ABSTRACT
The chapter addresses the question how the account of dialectic in the Republic is connected with the dialogue’s overall argument concerning justice. Dialectic is primarily described in books 5–7, where the interlocutors enquire into the insight required of the persons fit to rule in the good city. This enquiry is introduced in order to aid the overall enquiry into the just soul. The chapter shows that a widespread interpretation, according to which the just person is identical with the philosopher-ruler and the highest dialectical insight is required for being just, leaves the argument of the Republic a failure. It argues that this reading is implausible, and that the account of dialectic has a different, important role to play in the overall argument, namely to cast light on the function and possibilities of human reason and to provide a paradigm for the role of reason in the just life.
