Philosophy as Political Action

The question of the proper relationship between philosophy and politics is a concern that recurs throughout the history of Western political speculation. Contrary to many interpretations, this study argues that Platonic thought provides an interesting insight into this problem. Specifically the Gorgias develops an understanding of philosophy which emphasizes its affinity with the practical arts. Developing this relationship, Plato suggests a conception of philosophical reason which offers a fundamental alternative to the more modern schemes of theory and practice. In contemporary political science, there exists a substantial tradition of scholarship which is highly critical of Platonic political philosophy. This critical tradition encompasses a large selection of differing intellectual perspectives and, accordingly, focuses on a wide variety of distinct issues. Yet in spite of such diversity, a significant segment of this tradition shares the common conviction that Platonic political thought is in fact apolitical in character. In particular it is argued that Platonic thought, based as it is upon experiences proper to the noetic order, is an intrusion into the otherwise independent realm of politics. The presupposition behind this favored interpretation holds that the political realm is an autonomous order precisely because it is structured by its own operational principles. These principles which establish the success, or more precisely the appropriateness, of any political event are determined by the unique elements of political action as such. Any attempt, as is Plato's, to subordinate these principles to higher norms destroys, in effect, the unique features of political life. Given this perspective then, Platonism appears as a negation of the political order and consequently as permitting a substitution of the essentially private forms of imposition for the truly political art of ruling. This persuasion is represented most forcefully in the writings of Sheldon Wolin and Hannah Arendt. Distinct in their approaches, they nonetheless are representative of the larger tradition of critical scholarship which considers Platonism to be fundamentally apolitical. It may be helpful, therefore, to

Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Presupposition · Realm · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought

• Personal Knowledge

  Michael Polanyi, Mary Jo Nye•Personal Knowledge•2015

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• Therapeia--Plato's Conception of Philosophy.

  Rod Cross, R C Cross et al.•The Philosophical Quarterly•1961

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• Politics and Vision

  Open Access•Sheldon S Wolin, Sheldon S HG Wolin et al.•Politics and Vision•2016

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• The Human Condition

  Hannah Arendt, Margaret Canovan et al.•Human Condition•2018

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