Politeia (Πολιτεία in Hellenic) as a fundamental concept of legal philosophy and political philosophy can be interpreted in various meanings such as state, constitution, republic, citizenship etc. Though the fact that this term has a broad scale of meaning might, prima facie, seem confusing, such nature of the concept can, in light of its hermeneutics, hold light to ancient conception of law, ethics and politics. To this end, this study aims a thorough analysis of the concept by handling every (...) meaning attached to the term Politeia in ancient texts that survive today, and suggesting possible hermeneutic connections between those meanings. It is expected that this method would not only clarify the entire possible meanings of the term Politeia, but would help understanding ancient legal and political conceptions of the ancient times. (shrink)

THE NATURE OF POLITEIA AND ITS CANDIDACY FOR STATUS as the best regime in the doctrine of Aristotle remains a disputable question. Some scholars insist that whatever the best regime may be, it must be a kind of polity. Others, however, firmly contend that the best must be a variety of aristocracy, with a significant number arguing that the best may be a monarchy should a suitable candidate be available. Moreover, it has been argued that since the ancients did (...) not desire the establishment of “polities” and hence pluralistic politics, but that this has been a concern of the moderns, one must conclude that an understanding of politeia as being a “mixed regime” would be “a contradiction in terms, because a regime proper cannot. (shrink)

Zenons Politeia, der Entwurf eines idealen Staates aus G ttern und Weisen, erf hrt in der vorliegenden Studie eine neue Deutung als Gesellschaftsform, in der das Leben nach dem Gesetz der Natur verwirklicht ist.

The prevailing historiographic reconstruction of the political struggle in Athens during the last years of the fifth century originates from the discovery of the text of the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia [Ath.]. According to this reconstruction, three political options and three political programmes were in effect. These were, on the one hand, traditional democracy and opposing oligarchy; on the other, a new third way, that of ‘the moderates’, who under the leading of Theramenes represents a solution to the stasis. The (...) political program of themoderates is supposed to include the following fundamental items: a return to an ancient constitution, the reduction of the number of citizens and their political rights, the sovereignty of law, and the recuperation of accord between citizens. This paper tries to highlight the weakness of this interpretation by analysing the difficulties in grasping from the sources this whole program and their adscription to a leader and to a distinctive political group. The misinterpretation was already implicit in the author of the Athenian Constitution, perhaps a disciple of Aristotle. He wrote influenced by the Aristotelian political theory and thereby he interpreted all that he had read about Theramenes, the Five Thousand and the patrios politeia as if the Aristotelian ideals of the mesotes and of mese politeia were actually proposed and temporally achieved in Athens by the efforts of Theramenes and his supporters. (shrink)

This is the first exploration of how ideas of politeia structure both political and extra-political relations throughout the entirety of Greek and Roman philosophy, ranging from Presocratic to classical, Hellenistic, and Neoplatonic thought. A highly distinguished international team of scholars investigate topics such as the Athenian, Spartan and Platonic visions of politeia, the reshaping of Greek and Latin vocabularies of politics, the practice of politics in Plato and Proclus, the politics of value in Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics, (...) and the extension of constitutional order to discussions of animals, gods and the cosmos. The volume is dedicated to Professor Malcolm Schofield, one of the world's leading scholars of ancient philosophy. (shrink)

In Form eines kooperativen Kommentars fuhren anerkannte Platon-Interpreten in die Hauptthemen der "Politeia" und die wichtigsten Forschungsprobleme ein.".

