Plato's Statesman: Dialectic, Myth, and Politics (SUNY series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy)

The __Statesman__ is among the most widely ranging of Plato's dialogues, bringing together in a single discourse disparate subjects such as politics, mathematics, ontology, dialectic, and myth. The essays in this collection consider these subjects and others, focusing in particular on the dramatic form of the dialogue. They take into account not only __what__ is said but also __how__ it is said, by whom and to whom it is said, and when and where it is said. In this way, the contributors approach the text in a manner that responds to the dialogue itself rather than bringing preconceived questions and scholarly debates to bear on it. The essays are especially attuned to the comedic elements that run through much of the dialogue and that are played out in a way that reveals the subject of the comedy. In the __Statesman__, these comedies reach their climax when the statesman becomes a participant in a comedy of animals and thereby is revealed in his true nature. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 1 Beginnings— 20 2 From Spontaneity to Automaticity: Polar (Opposite) Reversal at Statesman 269c–274d 24 Notes 38 3 Autochthony, Sexual Reproduction, and Political Life in the Statesman Myth 42 The Cosmic Tale 44 The Human Tale, Part I: Life in the Age of Cronos 47 The Human Tale, Part II: Life in the Age of Zeus 50 Conclusion 55 Notes 56 4 Where Have All the Shepherds Gone? Socratic Withdrawal in Plato’s Statesman 60 Notes 74 5 The Politics of Time: On the Relationship between Life and Law in Plato’s Statesman 78 I. The Age of Kronos 80 II. The Age of Zeus: the Time of Καιρός and the Time of Law 82 III. Concluding Comments and the Role of the Philosopher in the Polis 89 Notes 91 6 A Little Move toward Greek Philosophy: Reassessing the Statesman Myth 94 I. Peculiarities of the Statesman 94 II. Philosophical Teaching Demonstrated 95 III. Myth 98 IV. The First Beginnings of Philosophy 100 V. Myth as Philosophical 102 VI. The Philosopher and the True Ruler 103 VII. Greek Philosophy 106 Notes 110 7 Noêsis and Logos in the Eleatic Trilogy, with a Focus on the Visitor’s Jokes at Statesman 266a-d 116 I. First Reflection: The Positive Yield of the Refutation of the Idea of Knowledge as “True Judgment” and an “Account” (Logos) in the Theaetetus 118 [A] The Paradoxical Character of the Object of Knowledge as Both Simple and Complex 118 [B] The Correlation of the Two Moments of Knowledge with the Two Aspects of the Object 119 [C] The Two-way Interplay of “True Judgment” and Logos 120 [D] The Pointed Ambiguity of Socrates’ Notion of “True Judgment” 120 II. Second Reflection: On Logos in the Sophist and the Statesman—the Two Senses or Modes of Logos at the End of the Theaetetus, the Two Modes of “Division according to Kinds,” and the Two Sorts of Eidetic Field that These “Discern” 121 III. Third Reflection: “True Judgment” and the Use of Paradigms 125 IV. The “Kindling” of the “Leaping Spark” into a “Blaze” that “Nourishes Itself”—Missing and Getting the Visitor’s Jokes at 266a-d 127 [A] The Visitor’s Three Jokes, and His Comment on the Serious Point of the Last Two 130 [B] The Platonic Provocation in the Visitor’s Irony: Incommensurateness, Circe, Melantheus 132 [C] The Unfolding of the Discourse of the Statesman on the Basis of This Intuition 134 Appendix: The Visitor’s First Joke (266a5–b7) 140 Notes 141 8 Finding the Right Concepts: On Dialectics in Plato’s Statesman 146 Notes 156 9 Paradigm and Dialectical Inquiry in Plato’s Statesman 158 Practical Matters and Practical Wisdom 160 Paradigms 164 Concluding Remarks: Care 170 Notes 171 10 The Art of the Example in Plato’s Statesman 180 I. The Introduction of the Need for an Example 180 II. The Art of the Example 183 III. The Extension of the Art of the Example 186 Notes 189 11 Reconsidering the Relations between the Statesman, the Philosopher, and the Sophist 192 I. The Philosopher in the Trilogy: Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman 192 II. The Philosopher-Ruler 196 III. The Statesman and the Philosopher in the Statesman 197 Notes 202 12 Syngrammatology in Plato’s Statesman 206 Notes 222 13 Stranger than the Stranger: Axiothea 232 Notes 243 14 On Law and the Science of Politics in Plato’s Statesman 246 Notes 257 15 Adrift on the Boundless Sea of Unlikeness: Sophistry and Law in the Statesman 260 Sophistic Enchantment and Political Division 261 Sophistry as Civic Service 266 Notes 273 16 The Philosophers in Plato’s Trilogy 278 Introduction 278 Measurement in Relation to Opposites and Philosophy’s Appearance as Philosophies 279 Knowledge Ignorant of Itself and Theaetetus’ Having Nothing Clear about Whether τὸ ὅλον and τὸ πᾶν are the Same or Different 282 The Ἔιδη of the Two Different Kinds of Unity Presupposed by the Most Basic Element of Arithmetic 285 The Seeming Radical Difference between Socrates’ and the Stranger’s Philosophy 287 The Seeming of the Seeming Radical Difference between Socrates’ and the Stranger’s Philosophy 288 Notes 291 17 Transformations: Platonic Mythos and Plotinian Logos 294 The Statesman 294 Introduction 294 Section 1: The Causality of the One and the Problem of Evil 295 Text 1. Statesman 262c6–7: Ennead VI 5[23] 5, 1 295 Text 2. Statesman 273b5: Ennead I 8[51] 7, 6 297 Text 3. Statesman 273d6–e1: Ennead I 8[51] 13, 16–17 299 Text 4. Statesman 284e6–7: Ennead VI 8[39] 18, 44 301 Section 2: The Ascent of Intellect and the Governance of Soul 304 Text 5. Statesman 290d7: Ennead V 5[32] 8, 12 304 Text 6. Statesman 305e: Ennead IV 4[28] 39, 11–17 305 Text 7. Statesman 310e1: Ennead V1[10] 1, 4 307 Text 8. Statesman 311c6: Ennead IV 7[2] 84, 12 309 Conclusion 310 Notes 312 Bibliography 314 Plato, Statesman: Greek 314 Plato, Statesman: Translations 314 Secondary Sources 315 Contributors 322 English Index 326 Greek Index 334