The Role of Astronomy in Book VII of Plato's Republic

This paper provides a detailed analysis of Plato's account of real astronomy in Book VII of the Republic. It aims to reconcile two seemingly contradictory instructions: to employ visible astral motions as paradigms to learn about the intelligible ones (529d7-e2) while leaving the things in the heavens alone and focusing on problems (530b6-c2). By relying on the image-original relationship between the sensible and the intelligible realms, the paper argues that the real astronomer must interact with celestial entities, but solely for the purpose of using them as paradigms for learning about the intelligible ones.