Utopia Candle - The Republic | The School of Life

Regular price $79.90

Inviting our contemplation of utopian ideals, this large elegant candle housed in a fine matte ceramic jar within a beautiful box delivers a sophisticated and subtle scent of warm spices with bergamot, mandarin, nutmeg, black pepper, cardamom, cumin and vetivert. The whole is inspired by Plato's utopian philosophy of an ideal realm of reason, calm and order: a truly beautiful gift.

  • 90 (H) x 80 (W) mm

About The School of Life Founded in 2008 by renowned philosopher and author Alain de Botton (a personal favourite of mine), the organisation now headquartered in London and with global outreach is devoted to developing emotional intelligence across the full range of a lived life, offering classes, workshops, events, publications and a range of objects to assist the quest for more meaningful life, society, business. 

More on Plato's The Republic Throughout history, visionary people have contemplated and designed utopias, perfect unreal worlds that yet serve to illuminate real needs. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428BC – 348BC)  surveyed his home, the city state of Athens, and was struck by the range of its problems: politicians were corrupt, pandering to the mob and lining their own pockets; families weren’t educating children properly; people pursued money and power rather than self-knowledge and insight; love and sex weren’t properly understood; and artists were keener on thrilling their audiences than making them wise or good. (Sound familiar?). Plato's solution was developed in The Republic, written around 380BC, that remains one of the most ambitious and thought-provoking of all utopian texts – a continuing inspiration for those offended by the chaos, ugliness and irrationality of our current world. The Republic evokes a community governed by wisdom, with leaders motivated only by selfless duty to the common good; their qualification is the depth of their insight into the real needs of others, and they are exemplary for the modesty and simplicity of their habits.