Includes bibliographical references (pages 308-311) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (Open Book Publishers website; viewed on 2020-11-20).

This book is a lucid and accessible companion to Plato's Republic, throwing light upon the text's arguments and main themes, placing them in the wider context of the text's structure. In its illumination of the philosophical ideas underpinning the work, it provides readers with an understanding and appreciation of the complexity and literary artistry of Plato's Republic. McAleer not only unpacks the key overarching questions of the text - What is justice? And Is a just life happier than an unjust life? - but also highlights some fascinating, overlooked passages which contribute to our understa.

Intro -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- The Republic's Two Main Questions -- The Structure of the Republic -- Arguing about Justice -- What to Expect in this Book -- 1. Fathers and Sons: Book I -- Polemarchus Wants You to Wait (1.327a-328c) -- Cephalus: Justice is Paying Your Debts and Telling the Truth (1.328c-331d) -- Polemarchus: Justice is Benefiting Friends and Harming Enemies (1.331d-336a) -- Is Justice a Craft? (1.332c-334b) -- Speaking of Friends... (1.334c-335a) -- But Does the Just Person Harm Anyone? (1.335b-336a) -- Some Suggestions for Further Reading

2. Taming the Beast: Socrates versus Thrasymachus, Book I -- Enter Thrasymachus: Justice Is Whatever Benefits the Powerful (1.336a-39b) -- Five Arguments Against Thrasymachus' Definition of Justice -- The Error Argument (1.338c-343a) -- The Craft Argument (1.341c-348b) -- The Outdoing Argument (1.348b-350d) -- The Common Purpose Argument (1.350d-352d) -- The Function Argument (1.352d-354c) -- Some Suggestions for Further Reading -- 3. A Fresh Start: Book II -- Three Kinds of Goods (2.357a-358a) -- Glaucon's Three Thrasymachan Theses (2.358a-362c)

Thrasymachan Thesis #1: Justice is Conventional, Not Natural (2.358e-359b) -- Thrasymachan Thesis #2: Those Who Act Justly Do So Unwillingly (2.359b-360d) -- Thrasymachan Thesis #3: The Unjust Person is Happier than the Just Person (2.360e-362c) -- Adeimantus Ups the Ante (2.362d-367e) -- Socrates' Plan: Investigate Personal Justice by Investigating Political Justice (2.367e-369a) -- A False Start: Socrates' Rustic Utopia (2.369b-373a) -- Some Suggestions for Further Reading -- 4. Blueprints for a Platonic Utopia: Education and Culture, Books II and III

Supervising the Storytellers: Musical and Poetic Content (2.376c-3.392c) -- Supervising the Storytellers: Musical and Poetic Style (3.392c-401d) -- The Aesthetically Beautiful and the Morally Beautiful (3.401d-403c, 412b-e) -- Physical Education-and Food (3.403c-405a) -- Symptoms of Poorly Educated Cities: Too Many Lawyers and Doctors (3.405a-408c) -- Harmony between Musical and Physical Education (3.410a-412b) -- The Noble Falsehood (3.414b-417b) -- Some Suggestions for Further Reading -- 5. Starting to Answer theFirst Question: The Political Virtues, Book IV

Happiness: Parts and Wholes, Individuals and Communities (4.419a-421c) -- The Ideal City: Finishing Touches (4.421c-427d) -- The Political Virtues (4.427d-434d) -- Cardinal Virtues -- Wisdom (4.428a-429a) -- Courage (4.429a-430c) -- Moderation (4.430d-432b) -- Justice (4.432b-434d) -- Some Suggestions for Further Reading -- 6. The Republic's First Question Answered at Last: Personal Justice, Book IV -- Platonic Psychology: The Divided Soul (4.434d-441c) -- The Personal Virtues (4.441c-444e) -- Personal Justice: Intrapersonal Being versus Interpersonal Doing (4.443c-444e)

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