Quite a chain of events!
I have the republic on my bookshelf, but only to look clever. Is it one I should read then? I only bought it because I'd read an extract where he rambled on about music that amused me, but I still haven't got round to tackling the whole thing.

About every three months I pick one of these shelf-decorating books and actually read it. Last one (well okay a pair) was the Wealth of Nations and Moral Sentiments. And my word it's more interesting reading both of them. If a little confusing.
( prince-igor si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses, Fri 1 Jul 2011, 10:29, 1 reply)

The Republic has its moments,
but in my opinion Plato is more important for what he inspired than for anything that he did in his own right. A lot of important stuff can be traced back to him, and he's the earliest philosopher from whom we have anything like a significant body of work - but Aristotle is a much more coherent thinker on the whole.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 1 Jul 2011, 10:36, closed)

Generally my philosophy reading is pretty poor
and overly influenced by whether Bertrand Russell had anything nice to say about them in the History of Western Philosophy...
( prince-igor si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses, Fri 1 Jul 2011, 10:45, closed)

I disagree...
... well, actually, i don't. What you said there was spot on. But I'd still recommend Plato over Aristotle: they've both been studied, picked apart, put back together, and essentially superseded over the last ~2400 years; but Plato has the advantage of actually being a relatively enjoyable read for the amateur philosopher. Aristotle is about as fun as reading someone's lecture notes.
(Xpic needs a kick up the arse., Tue 5 Jul 2011, 9:38, closed)