La idea aristotélica de la politeia como característica distintiva de la experiencia histórica de la polis constituye un aspecto clave de su estudio de la política. Parte de esta discusión tiene que ver con el intento de Aristóteles de establecer y definir las calidades de la politeia como el criterio más válido para elaborar un relato histórico de la ciudad. En la sección 1 tomo en consideración el papel de la politeia dentro del relato de la historia (...) de la polis desde que esta última se aleja de la forma monárquica. En la sección 2 me ocupo del problema de la inteligibilidad de la politeia en el contexto de la ciudad entendida como “comunidad de interpretación”. Por último, en la sección 3 analizo la politeia como expresión de la unidad de la ciudad y discuto su condición de elemento unificador de las acciones que miran a un objetivo común. Aquí argumento la “calidad unificadora” de la politeia que destaca las conexiones causales que subyacen a las acciones vinculadas con la polis. Dentro del contexto de la politeia el relato histórico de la polis pone en relación acciones que fuera del marco de la politeia no aparecen tan vinculadas entre sí. Palabras-clave: inteligibilidad de la politeia, historia de la polis, justicia política, Aristóteles acerca de la unidad de la ciudad, reforma de Clístenes, Aristóteles acerca de la historia y la poesía. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza la estructura genérica y los fundamentos de la Lacedaimonion Politeia de Jenofonte. La Lac. ha sido frecuentemente considerada como un elogio o defensa de Esparta. Sin embargo, su retórica y estructura narrativa tienen poca similitud con prácticas contemporáneas para la composición de encomios o defensas. Aun cuando esto no impide un motivo elogioso o defensivo, examinar el tipo de retórica y los patrones narrativos de Jenofonte revela distintas afiliaciones genéricas, mostrando que la Lac., al igual que (...) muchos otros escritos de Jenofonte, es un trabajo híbrido con características de la literatura de politeiai y de la investigación filosófica. En efecto, una cuidadosa pesquisa, en particular, de la manera en que Jenofonte utiliza interlocutores imaginarios sugiere que el encomio no puede haber sido el objetivo de este tratado. (shrink)

At the beginning of Book 9 of the Politeia (571cd), Platon suggests that all people bear in themselves unlawful desires like the desire to have sex with their own mother or with any other human, god, or beast, the desire to murder anyone, or the desire to eat anything. Modern scholars take it for granted that by the desire to eat anything, Platon means cannibalism. This view is based on the fact that Platon discusses unlawful desires in connection with (...) the tyrannical man and that the tyrant is, elsewhere in the Politeia, twice connected with anthropophagy (at 8.565d–566a and 10.619c). This paper challenges this communis opinio and argues that we have no reason to assume that at Politeia 9.571d Platon claims that every one of us has the hidden desire to consume human flesh. Also, the alleged cannibalism of the Platonic tyrant is questioned. A close reading of the passages 8.565d–566a and 10.619c reveals that in the depiction of the tyrant Platon makes use of mythological motifs and literary topoi but never literally claims that the tyrant has cannibalistic desires. (shrink)

Mit seinem Werk Politeia wurde Platon zum Begrunder einer neuen literarischen Gattung: der politisch-philosophischen Utopie. Schon im Altertum versuchten eine Reihe von Autoren ihm nachzueifern, und nachdem Thomas Morus mit dem namengebenden Werk "Utopia" die Gattung gleichsam neu belebt hatte, entstand eine nicht mehr zu uberblickende Flut utopischer Entwurfe. Doch nicht nur durch die hier entfaltete Staatslehre erwies sich die "Politeia" als grundlegendes und richtungsweisendes Werk: Platons Ausfuhrungen zu solch verschiedenen philosophischen Gebieten wie der Theorie der Erziehung, der (...) Theorie der Dichtung, der Ethik und Tugendlehre, der Seelenlehre haben die Diskussion bis in unsere Tage beeinflusst. Platon ist aber auch ein Sprachkunstler, der seine Werke als Dialog-"Dramen" meisterhaft gestaltete. Dabei weiss er sich souveran von dem Medium Schrift zu distanzieren, das drei Hauptmangel aufweist: Sie sagt immer dasselbe, kann auf Fragen nicht antworten; sie wendet sich unterschiedslos an alle, weiss nicht, zu wem sie reden und zu wem sie schweigen soll; und wird sie angegriffen, so kann sie sich nicht selbst zur Hilfe kommen. Dass der Kern der platonischen Ideenlehre nicht in dafur ungeeignete Kopfe "gepflanzt" werden kann, beweist das Erste Buch: Das aufgezwungene Gesprach uber die Gerechtigkeit mit Polemarchos und dem Sophisten Thrasymachos endet in einer Aporie. Erst als Platon mit seinen Brudern Glaukon und Adeimantos das Gesprachsthema wieder aufgreift, kann der Funken der Erkenntnis uberspringen, und "Einsicht leuchtet auf."". (shrink)

