Politician

Author: Plato
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Plato's three great works on political and legal philosophy—The Republic, The Statesman, and The Laws—are unparalleled in similar works. Their influence on Western and indeed all human political and legal thought is undoubtedly inimitable. The first two dialogues demonstrate his attempt to argue for the description of the best or ideal political institutions and rulers. To prove that this ideal is achievable, The Republic becomes Plato's attempt, while the art of governance is more fully explored in The Statesman. Although the shortest of the three dialogues, The Statesman is widely recognized as one of Plato's most difficult to read. More importantly, it may be the first work in the history of human thought to discuss the art and virtue of ruling. In The Statesman, Plato's challenge is to define the best ruler in order to distinguish him from the incompetent ones.