The Allegory of the Cave
The allegory of all allegories, Plato's Allegory of the Cave is not the rosiest take on the reality of human existence. You might even call it downright bleak: it envisions the world as a dark cave...
Myth of Metals
Famously described as a "noble lie" by Socrates (414c), the myth of metals demonstrates how lying, if it's for the good of a city, can actually be a good thing for ruler to do. (So says Plato, anyw...
Myth of Er
The myth of Er is essentially the 411 on the afterlife. Just like the myth of metals, it's a "noble lie" meant to convince people who don't, or can't, make their way through the Republic that livin...
Justice
We're sorry to say that just because you might be a big Law & Order fan, it doesn't mean you're going to have an easy time with Plato's understanding of justice. We often think of justice from...
The Ring of Invisibility, or The Ring of Gyges
There's no Frodo here, folks: this ring of invisibility goes back way before Tolkien wrote his famous trilogy, or even before Tolkien's great-great-great-great-great grandparents were born.This sto...
The Forms
Forget college applications—Plato's forms have nothing to do with paperwork. The forms are what Plato believes to be true reality. Suspicious of the imperfections in the world around us, Plato ch...
The Imaginary City
Also known as the republic itself, Plato's imaginary city has been a source of fascination for both philosophers and authors since the book was written. Part of the reason it has such wide appeal i...
Poetry
Plato has a long and infamous beef with poetry and poets. Since so much about Plato seems kind of creative, and even literary, readers have puzzled over why Plato is so down on poetry. It's a myste...