Plato's >Statesman< Revisited (Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes, 68)

This volume tackles both the apparent lack of unity and the perplexing philosophical content of the __Statesman__ as it explores, in what is now Plato's second account, subsequent to that of the __Republic__, of what would constitute the best society, the role and nature of the statesman in it; the art of governance of it; the role and nature of its laws; the role and status of its female citizens; and how the virtues are interwoven within it, along with many other topics, including (in a major Myth) that of the origins of the universe and of humankind. Coming as they do from often widely differing hermeneutical traditions, the authors in the volume offer responses to substantive and intriguing questions that the dialogue raises which are frequently divergent, but by that very token of much value in any attempt to interpret a complex and multifaceted work. Contents 5 Introduction 9 Part I: Defining the Place of the Statesman 19 Taking Frustration Seriously. Reading Plato’s Statesman as a Protreptic to Political Science 19 The Multifocal Approach: The Statesman as the Key to Plato’s Political Philosophy 43 Part II: What Kind of ‘Science’ of Government? 63 Theoretical, not practical: the opening arguments of Plato’s Politicus (Plt., 258e–259d) 63 True and Correct in the Politicus 81 Part III: Interpreting the Myth 95 Paradigm, Form and the Good in Plato’s Statesman: The Myth Revisited 95 God and Cosmos in Politicus 269c–270a and Aristotle 115 Plato’s Reign of Kronos: Proclus’ Interpretation of the Myth in the Politicus 127 Demiurgy in Heavens. An Ancient Account in Plato’s Statesman 149 Part IV: Measuring, Weaving and Women 167 The avoidance of errors, a sense of «due measure» 167 On the Art of Weaving and the Act of Thinking in Plato’s Statesman 179 Weaving the Polis. Reading Plato’s Statesman (279a–283d) 191 Plato’s Stateswomen 203 Part V: The Statesman and the Sophist 217 Mimesis in the Politicus 217 The very difficult separation from the chorus of the greatest magician of all the sophists 239 Part VI: Wisdom and Law 257 On the Limits of Law and the Sovereignty of the Wise. Conjectures about the Primacy of Law in Plato’s Statesman 257 Part VII: Bonds and Virtues 273 Divine and Human Bonds: The Essence of the Art of Politics 273 On Virtue and Wisdom in the Protagoras, the Phaedo and the Politicus: One Thesis or Several? 295 ‘Moderation’ and Courage in Plato’s Politicus (305e–311c) 317 Bibliography 335 List of Contributors 349 Index Locorum 353 Edited By Beatriz Bossi And Thomas M. Robinson. Papers Of International Spring Plato Seminar Held At Madrid, 25-26 April, 2016. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 327-339) And Index.