Method and Politics in Plato's Statesman

Bibliographic Data

ID23178304
AuthorsMelissa Lane (0000-0002-7116-5334, University of Cambridge, corresponding author), M S Lane
Year1998
Publication date1998-01-22
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueMethod and Politics in Plato's Statesman (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9780511518492
OpenAlexW1576169880
Open LibraryOL34444252M
ISBN9780511518492
LanguageEN
Citations received55

Among Plato's works, the Statesman is usually seen as transitional between the Republic and the Laws. This book argues that the dialogue deserves a special place of its own. Whereas Plato is usually thought of as defending unchanging knowledge, Dr Lane demonstrates how, by placing change at the heart of political affairs, Plato reconceives the link between knowledge and authority. The statesman is shown to master the timing of affairs of state, and to use this expertise in managing the conflict of opposed civic factions. To this political argument corresponds a methodological approach which is seen to rely not only on the familiar method of 'division', but equally on the unfamiliar centrality of the use of 'example'. The demonstration that method and politics are interrelated transforms our understanding of the Statesman and its fellow dialogues.

Argument (complex analysis) · Centrality · Epistemology · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · The Republic · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Computer Science · Law · Mathematics · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Plato

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