The Role of Knowledge in Ruling the State in Plato’s Republic and Statesman

Abstract

In both the Republic and Statesman, Plato presents cases that the person who should rule the state is the person who has knowledge. In the Republic, philosophers are presented as the best rulers since they will have knowledge of the form of the good and all the characteristics essential for ruling well. In the Statesman, a ruler with a narrower scope of knowledge, the true statesman, is presented whose expertise is specifically focussed on ruling the state. In this thesis, I will investigate how far, and for what reasons, Plato’s position on the role of knowledge in ruling the state changes between the Republic and Statesman. This thesis considers each of the two dialogues in a separate but parallel fashion with the first half of the thesis considering the Republic and the second half the Statesman. I will consider alternatives to knowledgeable rule presented in each dialogue, the content of the knowledge of each ruler and how the knowledge is to be used to rule each state designed by Plato. Throughout, I will bear in mind the contexts of the states within which the rulers will rule. I will show Kallipolis to be a state the elements of which need to be perfect for the state as a whole to harmonise. The knowledge, forms and state all have an element of unchangingness to them. The Statesman, on the other hand, presents a constitution that is acknowledged as not being the best yet the state seems to have more flexibility and, indeed, applicability to the individual in the state. In my final chapter, I will compare these elements of each dialogue to show the change in Plato’s position. I will cite the contrast of a rigid and seemingly perfect, yet fragile, state in the Republic with the flexible and resilient, yet compromised, state found in the Statesman, and will investigate how the change in Plato’s approach to knowledge in regard to the state underlies and explains this contrast.

Date of Award	1 Jun 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	King's College London
Supervisor	Raphael Woolf (Supervisor) & Shaul Tor (Supervisor)