Abstract

This paper focuses on the connection between play and education in Plato's Republic. The dialogue presents two opposing pedagogical approaches to the education of political leadership: first, the approach of a Socratic-like lover of wisdom, who seeks to "free" citizens through philosophical play for lives of excellence and for the application of their leadership skills to the construction of a just society for the public good; and second, the approach of tyrannical sophists who educate and rule in the city by coercive force for private advantage and the enslavement of citizens for a ruler's own personal ends. Plato's Republic aims to show that philosophical "play" is the best pedagogical means to educate a just citizenry and to prepare philosophical leaders to govern.