The Statesman stands midway between the Republic and the Laws, and is alsorelated to the Timaeus. He is constantly dwelling on the importance of regularclassification, and of not putting words in the place of things. The ancientlegislator did not really take a blank tablet and inscribe upon it therules which reflection and experience had taught him to be for a nation'sinterest; no one would have obeyed him if he had. That was the time whenPrometheus brought them fire, Hephaestus and Athene taught them arts, andother gods gave them seeds and plants. The plan of the Politicus or Statesman may be briefly sketched as follows: (1) By a process of division and subdivision we discover the true herdsmanor king of men. Having discovered the genus underwhich the king falls, we proceed to distinguish him from the collateralspecies. 'The latter.' But before we can rightly distinguish him from his rivals,we must view him, (2) as he is presented to us in a famous ancient tale: the tale will also enable us to distinguish the divine from the humanherdsman or shepherd: (3) and besides our fable, we must have an example;for our example we will select the art of weaving, which will have to bedistinguished from the kindred arts; and then, following this pattern, wewill separate the king from his subordinates or competitors. Plato seems to be conscious of the suggestivenessof imagery; the general analogy of the arts is constantly employed by himas well as the comparison of particular arts--weaving, the refining ofgold, the learning to read, music, statuary, painting, medicine, the art ofthe pilot--all of which occur in this dialogue alone: though he is alsoaware that 'comparisons are slippery things,' and may often give a falseclearness to ideas. Your division was like adivision of the human race into Hellenes and Barbarians, or into Lydians orPhrygians and all other nations, instead of into male and female; or like adivision of number into ten thousand and all other numbers, instead of intoodd and even. We may compare the state to a web, and I will show you how thedifferent threads are drawn into one. And who are these who next come into view in various forms of men andanimals and other monsters appearing--lions and centaurs and satyrs--whoare these? Can the many attainto science? 'But what, Stranger, is the deficiency of which you speak?' For the law need not necessarily be an'ignorant and brutal tyrant,' but gentle and humane, capable of beingaltered in the spirit of the legislator, and of being administered so as tomeet the cases of individuals. To confuse the divine and human, or hastily apply one to theother, is a 'tremendous error.' Both expressly recognize the conception of a first or idealstate, which has receded into an invisible heaven. Platocannot help laughing (compare Theaet.) Forthe orderly class are always wanting to be at peace, and hence they passimperceptibly into the condition of slaves; and the courageous sort arealways wanting to go to war, even when the odds are against them, and aresoon destroyed by their enemies. Sowe may venture slightly to enlarge a Platonic thought which admits of afurther application to Christian theology. He tweets at @aj_wendland › World Review podcast: What the arrest of Alexei Navalny means for Putin’s rule in … (Summary by Geoffrey Edwards) Like statuaries, we have madesome of the features out of proportion, and shall lose time in reducingthem. H�d�[l����,�O�4E7�sȂ��P`C�`��v/��ـ]�&X�N�Ē�ER$�9. And now, if we omit dogs, who can hardly be said toherd, I think that we have only two species left which remain undivided: and how are we to distinguish them? Having remodelled the name, we may subdivide asbefore, first separating the human from the divine shepherd or manager.Then we may subdivide the human art of governing into the government ofwilling and unwilling subjects--royalty and tyranny--which are the extremeopposites of one another, although we in our simplicity have hithertoconfounded them. To geometricians, like you andTheaetetus, I can have no difficulty in explaining that man is a diameter,having a power of two feet; and the power of four-legged creatures, beingthe double of two feet, is the diameter of our diameter. 'You mean about thegolden lamb?' And this science is akin to knowledgerather than to action. Let us try once more: There are diviners and priests, who are full of pride and prerogative;these, as the law declares, know how to give acceptable gifts to the gods,and in many parts of Hellas the duty of performing solemn sacrifices isassigned to the chief magistrate, as at Athens to the King Archon. He is deeply impressed with the importance ofclassification: in this alone he finds the true measure of human things;and very often in the process of division curious results are obtained. But to return to your division, you spoke of men and otheranimals as two classes--the second of which you comprehended under thegeneral name of beasts. III. Likeother theologians and philosophers, Plato relegates his explanation of theproblem to a transcendental world; he speaks of what in modern languagemight be termed 'impossibilities in the nature of things,' hindering Godfrom continuing immanent in the world. Measure is the life of the arts, and may some daybe discovered to be the single ultimate principle in which all the sciencesare contained. The young Socrates has heard of the sun rising in the westand setting in the east, and of the earth-born men; but he has never heardthe origin of these remarkable phenomena. The rest of the citizens she blendsinto one, combining the stronger element of courage, which we may call thewarp, with the softer element of temperance, which we may imagine to be thewoof. For one of the principal advantages of law is not merely that itenforces honesty, but that it makes men act