BOOKS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD A Biography (A Book that Shook the World)

<p>Plato is perhaps the most significant philosopher who has ever lived and <i>The Republic</i>, composed in Athens in about 375BC, is widely regarded as his most famous dialogue. Its discussion of the perfect city - and the perfect mind - laid the foundations for Western culture and, for over two thousand years, has been the cornerstone of Western philosophy. </p><p>In this book, Simon Blackburn explains the judicial, moral and political ideas in the <i>Republic </i>and examines its influence on the modern world. He shows why, from St Augustine to twentieth-century philosophers such as Whitehead and Bergson, Western thought is still conditioned by this most important of books.</p>