Critics of The Republic, Plato's contribution to the history of political theory, have formed two distinct opinions on the reasoning behind the work. The first group believes that The Republic is truly a model for a political society, while the other strongly objects to that, stating it as being far too fantastic for any society to operate successfully by these suggested methods. In an exchange between Crito and Dionysius, this argument is first introduced, with …showed first 75 words of 1856 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1856 total…past or future, or even today in some foreign region far beyond our horizon,         men of the highest gifts for philosophy are constrained to take charge of a         commonwealth, we are ready to maintain that, then and there, the constitution we         have described has been realized, or will be realized when once the philosophic         muse becomes mistress of a state. For that might happen. Our plan is difficult--we         have admitted as much--but not impossible (Plato 208).