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Plato as Critical Theorist

Jonny Thakkar

$80.95

Hardback

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English
Harvard University Press
14 May 2018
What is the best possible society? How would its rulers govern and its citizens behave? Such questions are sometimes dismissed as distractions from genuine political problems, but in an era when political idealism seems a relic of the past, says Jonny Thakkar, they are more urgent than ever. A daring experiment in using ancient philosophy to breathe life into our political present, Plato as Critical Theorist takes seriously one of Plato's central claims: that philosophers should rule. What many accounts miss is the intimate connection between Plato's politics and his metaphysics, Thakkar argues. Philosophy is the activity of articulating how parts and wholes best fit together, while ruling is the activity that shapes the parts of society into a coherent whole conducive to the good life. Plato's ideal society is thus one in which ideal theory itself plays a leading role.

Today's liberal democracies require not philosopher-kings legislating from above but philosopher-citizens willing to work toward a vision of the best society in their daily lives. Against the claim that such idealism is inherently illiberal, Thakkar shows that it is fully compatible with the liberal theories of both Popper and Rawls while nevertheless pushing beyond them in providing a new vantage point for the Marxian critique of capitalism.

By:  
Imprint:   Harvard University Press
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 156mm,  Width: 235mm, 
ISBN:   9780674971769
ISBN 10:   0674971760
Pages:   350
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Jonny Thakkar is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Swarthmore College.

Reviews for Plato as Critical Theorist

Jonny Thakkar’s book is incredibly stimulating, intelligent, and, at times, astonishingly original. It touches on a number of compelling themes in contemporary politics, political theory, and the history of ideas. It will spark terrific debates and push people to think in new ways about Plato, Rawls, and the place of ideal theory in political thinking. -- Marc Stears, Macquarie University Jonny Thakkar follows in a tradition of political philosophers and theorists such as Charles Taylor, Michael Sandel, Michael Ignatieff, and Michael Walzer: theorists who work at the highest levels of intellectual rigor, but who are committed to their theoretical work making a political difference. This book engages with recent Platonic scholarship as well as with contemporary political theory, and what emerges is a remarkable synthesis: a Platonically inspired idealist defense of modern democratic liberalism. -- Jonathan Lear, University of Chicago This book will challenge and provoke or edify different readers, but also possibly the same ones. Count me among the grateful latter. -- Victor Castellani * European Legacy *


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