Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Imitation: Imitation is the act of copying the behavior or appearance of another person or thing. It is a natural and important part of human development. See also Stages of Development._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Plato on Imitation - Dictionary of Arguments
Gaus I 311 Imitation/Plato/Keyt/Miller: ...the only true constitution is the one ruled by such a person. Since such persons are exceedingly rare (Plt. 292el-293a4, 297b7-c2), a central question is how a polis bereft of a true statesman can share in reason. The answer of the Eleatic Stranger is that it can share through law, law being an imitation of the truth apprehended by the true statesman (Plt. 300c5-7, 300el 1-301a4). >Philosopher king/Plato, >Laws/Plato, >Constitution/Plato. Forms of imitation: Since the true statesman rules without law, there is a better and a worse way of imitating him. The rulers of a polis can imitate reason's rule by ruling according to reason's reflection in law, or they can imitate reason's lawlessness by ruling contrary to law (Plt. 300e7-301 c5). Given that the rulers are one, few, or many, there are three good and three bad imitations of the one true constitution. Since the fewer the rulers the stronger the rule, the six imitations form a hierarchy, fewer rulers being better when rule is according to law but worse when it is contrary (Plt. 302b5- 303b5). The rulers under these imitative constitutions, we learn are not statesmen at all but factionists (stasiastikoi); concord (homonoia) and friendship (philia), each an antithesis of faction, are within the purview only of the ruler of the one true constitution (Plt. 303c2, 311 b9). One matter of controversy is the extent to which this latter ruler is a reprise of the philosopher-king of the Republic. >Philosopher king/Plato, >Governance&/Plato. Literature: (After long neglect the Statesman has recently come into the spotlight. Lane, 1998, is a study of its political philosophy; and Rowe, 1995, is an extensive collection of papers on all aspects of the dialogue.) 1. Lane, M. S. (1998) Method and Politics in Plato's Statesman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2. Rowe, C. J. (1995) Reading the Statesman: Proceedings of the 111 Symposium Platonicum. Sankt Augustin: Academia. Keyt, David and Miller, Fred D. jr. 2004. „Ancient Greek Political Thought“. In: Gaus, Gerald F. & Kukathas, Chandran 2004. Handbook of Political Theory. SAGE Publications_____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Gaus I Gerald F. Gaus Chandran Kukathas Handbook of Political Theory London 2004 |
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