in the same way, and requiresthem to produce the same evidence of their acts. Children aretaught to read by being made to compare cases in which they do not know acertain letter with cases in which they know it, until they learn torecognize it in all its combinations. And land-herds may bedivided into walking and flying; and every idiot knows that the politicalanimal is a pedestrian. And the appearance of change or progress is not to beregarded as impugning the genuineness of any particular writings, but maybe even an argument in their favour. He wouldseriously have him consider how many competitors there are to his throne,chiefly among the class of serving-men. (Summary by Geoffrey Edwards) share Share No_Favorite Favorite rss RSS. And the rule of a man is betterand higher than law, because he is more able to deal with the infinitecomplexity of human affairs. Is hea worse physician who uses a little gentle violence in effecting the cure? Thereis a reflection in this idealism of the Socratic 'Virtue is knowledge;'and, without idealism, we may remark that knowledge is a great part ofpower. And the art which presides over these operations is the art of weaving. If we suppose the Sophist andPoliticus to stand halfway between the Republic and the Laws, and in nearconnexion with the Theaetetus, the Parmenides, the Philebus, the argumentsagainst them derived from differences of thought and style disappear or maybe said without paradox in some degree to confirm their genuineness. But even supposing the different classes of a nation, when viewedimpartially, to be on a level with each other in moral virtue, there remaintwo considerations of opposite kinds which enter into the problem ofgovernment. But, as in the laterdialogues generally, the play of humour and the charm of poetry havedeparted, never to return. He may be honest, but there is no check upon hisdishonesty, and his opinion can only be overruled, not by any principle oflaw, but by the opinion of another judging like himself without law. These are adaptedto each other, and the orderly composition of them forms a woollen garment. (ISBN: 9780862921910) from Amazon's Book Store. He touches upon another question of great interest--the consciousness ofevil--what in the Jewish Scriptures is called 'eating of the tree of theknowledge of good and evil.' 0000008113 00000 n Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. But however we arrange the order, or narrow the circle of thedialogues, we must admit that they exhibit a growth and progress in themind of Plato. Suchtraditions are often now unduly discredited, and yet they may be proved byinternal evidence. There areseveral lesser features which the two dialogues have in common. The human bonds ofstates are formed by the inter-marriage of dispositions adapted to supplythe defects of each other. But why did we go through this circuitous process, instead of saying atonce that weaving is the art of entwining the warp and the woof? 3. 0000008506 00000 n Thoughno one knew better than Plato that the introduction of the gods is not areason, but an excuse for not giving a reason (Cratylus), yet, consideringthat more than two thousand years later mankind are still discussing theseproblems, we may be satisfied to find in Plato a statement of thedifficulties which arise in conceiving the relation of man to God andnature, without expecting to obtain from him a solution of them. It is the beginning of political society,but there is something higher--an intelligent ruler, whether God or man,who is able to adapt himself to the endless varieties of circumstances. The reason of the falling off was thedisengagement of a former chaos; 'a muddy vesture of decay' was a part ofhis original nature, out of which he was brought by his Creator, underwhose immediate guidance, while he remained in that former cycle, the evilwas minimized and the good increased to the utmost. But the royal shepherd has numberless competitors, from whom hemust be distinguished; there are merchants, husbandmen, physicians, whowill all dispute his right to manage the flock. The dialogue is set on the Greek island of Crete in the 4th century B.C.E. I. We use cookies and similar tools to enhance your shopping experience, to provide our services, understand how customers use our services so we can make improvements, and display ads. And to intelligent personslanguage is, or ought to be, a better instrument of description than anypicture. COLLECTION. how ready! According to Plato, he is aphysician who has the knowledge of a physician, and he is a king who hasthe knowledge of a king. For he would have required that all persons who had ashare of government should have received their education from the state andhave borne her burdens, and should have served in her fleets and armies. Statesman (Ancient Greek: Πολιτικός) discusses God's role in maintaining the universe and describes the statesman as a good shepherd who promotes intermarriage between the orderly and courageous. 