Plato's Republic | Book 9 Summary and Analysis

1. The Tyrannical Individual (571–576b)

Summary
In order to explain the evolution of the tyrannical man, Socrates sub-divides the unnecessary pleasures, creating a category of anti-social pleasures. While these may exist within everyone, most people control theirs through the influence of the law and the active intervention of their power of reason. The tyrant is a mixture of lust, drunkenness, and madness, evil passions that can exist in anyone (as is revealed by one’s dreams) but which the tyrant alone makes no attempt to restrain. By indulging his...

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