ABSTRACT

The relationship of the ideal state of the Republic to the practical state of the Laws can be fruitfully explored in terms of the somewhat anomalous aspect of the metaphor of the philosopher as an artist or craftsman. The philosopher ruler has as his model the world of forms, especially the moral forms, to which he refers as a standard for creating the proper social conditions for the just society and the just individual (500b—1c). The ideal state of the Republic serves as a type or model which is to be approximated by the practical state of the Laws. The practical state, however, does not duplicate the institutions of the ideal state, but approximates in its own constitution the principles underlying that state: unity and fellow feeling, wisdom and freedom.