0000013138 00000 n When the richpreserve their customs and maintain the law, this is called aristocracy, orif they neglect the law, oligarchy. For their life was reversed like the motion of the world,and first of all coming to a stand then quickly returned to youth andbeauty. He sees the world under a harderand grimmer aspect: he is dealing with the reality of things, not withvisions or pictures of them: he is seeking by the aid of dialectic only,to arrive at truth. Admitting of course that the upper and lower classes are equalin the eye of God and of the law, yet the one may be by nature fitted togovern and the other to be governed. Plato apologizes for his tediousness, and acknowledgesthat the improvement of his audience has been his only aim in some of hisdigressions. There is the same declineand tendency to monotony in style, the same self-consciousness,awkwardness, and over-civility; and in the Laws is contained the pattern ofthat second best form of government, which, after all, is admitted to bethe only attainable one in this world. In its presentation of the statesman's expertise, The Statesman modifies, as well as defending in original ways, this central theme of the Republic. (5) His characteristicis, that he alone has science, which is superior to law and writtenenactments; these do but spring out of the necessities of mankind, whenthey are in despair of finding the true king. The excellence, importance, and metaphysical originality of the twodialogues: no works at once so good and of such length are known to haveproceeded from the hands of a forger. The principal subjects in the Statesman may be conveniently embraced undersix or seven heads:--(1) the myth; (2) the dialectical interest; (3) thepolitical aspects of the dialogue; (4) the satirical and paradoxical vein;(5) the necessary imperfection of law; (6) the relation of the work to theother writings of Plato; lastly (7), we may briefly consider thegenuineness of the Sophist and Statesman, which can hardly be assumedwithout proof, since the two dialogues have been questioned by three sucheminent Platonic scholars as Socher, Schaarschmidt, and Ueberweg. In certain states of theworld the means are wanting to render a benevolent power effectual. and we say also, how calm! Literature Network » Plato » Statesman » Introduction and Analysis. In that case we should have begun by dividing land animalsinto bipeds and quadrupeds, and bipeds into winged and wingless; we shouldthan have taken the Statesman and set him over the 'bipes implume,' and putthe reins of government into his hands. A similar spirit is discernible inthe remarkable expressions, 'the long and difficult language of facts;' and'the interrogation of every nature, in order to obtain the particularcontribution of each to the store of knowledge.' 4. VI. The search after the Statesman, which is carried on, like that for theSophist, by the method of dichotomy, gives an opportunity for many humorousand satirical remarks. But our concern is chieflywith that part of the art of wool-working which composes, and of which onekind twists and the other interlaces the threads, whether the firmertexture of the warp or the looser texture of the woof. Whether the best form of the ideal is a person or a law may fairly bedoubted. And if we say that the weaver's art isthe greatest and noblest of those which have to do with woollen garments,--this, although true, is not sufficiently distinct; because these other artsrequire to be first cleared away. 0000005583 00000 n In all ages of the world men havedreamed of a state of perfection, which has been, and is to be, but neveris, and seems to disappear under the necessary conditions of human society.The uselessness, the danger, the true value of such political ideals haveoften been discussed; youth is too ready to believe in them; age todisparage them. There is reason for the argument infavour of a property qualification; there is reason also in the argumentsof those who would include all and so exhaust the political situation. Let us next ask, which of these untrue forms of government is the leastbad, and which of them is the worst? The same love ofdivisions is apparent in the Gorgias. The Statesman has lost the grace and beauty of the earlier dialogues. These are some of the devices by which Plato, like a modernnovelist, seeks to familiarize the marvellous. A logical or psychological phase takes the place of the doctrine of Ideasin his mind. But suppose, once more, that we were to appoint some one as the guardian ofthe law, who was both ignorant and interested, and who perverted the law: would not this be a still worse evil than the other? But,as there is no natural ruler of the hive, they meet together and make laws. And our enquiry aboutthe Statesman in like manner is intended not only to improve our knowledgeof politics, but our reasoning powers generally. But there is some inconsistency;for the 'letting go' is spoken of as a divine act, and is at the same timeattributed to the necessary imperfection of matter; there is also anumerical necessity for the successive births of souls. Viewed in the light of science, wouldnot the continuance of such regulations be ridiculous? Find Statesman by Plato at Biblio. Such a conception hassometimes been entertained by modern theologians, and by Plato himself, ofthe Supreme Being. Even equity, which isthe exception to the law, conforms to fixed rules and lies for the mostpart within the limits of previous decisions. Hence we conclude that the science of the king, statesman, andhouseholder is one and the same. The Statesman is naturally connected with the Sophist. We do not find perfectconsistency in his philosophy; and still less have we any right to demandthis of him in his use of mythology and figures of speech. The royal or political art has nothing to do witheither of these, any more than with the arts of making (3) vehicles, or (4)defences, whether dresses, or arms, or walls, or (5) with the art of makingornaments, whether pictures or other playthings, as they may be fitlycalled, for they have no serious use. how vigorous! Plato glories in this impartiality of the dialectical method, which placesbirds in juxtaposition with men, and the king side by side with the bird-catcher; king or vermin-destroyer are objects of equal interest to science(compare Parmen.). Who has described 'thefeeble intelligence of all things; given by metaphysics better than theEleatic Stranger in the words--'The higher ideas can hardly be set forthexcept through the medium of examples; every man seems to know all thingsin a kind of dream, and then again nothing when he is awake?'