Dialogue Plato's Republic one question?

Question

wow this treatise is so hard to read! My textbook introduction does not signify if the characters are fictional personalities or all real people. Who knows if they are? has anyone else read this? i dont need to google this i like to read your answers Thank You

Answer 1

Like Petros has said, it does not matter if they actually exist.  It is a  hypothetical world, that Plato created as a means to make a perfect government, and more than that, A POINT.

Think about it like science. When you are testing a theory in science you first test it on ideal levels, then you proceed to testing it in the real wold.

Answer 2

I don't think it matters whether they are fictional characters or actual people.

Answer 3

Great question!

As the previous respondents mentioned, there may not be much value in ascertaining if the characters are "real" or not.  In fact, it seems reasonable to assert that -philosophically- there are no "fictional" characters ... that is, fiction is the step-child of reality.

If that rather simple assumption is worthy of driving the dialogue that it helps move the questions -and, subsequently, the ensuing replies- away from the veracity of real versus fictional and toward the "message" of Plato's Republic (as well as the writings of Socrates and Aristotle).

This shift encourages thinking toward the allegory of the "cave" and the various symbols and images of "the truth" and other abstract concepts that, quite often, are better served indirectly -via allegory, metaphor, and the like- in order for the discussion to have some grounding and, more importantly, make sense.