In this section-by-section commentary, Benardete argues that Plato's Republic is a holistic analysis of the beautiful, the good, and the just. This book provides a fresh interpretation of the Republic and a new understanding of philosophy as practiced by Plato and Socrates.

''Cryptic allusions, startling paradoxes, new questions . . . all work to give brilliant new insights into the Platonic text.''—Arlene W. Saxonhouse, Political Theory