Book 1: Chapter 15, The Theory of Ideas Summary and Analysis

"The Republic" is concerned with philosophy as well as politics. The Platonic view of philosophers as kings was necessary to free cities from evil. A philosopher, in his view, was someone who loved wisdom but not knowledge as part of his inquisitive mind. As the love of beautiful things leads to dreaming and only absolute beauty can awake as part of knowledge rather than opinion, philosophers were not those who love beautiful things.

The difference between knowledge and opinion incorporated knowing something as opposed to belief. Knowledge would never involve a mistake unlike opinions that included existent and non existent features. Opinions involving reality were knowledge while opinions that pertained to unreal things could not be opinions.

Certain things involved opposite characters as beauty also encompassed ugliness. In the same way...