Abstract

This article is a short presentation of the problem of individual liberty – as we understand it today – in the context of the problematic of Goodness in Plato’s philosophy of politics as presented in his two main political dialogues: the Republic and the Laws. The crucial distinction is for me dichotomy: negative vs. positive liberty as defined by Isaiah Berlin following Benjamin Constant. In this article I also consider to what extent justifiable is liberal critique of Plato as a totalitarian. At the end of the text I suggest that the best interpretation of Plato’s vision would be its treatment not so much as a strictly political one but rather as a program of education of the soul based on specific understanding of politics derived from Plato’s anthropology.