"Where the logos take us" is a phrase by Socrates in the Republic: it is an exhortation to be carried away by philosophical arguments what may be the consequence that follows. The Republic is, in this sense, an inaugural work of utopian thought, of dimensions not only political but epistemological and metaphysical. It may seem strange in a dialogue whose main theme is the theory of justice that Plato has expressed here not only his political conceptions but many other doctrines, such as his psychology, the theory of forms or his idea of dialectics. In the author's view, there is an "ontology of power" that underlies this way of thinking whose most distinctive sign is to challenge the legitimacy of the existing order and to build a normative political theory based on the yearning for a better world.
The reader will not only find in these pages an analysis of the varied iconography of the Republic, in which are some of the most famous images of the history of philosophy, such as the cavern, the divided line, the comparison of Good with the Sun or the nave of the state. For the book also carries out a complete study of the Republic, which has been divided for commentary into sections ranging from the first to the last line.
The kinship of utopias with totalitarianism was decisive for the Republic to be the subject of harsh criticism throughout the twentieth century. The author shares Kant's judgment, for in his view it is not likely that philosophers will become kings, but he does not consider it desirable either. However, in this book his efforts is devoted not so much to the critique of platonic thought as to the elucidation of this work, one of the texts that have had the greatest influence on Western thought.