Plato's Political Philosophy

Plato's Political Philosophy

By : Evangelia Sembou

Release date: Jan 2012

Imprint Academic

Number of pages: 98

ISBN: 9781845402563


More About this Book

The aim of the book is to introduce the reader to Plato’s political philosophy. The book is directed towards an audience that approaches Plato for the first time.

In Plato politics cannot be dissociated from ethics, metaphysics and epistemology. One cannot fully appreciate Plato’s ‘ideal state’ without understanding Plato’s Theory of Forms and his conception of the soul. For this reason the purpose of the book is to place Plato’s political philosophy within Plato’s philosophy as a whole.

The book mainly focuses on Plato’s Republic, but also discusses the Statesman and the Laws. Where necessary and in order to explicate main Platonic doctrines, reference is also made to other Platonic dialogues. The purpose of the book is to serve as a guide to Plato’s political dialogues.

About the Author

Evangelia Sembou graduated in 1995 with first class honours in Politics and History at London University. Following a year’s research at Edinburgh, she moved to St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, where she received her D.Phil. in 2000. She divides her time between Athens and London, and is currently Convenor of the Political Thought Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom.