Greek Political Theory

Sir Ernest Barker

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780415555531
• eBook ISBN:
  9781135026851
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Much has been written about the interpretation of Plato in the last thirty years. Once interpreted as a revolutionary of the left, and a prophet of Socialism, he has lately been interpreted as a revolutionary of the Right and a forerunner of Fascism. In this book Plato appears as himself – a revolutionary indeed, and even an authoritarian, but a revolutionary of the pure idea of the Good, and an authoritarian of the pure reason, unattached either to the Right or the Left.

Index

A

Absolutism, of Plato’s theory of government, 200–1, 237, 314, 320–33, 362; in Xenophon, 115; in Hegel, 454–5

Academy, 127–9, 228, 342, 411

Action, the life of, compared with the life of contemplation, 135–6, 234–6

Actual, in relation to the ideal, 172 n. 2, 277–81; Plato’s criticism of actual states, 281–300, 330 sq., 337

Agriculture, 20, 49, 191 n. 1, 373–6, 449, 450

Alcibiades, 108, 290

Alexander, 24

Aliens, resident, 178, 373–7

Allegiance, 23–4, 361–2

Amphictyonic Council, 48–9, 308

Analogy, the use of, in political theory, 138–9; of the individual and the State, 187–8; of weaving, 319, 325–6; of the pilot, 321

Anarchism, not advocated by Sophists, 171 n. 1; Plato depicts democracy as home of anarchy, 294–6

Anaxagoras, 60, 74

Anaximander, 58–9, 63

Animals, the analogy of, 83–4, 122, 138, 242, 255–6, 260

Anthropology, applied to political theory, 64, 92, 266

Antiphon, the Orator, 68, 76, 91, 108

Antiphon, the Sophist, 76–9, 91 n. 1, 95–8

Antisthenes, the Cynic, 121–2

Apollo and Delphi, 8–9, 48–9, 65 n. 2, 100, 308

Apology, 110, 126, 140–3

Appetite, 54, 56, 187–9, 199–200, 205, 277, 287–9, 300, 303 n. 2, 415–16

Archelaus, 61, 99 n. 1

Archytas, of Tarentum, 58, 132, 133

Areopagiticus, 117

Argos, 358–9

Aristippus, the Cyrenaic, 124

Aristocracy, 3, 33, 86; Plato’s belief in an aristocracy of intelligence, 237, 243–4, 248, 251; Plato not ‘aristocratic’ in the ordinary sense, 126, 299; Plato’s classification of aristocracy, 334–5

Aristophanes, 20, 82, 87, 109, 242, 253, 275

Aristotle, 5, 6, 7, 11, 14–17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 40, 42, 50–1, 53 n. 2, 54, 67, go, 92–4, 115, 117, 118, 120, 123...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• I The Greek Theory of the State
• II The Greek State
• III Political Thought Before the Sophists
• IV The Political Theory of the Sophists
• V Socrates and the Minor Socratics
• VI Plato and the Platonic Dialogue
• VII The Earlier Dialogues of Plato
• VIII The Republic and its Theory of Justice
• IX The Republic and its Theory of Education
• X The Republic and its Theory of Communism
• XI Plato and the States of Greece
• XII The Politicus
• XIII The Laws and its General Theory of the State
• XIV The System of Social Relations in the Laws
• XV The System of Government in the Laws
• XVI The Laws and its Theory of Law
• XVII The Theory of Education in the Laws
• Appendix The Later History of Plato’s Political Theory
• Index