Statesman
In this trenchant dialogue, Plato asks a question that still haunts us: what if good governance has nothing to do with elections, laws, or constitutions, and everything to do with knowledge? The Eleatic Stranger guides Young Socrates through a dazzling classification of trades, sciences, and forms of rule, revealing that most so-called statesmen are merely craftsmen of power, not architects of the good society. The dialogue's famous weaving analogy suggests the true statesman doesn't impose order but braids opposing character types into harmonious unity. Plato here revises his earlier Republic: knowledge remains the only legitimate basis for rule, but the relationship between wisdom and law grows more complicated. The statesman, we learn, may sometimes need to break the law for the city's benefit, a notion that still startles democratic sensibilities. This is political philosophy as lived inquiry, not doctrine.
Editions
X-Ray
“In which, if any, of these constitutions do we find the art of ruling being practiced in the actual government of men? What art is more difficult to learn? But what art is more important to us?””
— Plato
“'s dialogues bear at least some similarities to the classical plays.””
— Plato
“The difference between the two classes is often a trivial concern; but in a state, and when affecting really important matters, becomes of all disorders the most hateful.””
— Plato
“Ξένος: διὸ δὴ καὶ τότ᾽ ἤδη θεὸς ὁ κοσμήσας αὐτόν, καθορῶν ἐν ἀπορίαις ὄντα, κηδόμενος ἵνα μὴ χειμασθεὶς ὑπὸ ταραχῆς διαλυθεὶς εἰς τὸν τῆς ἀνομοιότητος ἄπειρον ὄντα πόντον δύῃ, πάλιν ἔφεδρος αὐτοῦ τῶν πηδαλίων γιγνόμενος, τὰ νοσήσαντα καὶ λυθέντα ἐν τῇ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν προτέρᾳ περιόδῳ στρέψας, κοσμεῖ τε καὶ ἐπανορθῶν ἀθάνατον αὐτὸν καὶ ἀγήρων ἀπεργάζεται.””
— Plato