This is an earlier version of a chapter from my book "Plato's Republic as a Philosophical Drama on Doing Well" (2014). The book analyses Plato’s Politeia (= Republic) as a philosophical drama in which the participants turn out to be models of various types of psychic constitution, and nothing is said by them which may be considered to be an opinion of Plato himself (with all that that entails for Platonism). The debate in Book I between Socrates and Thrasymachus (...) serves as a test case for the assumptions that the Socratic method involves searching for truth or examining the opinions of interlocutors and that Socrates is the mouthpiece of Plato. Socrates and Thrasymachus are usually assumed to be arguing about justice. In fact, they are going through the motions of an eristic debate, where the aim is not to discover the truth about the matter under discussion but to defeat the opponent by fair means or foul, but especially foul. The outrageous wordplay used by both men is not so obvious in translation, and in any case tends to be ignored or explained away by scholars who assume that Plato the philosopher was writing a philosophical treatise (an exposition of philosophical ideas) and not a philosophical drama (a presentation of philosophically interesting models, to be compared and contrasted by the reader). (shrink)

Platon läßt in der Politeia seine Sokrates-Gestalt in Buch I und anderen früheren Büchern mit Voraussetzungen argumentieren, die für seine Beweisführung wesentlich sind, deren Berechtigung aber erst in einem späteren Zusammenhang erkennbar wird. Diese Antizipationen werden hier in Anlehnung an Ch.H. Kahn, der die von ihm beobachteten Bezüge zwischen früheren und späteren Büchern der Politeia "proleptic composition" genannt hat, als ‘proleptische Argumentation’ bezeichnet. Es läßt sich an der Konzeption der Gerechtigkeit erweisen, daß diese argumentativen Vorgriffe – so willkürlich (...) sie an Ort und Stelle erscheinen – Bestandteil eines planmäßigen Vorgehens sind, das im Rahmen des Dialogs an die Gesprächspartner angepaßt ist, aber durch seinen systematischen Aufbau einen über den Dialog hinausführenden Erkenntnisprozeß beim Leser anzustoßen vermag. (shrink)

While Aristotle adverts in the Politica to those who have declared themselves about the aristē or best politeia without qualification, he actually devotes much of his attention here to telling his intended audience how to establish and maintain the aristē politeia for each of the different places in which each of them is engaged, given the circumstances. In the face of this contrast in the Politica, scholars look to EN 1135a5 for clarification. According to the established interpretation of (...) EN 1135a5, Aristotle means that there is only one politeia that is best by nature for every place. According to the alternative interpretation, Aristotle means that, for every place, there is only one politeia that is best by nature for it. In this paper it is argued that the alternative interpretation fits both works better than does the established interpretation. (shrink)

While Aristotle adverts in the Politica to those who have declared themselves about the aristē or best politeia without qualification, he actually devotes much of his attention here to telling his intended audience how to establish and maintain the aristē politeia for each of the different places in which each of them is engaged, given the circumstances. In the face of this contrast in the Politica, scholars look to EN 1135a5 for clarification. According to the established interpretation of (...) EN 1135a5, Aristotle means that there is only one politeia that is best by nature for every place. According to the alternative interpretation, Aristotle means that, for every place, there is only one politeia that is best by nature for it. In this paper it is argued that the alternative interpretation fits both works better than does the established interpretation. (shrink)

