The Republic

The Republic is Plato's dialogue devoted to the problem of the ideal state. It was created in 360 BC. According to Plato, the state is the embodiment of the idea of justice. In the dialogue, philosophers are clearly indicated for the first time as people who are able to grasp what is always identical to oneself.

The dialogue contains a systematization and a short critical analysis of the types of state system (the ideal "state of the future", which does not yet exist, is not included in it), arranged by Plato according to the criterion of gradual degradation, which has the appearance of evolution in time, but the irreversibility of such evolution is not directly asserted, and the question of the inevitability of degradation is not clearly stated, so if you wish, this degradation can be considered only as a description of a certain trend, very similar to the decline of the primitive democracy. This is the measure of the types of state (from the best to the worst): Aristocracy and Monarchy, Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy, Tyranny.