I'm pretty sure it has something to do with caves. Someone wrote a book about it once. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html http://classics.mit.edu/Plat

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with caves. Someone wrote a book about it once. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html (Less sarcastically, the Republic transitions pretty quickly from a discussing of "what's a good life" to "how can we structure society (and government) to help people live well?" It's a good book, even if the conclusions are a bit suspect.)