more on the Republic

The Republic is always a good read, and contains a number of forgotten gems scattered in with the famous showpieces (the cave, the divided line, the argument with Thrasymachus, the philosopher kings etc.) My own personal favorite forgotten gem is the part immediately after the cave myth, when Socrates says that things are most thought-provoking when they are contradictory. It sounds like a banal truism when I state it that way, but the passage itself is quite striking if you go back and have a look at it.

How great is the Republic? In a famous interview, Levinas (and my respect for his philosophical acumen would be impossible to overstate; he deserves to rank even a few notches higher than he currently does) lists what he thinks have been the greatest philosophical books in history. Not philosophers, but books.

He was prompted to share his list during his recollections of Heidegger, and of his first reading of Being and Time, which Levinas does place on the short list of great philosophical books. Also there were the Phenomenology of Spirit, the Critique of Pure Reason (I think it was, anyway), and the dark horse choice– Bergson’s first book, known in English as Time and Free Will.

The latter choice is unusual not only because it places Bergson in a more select company than is usually the case, but because most Begson fans would rank Matter and Memory higher than Time and Free Will. But I digress…

The Platonic dialogue chosen by Levinas as the greatest was, if memory serves, the Phaedrus and not the Republic. I’m not sure whether I agree or disagree with that claim, but I can understand why he made it. There’s something a bit prosaic about the Republic at times. It’s too long. There’s a bit too much “dead air” amidst its pages. The Phaedrus, by contrast, is very tight and polished, a real diamond among the dialogues, and probably just as invested with mythic power as the Republic.

Though it may sound too “Philosophy 101” of me, I also have a strong personal fondness for the Meno. It is a truly great piece of philosophical work. You could possibly learn all the philosophy you need to start with just form that one short dialogue.