Having now arrived at one of the most important sections of The Republic, Dr. Gary Gregg discusses Plato’s types of governments and how they decline from the best to the worst. Spoiler alert–democracy is certainly not the best in his view. Listeners are encouraged to consider Plato’s strong indictment of democracy and to take a hard look at our American system through this lens to see how closely we compare. Remember too that government is “man writ-large,” and therefore he is talking not only about the types of political regimes, but also–and quite possibly more importantly–the types of individual souls.

Target 5 Reading: Book VIII, pp. 221-249 of "The Republic of Plato", 2nd edition, translated by Allan Bloom (Basic Books, 1968 and 1991).

Download Dr. Gregg’s Guide to The Republic here

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Intro: Bridget Kim 
Host: Dr. Gary L. Gregg II 
Editor: Connor Tracy
Music: Selected from freemusicarchive.org/music/Damiano_Baldoni/