Sign of the Times: the Rise and Fall of Politics in Plato’s Statesman
In: Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political ThoughtSearch for other papers by Charlotta Weigelt in
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Abstract
This article argues that the Statesman should be read as a historically informed reflection on the nature and possibility of political rule, and that it presents us with a dilemma precisely in this regard. On the one hand, as indicated by the famous myth on the evolution of the cosmos, politics is only possible today, in the age of Zeus, when man no longer is like a sheep, ruled by a caring herdsman, as he used to be in the age of Cronus. Instead, he has become an expert who is capable of some degree of self-rule. On the other hand, however, as a ‘technocratic’ age, the present is marked by its loss of the ‘natural’ model for statesmanship. More specifically, when politics tends to be identified with technical expertise, it becomes difficult to make sense of the very idea of political rule.
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 380 | 94 | 8 |
| Full Text Views | 148 | 9 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 260 | 22 | 0 |
Sign of the Times: the Rise and Fall of Politics in Plato’s Statesman
In: Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political ThoughtSearch for other papers by Charlotta Weigelt in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This article argues that the Statesman should be read as a historically informed reflection on the nature and possibility of political rule, and that it presents us with a dilemma precisely in this regard. On the one hand, as indicated by the famous myth on the evolution of the cosmos, politics is only possible today, in the age of Zeus, when man no longer is like a sheep, ruled by a caring herdsman, as he used to be in the age of Cronus. Instead, he has become an expert who is capable of some degree of self-rule. On the other hand, however, as a ‘technocratic’ age, the present is marked by its loss of the ‘natural’ model for statesmanship. More specifically, when politics tends to be identified with technical expertise, it becomes difficult to make sense of the very idea of political rule.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 380 | 94 | 8 |
| Full Text Views | 148 | 9 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 260 | 22 | 0 |
