柏拉圖對話“Politeia　”的中譯書名迄今仍有爭議，漢語學界目前通行的《理想國》、《國家篇》、《政制》等譯法，都未必妥帖。由於politeia在古希臘古典作家的用法中有多種含義，柏拉圖用這個語詞作為書名時又賦予了蘇格拉底自己所理解的含義，應該如何翻譯作為書名的“Politeia　”，的確非常困難。漢譯書名的選擇應該引領讀者更接近而非更遠離柏拉圖不同凡響的思考，尤其不能遠離蘇格拉底這個人。在沒有深入思考柏拉圖這部作品之前，顯然沒有可能獲得恰切的漢譯書名。本文試圖表明，柏拉圖的“Politeia　”從頭到尾由蘇格拉底親自講述，意味著該書對最佳政制的理解帶有蘇格拉底的個人色彩。通過進一步分析politeia的希臘文詞源含義與蘇格拉底的個體關係，本文認為，“Politeia　”的真實含義當是「王制」。

That the Chinese academia has not yet yielded an agreement on the translation of the title of Plato's ”Politeia” can be seen from the fact that scholars till adopt these popular translations as follows: Lixiang Guo, Guojia Pian, and Zhengzhi, which are not quite apt. In the works of classical writers in ancient Greece, politeia is a word with rich connotations, and when Plato chooses this very word for the title of his work, he actually has enveloped Socrates' own understanding of what politeia is, from which it is very difficult to find a fit translation of the title of the ”Politeia”. However, a proper translation should lead readers to come closer to rather than keep them away from Plato's extraordinary thinking, especially it should not lead readers away from Socrates. It is thus obvious that without a thorough understanding of this Platonic work, it is impossible to get an appropriate translation of the title in question. This paper endeavors to show that Plato's ”Politeia” is a narrative of Socrates throughout, meaning that the work's understanding of the best regime is with Socrates' personal character. Through a further analysis of the relationship between the etymology of the Greek word politeia and Socrates the man, the paper holds that the true meaning of ”politeia” should be ”wangzhi.”