Plato is a great ancient philosopher who exerted a profound influence on the history of the human spirit. It was with him that the formation of scientific thinking, in the strict sense of the word, began. In this edition, the reader will find Plato's famous work, 'The Republic,' in which the philosopher attempted to encompass all the fundamental questions of human life. The dialogue opens with an attempt to define the concept of 'justice.' The philosopher then examines six forms of government—monarchy, aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny—and finally moves on to a description of the ideal state, governed by philosophers, 'for only the wise can care for the proper way of life of all citizens.'