Revisiting the “longer way” and the “shorter way” in Plato’s Republic

At some moments of the Republic, character Socrates refers to two “ways” to reach some important objectives explained in the dialogue, a shorter one and a longer one. The present article explains what these two paths are, by presenting i) the previous context for the “paths” in the text of the Republic; ii) the objectives attributed to the ongoing discussion; iii) how the notion of “paths” emerges in the text; iv) the characterization of both, the shorter and the longer way; v) the explanation why the discussion must follow the shorter one; vi) the assessment of some of the main interpretations of the issue in the scholarship. The paper concludes that Socrates and his interlocutors could not follow the longer way because it is not available for them.