Abstract

I examine the role of nature (φύσιs) in the argument of Plato’s Republic and demonstrate that the concept plays a more central role in advancing the dialogue’s philosophical aims than has been appreciated by scholars. Socrates carefully distinguishes between the nature with which one is born and the nature that one has at the end of education. The former is one’s “original nature,” and the latter is that same original nature brought to fulfillment, a “fulfilled nature”. Both of these are referred to as φύσιs. Distinguishing them aids us in understanding the argument of the dialogue.