This work is widley acknowledged as one of the most influencial works in the history of philosophy. Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different inerlocutors, it is an inquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. During the conversation other questions are raised: what is goodness; what is reality; what is knowledge; what is the purpose of education? With remarkable lucidity and deft use of allegory, Plato arrives at a depiction of a state bound by harmony and ruled by 'philisopher kings.'