In Plato's political theory we discover the essence of politics, which provides the requisite lessons to understand political as it is and should be. As there is a Form of the Good, there is a Form of the Polis, discerned in Plato's philosophy and as real for us as it was for him.

Scott John Hammond is professor of political theory at James Madison University.

Chapter One Drawing Further Meaning from Cephalus and Polemarchus
Chapter Two Making Thrasymachus Blush
Chapter Three Sons of Ariston
Chapter Four The True City
Chapter Five The True City Embodied in the Guardians
Chapter Six Rough Seas
Chapter Seven Building a Theory from an Account
Chapter Eight The Second Best City
Chapter Nine The Form of the Polis in the Second Best City: The Visible
Chapter Ten The Form of the Polis in the Second Best City: The Invisible