Plato's use of Homer's poetry in Books 2 and 3 of the 'Republic': A reading employing Leo Strauss' principle of logographic necessity

In his essay "On the Republic" in The City and Man, Leo Strauss indicates that one of the difficulties faced by the modern reader in understanding the Republic is that the form is as important to understanding the text as is the substance. The implication of Strauss' observation is that one cannot understand Plato without first coming to terms with the form through which he presents his ideas.; What I strive to demonstrate in this dissertation is both general and specific. In general I attempt to guide the modern reader through the form of the Republic in order to show how Strauss' theory of logographic necessity illuminates both the dialogue of the characters in the Republic and the poetic allusions those characters make. In particular, I endeavor to show the modern reader that Plato's use of dialogue in the Republic and the references to the poetry of Homer and Hesiod made by the characters Socrates, Adeimantus and Glaucon are designed to encourage the Athenian audience of Plato's day to modify their understanding of the moral lessons imparted by the poetry of both Homer and Hesiod.; I conclude from this approach to the Republic that Plato uses the discussion of poetic education in books 2 and 3 of the Republic as a tool by which he might purge his real audience, his fellow Athenians, of their poetically induced attachment to a flawed understanding of justice and as a consequence of this purgation, bring them to a poetically induced attachment to philosophy, thereby bringing them to a philosophically sound understanding of justice. I further conclude that the reason contemporary readers have failed to recognize that Plato found poetry both useful and necessary in promoting a philosophically sound understanding of justice is that contemporary readers neglect to examine the poetic allusions made by Plato's characters and as a consequence miss the irony inherent in the discussion of poetic education.