Plato on Democracy and Political techne
Published on 23. September 2016
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-90-04-31200-5 (ISBN)
Description
In Plato on Democracy and Political techne Sorensen argues that the question of democracy's 'epistemic potential' was one that Plato took more seriously than is usually assumed. While he famously rejected democracy on the basis of its inherent inability to accommodate political expertise (techne?), he did not think that this failure on democracy's part was necessarily inevitable but a concept that required further examination. Sorensen shows that in a number of his most important dialogues (Republic, Gorgias, Statesman, Protagoras, Theaetetus), Plato was ready to take up the question of democracy's epistemic potential and to enter into strikingly technical and sophisticated discussions of what both rule by techne and rule by the people would have to look like in order for the two things to be compatible.
Reviews / Votes
"This book represents an important contribution to the study of Plato's political thought and its relationship to its Athenian context, and its careful readings of both Plato's dialogues and previous scholarship provide helpful additions to current debates." -Carol Atack, University of Oxford, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2017.05.25More details
Series
Language
English
Other
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
420 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-31200-5 (9789004312005)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Anders Dahl Sorensen, Ph.D. (2014), Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, currently holds a Post-doctoral position at the SAXO-institute, University of Copenhagen. He works on ancient Greek political and legal thought.
Content
Contents
Acknowledgements
Note on Editions, Translations and Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Thrasymachus' Challenge: Political Sociology and Expert Rule in Republic 1
Thrasymachus' Political Account of Justice
Rulers in the Strict Sense
Real Existing Expert Rulers
Democratic Expert Rule? 8
Towards an Epistemic Analysis of Democracy
2 Scientific Politics and the Power of the People: Rhetoric and techne in the Gorgias
Why is Rhetoric not Scientific?
Who Rules Who?
Rhetoric as kolakeia
Democracy and techne
Scientific Politics and the Power of the People
3 Democracy as Imitator: Expertise and Democratic Conservatism in the Statesman
Lawfulness and Imitation
Expertise and Its Discontents
Democratic Expertise
The Laws and Democratic Ideology
Statesmanship and the Ancestral Laws
4 Athenian Measurement: Democracy and Expert Authority in the Protagoras
The Athenian Premise
Protagoras' 'Great Speech'
Protagoras' Social Pragmatism
Problems with Appearance
Towards the Theaetetus
5 Self-Refuting Wisdom: Turning the Tables on Protagoras in the Theaetetus
Minding the Gap
Prelude to the Self-Refutation Argument (169d3-170a5)
Protagoras' Defense (166c9-167d5)
Who is the Measure?
The Self-Refutation Argument (170a3-171c7)
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index Locorum
General Index
Acknowledgements
Note on Editions, Translations and Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Thrasymachus' Challenge: Political Sociology and Expert Rule in Republic 1
Thrasymachus' Political Account of Justice
Rulers in the Strict Sense
Real Existing Expert Rulers
Democratic Expert Rule? 8
Towards an Epistemic Analysis of Democracy
2 Scientific Politics and the Power of the People: Rhetoric and techne in the Gorgias
Why is Rhetoric not Scientific?
Who Rules Who?
Rhetoric as kolakeia
Democracy and techne
Scientific Politics and the Power of the People
3 Democracy as Imitator: Expertise and Democratic Conservatism in the Statesman
Lawfulness and Imitation
Expertise and Its Discontents
Democratic Expertise
The Laws and Democratic Ideology
Statesmanship and the Ancestral Laws
4 Athenian Measurement: Democracy and Expert Authority in the Protagoras
The Athenian Premise
Protagoras' 'Great Speech'
Protagoras' Social Pragmatism
Problems with Appearance
Towards the Theaetetus
5 Self-Refuting Wisdom: Turning the Tables on Protagoras in the Theaetetus
Minding the Gap
Prelude to the Self-Refutation Argument (169d3-170a5)
Protagoras' Defense (166c9-167d5)
Who is the Measure?
The Self-Refutation Argument (170a3-171c7)
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index Locorum
General Index