republic has traditionally been published in ten books, probably from its having been so divided into ten "books" in its manuscript form. And we are to infer that any proposed changes in the policy of effecting justice in any state would have to meet the criteria of the ideal state: the Republic. It is Plato's intent in this dialogue to establish, philosophically, the ideal state, a state that would stand as a model for all emerging or existing societies currently functioning during Plato's time and extending into our own times. The Republic may be seen as a kind of debate, a fitting description for most of the Dialogues. It is a kind of extended conversation that embraces a central argument, an argument that is advanced by the proponent of the argument, Socrates. Although it contains its dramatic moments and it employs certain literary devices, it is not a play, a novel, a story it is not, in a strict sense, an essay. The Republic is arguably the most popular and most widely taught of Plato's writings. ![]()
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