ABSTRACT
In V 473 with the breaking of the ‘Third Wave’ Socrates states the main thesis of the Republic, that there will be no respite from evil until philosophers become kings or kings philosophers. To modern ears this sounds strange. We picture elderly dons with white beards wearing crowns slightly askew, and holding sceptres, like pieces of chalk, awkward in their unaccustomed attire, and manifesting academic incompetence when faced with having to rule in the real world. But that is not what Plato had in mind. His view was that the good society would never come about, until the intellectually committed came into power, or those in power became intellectually committed.