En el libro 4 de la _Política_ de Aristóteles encontramos una forma de constitución recta que se da cuando los _mésoi_, los ciudadanos de recursos moderados, son, no solo numerosos, sino mayoritarios. Los ciudadanos medios garantizan el gobierno de la ley y de la razón, fundamentan la amistad entre ciudadanos y la estabilidad del régimen. Nos planteamos en este ensayo qué relación tiene esta forma constitucional con la politia, entendida como mezcla de democracia y oligarquía; con la democracia, como gobierno (...) de la mayoría; y con la _aríste politeía_, basada en la virtud de sus ciudadanos. (shrink)

The aim of this essay is to revise the meaning of politics today in light of the full range of meanings of the ancient Greek word politeia. In Plato’s Republic (Politeia), we see a careful intenveaving of this range of meanings as Socrates’ discusses the means and ends of justice. Socrates elaborates a basic meaning of justice: the well-functioning coordination of peoples’ various skills (technai). Enacting justice in this sense enables people to meet their needs. In addition, Socrates (...) points to a further political aim that justice in this basic sense should serve, one that first qualifies enacting justice to be an end in itself rather than only a technical means to afurther end beyond it. In this essay, I explore especially the importance of this additional aim in relation to the first. (shrink)

This paper examines the generic structure and underpinnings of Xenophon's Lacedaimonion Politeia. The Lac. has frequently been regarded as a praise or defence of Sparta yet its rhetoric and narrative structure bear little resemblance to contemporary practices for composing encomia or defense speeches. Although this does not preclude an encomiastic or defensive purpose, an examination of the type of rhetoric Xenophon employs and the narrative patterns and structures in the work reveal different generic affiliations, showing that the Lac., like (...) many of Xenophon’s other writings, is a hybrid work with features belonging to politeia- literature and philosophical enquiry. Further, careful examination, in particular, of the way Xenophon makes use of imaginary interlocutors suggests that praise cannot have been the aim of this treatise. (shrink)

With the name of this paper, I would suggest a causal relationship between religion and politics . According to this basic assumptiom, the author intends to establish an excursus around various hypotheses, which seem to have altogether, the idea of a religious origin of politics.

Uno de los elementos del libro 2 de la Política de Aristóteles que más ha llamado la atención de los estudiosos de la obra ha sido el análisis de la politeia de Cartago, una comunidad política no griega. Teniendo en cuenta esta decisión aristotélica poco convencional, mi contribución se centrará en primer lugar sobre las razones que llevan al filósofo a incluir este régimen gracias al uso de la categoría conceptual de politeia: esa categoría, en efecto, le permite (...) analizar los fenómenos políticos que presentan una serie de prerrequisitos, aunque no pertenezcan al mundo griego. En la segunda parte del artículo presentaré los criterios empleados por Aristóteles al fin de establecer si el régimen político cartaginiense funciona, mostrando que estos criterios provienen en su mayoría de los libros ‘empíricos’ de la Política. Palabras-clave: libro II de la Política de Aristóteles, Cartago, politeia, bárbaros, régimen político mejor, Politeiai aristotélicas. (shrink)

Este manuscrito pretende plantear dos ideas: la primera problematiza el origen de la universidad en tanto creación humana en sentido pragmático (Kant, 1800), para luego abordarlo en perspectiva histórica desde tres momentos: Medieval, Clásico y Ancestral, retomando autores como Rashdal (1895), Haskings (1923), Ureña (1919), Ribeiro (1971) y Dussel (2004); posteriormente se plantea el origen de la universidad más allá de su historicidad, en el interior del ser humano como cultivo de la virtud y el conocimiento poiesis en Platón (380 (...) a.C/1999). La segunda idea implica comprender que desde su origen la universidad como politeia desde la apropiación de algunos planteamientos aristotélicos (s,f/1883) y arendtianos (1997), ha posibilitado pensarse como un escenario de movilización social o continuidad del orden social establecido, donde se reflexiona críticamente en la necesidad de actualización de la universidad entre poiesis y politeia como potencia para recuperar su sentido primigenio, en tanto actitud que brota del interior del ser humano. (shrink)