ABSTRACT
It may be conceded that the citizens of the Republic are intended to be happy, and even that they will be happy. But the liberal-democrat will point out that, in order to secure this end, Plato 'denies every axiom of progressive thought and challenges all its fondest ideals' and most notably the ideal of freedom, which is condemned by Plato as an illusion that 'can be held only by idealists whose sympathies are stronger than their sense'. 1 It is undoubtedly the case that Plato does not feel that it matters, in the circumstances of the Republic, that there will be restrictions or that individuals will be discouraged from entertaining and acting on idiosyncratic opinions, arrived at independently.
