Plato : political philosophy / [print]
Malcolm Schofield.
- Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, (c)2006.
- x, 384 pages ; 24 cm
- Founders of modern political and social thought .
- Founders of modern political and social thought. .
Introduction -- The Republic : contexts and projects -- The centrepiece -- Some dubious Platonic autobiography Socrates : engagement and detachment -- The projects of The Republic -- Education, Sparta and the politeia tradition -- Athens, democracy and freedom -- Democratic entanglements -- Democracy and rhetoric -- The laws on democracy and freedom -- Problematizing democracy -- From polarity to complexity -- Democracy, equality and freedom -- Democracy and pluralism -- Democracy and anarchy -- Democracy and knowledge -- The rule of knowledge -- Philosophy or political expertise? -- Mill and Jowett on Plato -- Architectonic knowledge -- Philosopher rulers -- Architectonic knowledge revisited -- The limitations of management -- Utopia -- Against utopia -- A question of seriousness -- A future for utopianism -- Plato's utopian realism -- The idea of community Epilogue : the question of fantasy -- Money and the soul -- The ethics and politics of money -- The analogy of city and soul -- The psychology of money -- Greed, power and injustice -- Taming the beast within -- Ideology -- Ideology and religion -- The noble lie -- Law and religion.
"In this general account of Plato's political thought, a leading scholar of ancient Greek philosophy explores its key themes: education, democracy and its shortcomings, the role of knowledge in government, utopia and the idea of community, money and its grip on the psyche, ideological uses of religion. Between them these define what Plato considered to be the fundamental challenges for politics. All remain live issues. On all of them Plato took radical and uncomfortable positions." "Assuming a broad range of readers - with backgrounds in varied fields (politics, philosophy, classics, history) - Malcolm Schofield articulates and analyses Plato's main lines of thought, illustrating them with a liberal use of translated excerpts, and highlighting affinities with modern theorists from Machiavelli and Mill to Rawls and Habermas. Schofield's distinctive approach to Plato's problems constitutes a lucid and accessible guide for those needing an introduction, and at the same time will provide those who know Plato well with much food for thought."--BOOK JACKET.