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Socrates Founding Political Philosophy in Xenophon's "Economist", "Symposium", and "Apology"

Thomas L. Pangle

In a famous pronouncement, Cicero observes that prior to Socrates, philosophic science “dealt with number and motion, and that from which all things originate and into which they return, and studied ... More

In a famous pronouncement, Cicero observes that prior to Socrates, philosophic science “dealt with number and motion, and that from which all things originate and into which they return, and studied the size, distance between, and course of stars and of all celestial things”: it was Socrates who “was the first to call philosophy down from heaven and to set it in cities and to introduce it into the household and to compel it to inquire into life and mores and good and bad things.” Cicero follows above all the eyewitness presentation of Socrates by Xenophon, whose Socratic dialogue The Economist (Oikonomikos = “Skilled Household Manager”) Cicero translated into Latin. The aim of the present book (a sequel to The Socratic Way of Life: Xenophon’s Memorabilia) is to show how the account of Socrates in Xenophon’s Memorabilia—Xenophon’s longest and best known, but highly defensive, portrayal of Socrates—is decisively deepened as well as complemented by the three shorter writings that Xenophon devoted to portraying Socrates in action, as Socrates founded and initiated what has come to be known as political and moral philosophy.Less

Raymond Aron's Philosophy of Political Responsibility: Freedom, Democracy and National Identity

Christopher Adair-Toteff

This book explores the crucial concept of responsibility and the critical role it plays in Raymond Aron’s political philosophy. This book argues that it is a key concept that is found throughout ... More

This book explores the crucial concept of responsibility and the critical role it plays in Raymond Aron’s political philosophy. This book argues that it is a key concept that is found throughout Aron’s political thinking. Aron learned to appreciate the importance of responsibility from several authors; most notably, Max Weber and von Clausewitz and it is present throughout many of his writings. The concept is found in Aron’s discussions of war and peace, ideology and totalitarianism, and on freedom. The book also discusses Aron’s political legacy and suggests that his political thinking can help us address many of the issues of the 21st century.Less

The Shorter Writings

Xenophon

Gregory A. McBrayer (ed.)

This volume contains new, literal translations of Xenophon’s eight shorter writings along with interpretive essays on each work: Hiero, or The Skilled Tyrant; Agesilaus; Regime of the Lacedaemonians; ... More

This volume contains new, literal translations of Xenophon’s eight shorter writings along with interpretive essays on each work: Hiero, or The Skilled Tyrant; Agesilaus; Regime of the Lacedaemonians; Regime of the Athenians; Ways and Means, or On Revenue; The Skilled Cavalry Commander; On Horsemanship; and The One Skilled at Hunting with Dogs. The Agesilaos is a eulogy of a Spartan king, and the Hiero, or the Skilled Tyrant recounts a searching dialogue between a poet and a tyrant. The Regime of the Lacedaemonians presents itself as a laudatory examination of what turns out to be an oligarchic regime of a certain type, while The Regime of the Athenians offers an unflattering picture of a democratic regime. Ways and Means, or On Revenues offers suggestions on how to improve the political economy of Athens’ troubled democracy. The other three works included here—The Skilled Cavalry Commander, On Horsemanship, and The One Skilled at Hunting with Dogs—treat skills that are appropriate for gentlemen. By bringing together Xenophon’s shorter writings, this volume aims to help all those interested in Xenophon understand better the core of his thought, political as well as philosophic.Less

Immanence and Micropolitics: Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Deleuze

Christian Gilliam

Christian Gilliam argues that a philosophy of ‘pure’ immanence is integral to the development of an alternative understanding of ‘the political’; one that re-orients our understanding of the self ... More

Christian Gilliam argues that a philosophy of ‘pure’ immanence is integral to the development of an alternative understanding of ‘the political’; one that re-orients our understanding of the self toward the concept of an unconscious or ‘micropolitical’ life of desire. He argues that here, in this ‘life’, is where the power relations integral to the continuation of post-industrial capitalism are most present and most at stake. Through proving its philosophical context, lineage and political import, Gilliam ultimately justifies the conceptual necessity of immanence in understanding politics and resistance, thereby challenging the claim that ontologies of ‘pure’ immanence are either apolitical or politically incoherent.Less

Just Enough: Sufficiency As a Demand of Justice

Liam Shields

Whether people in some society are able to secure enough food, healthcare or education seems to be an important way of assessing that society. However, as a philosophical ideal sufficiency faces many ... More

Whether people in some society are able to secure enough food, healthcare or education seems to be an important way of assessing that society. However, as a philosophical ideal sufficiency faces many problems. Chief among these is that the ideal has been understood in ways that give rise to powerful objections that make it seem less attractive than ideals of equality. This book offers a new characterization of sufficiency as a demand of justice called shift-sufficientarianism. The book argues that shift-sufficientarianism is an attractive ideal that is indispensable to sound assessments of societies. In particular, the author argues that securing enough education, enough autonomy and a good enough upbringing are important requirements of any just society. This author also goes on to argue that this understanding of sufficiency sheds important light on what we may owe to non-compatriots as a matter of global justice.Less

The political theory of the Irish Constitution: Republicanism and the basic law

Eoin Daly and Tom Hickey (eds)

Recent years have witnessed a revived interest in civic republicanism in Ireland, in tandem with a growing consciousness of republican ideas across the English-speaking world. Yet while republicanism ... More

Recent years have witnessed a revived interest in civic republicanism in Ireland, in tandem with a growing consciousness of republican ideas across the English-speaking world. Yet while republicanism is posited as a catch-all public philosophy and as a framework for political reform in Ireland and elsewhere, its content remains highly ambiguous and contested. Its implications for constitutional structure and constitutional theory are the subject of wide debate in both legal and political thought. In this book, Eoin Daly and Tom Hickey consider republican themes in the Irish constitutional tradition. While the Irish Constitution has been understood as oscillating between a liberal concern for individual freedoms against the state and a communitarian concern for promoting a shared identity, the authors argue that many of its central features and devices can be interpreted in a distinctively republican light – and specifically, as providing a framework for participation in self-government. They consider how institutions and concepts such as popular sovereignty, constitutional rights, parliamentary government and judicial review might be re-interpreted in light of the republican themes of civic virtue and freedom as non-domination.Less