The Theory of Ideal state in Plato's Republic: Differences and Distinctions

Plato, in his famous political opus, “Republic”, has formalized an Ideal state according to epistemological and ontological bases, which can be mentioned as the first comprehensive and coherent thought about politics. This Ideal state, from years ago, has been construed in different interpretations. The present article seeks to examine the distinctions of Plato’s Ideal state from others by reading this Ideal state on the sociopolitical context of classical Greece on the one hand and Plato’s intellectual and philosophical basics on the other hand. According to this reading, it seems that the sociopolitical characteristics of classical Greece and Plato’s intellectual and philosophical basics have caused that the Ideal (actual) state on Plato’s view be distinguished from any abstract Idealism, on the one hand, and Utopianism and Millenarianism on the other hand.