ABSTRACT
Plato’s Republic, a book we’re going to look at in some detail in this chapter, constructs an ideal political society one of whose key elements is a warrior class. More importantly, even if Plato didn’t say that only the dead have seen the end of war, he jolly well could have. In the film Scott attributes it to Plato, but there's no evidence of it in Plato's works. More importantly, even if Plato didn't say that only the dead have seen the end of war, he jolly well could have. One of the reasons for Plato's perennial appeal is that he is such a great writer, possessing an inimitable ability to convey deep philosophical truths through myth, metaphor, simile and allegory. Contemporary philosophers have articulated Plato's point by asking about the appropriate 'direction of fit' between our desires or beliefs on the one hand and the world on the other. .
