In Plato's political theory we discover the essence of politics, which provides the requisite lessons to understand political as it is and should be. As there is a Form of the Good, there is a Form of the Polis, discerned in Plato's philosophy and as real for us as it was for him.

• Cover
• Plato’s Beautiful City andthe Essence of Politics
• Plato’s Beautiful City andthe Essence of Politics
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1
• Drawing Further Meaning from Cephalus and Polemarchus
  • Reflections on Cephalus
  • Polemarchus Reconceives His Inheritance
  • Notes
• Chapter 2
• Making Thrasymachus Blush
  • Two Questions and Two Models
  • Socrates Catches a First Glimpse of the Form of the Polis
  • Notes
• Chapter 3
• Sons of Ariston
  • Glaucon’s Spirited Companionship.
  • The Inverted Way
  • Immoderate Adeimantus and the Flirtation with Impiety
  • Concluding Thoughts and Selected Reiterations
  • Notes
• Chapter 4
• The True City
  • The True and Just City Comes into View
  • Ruling and Being Ruled, Serving and Being Served
  • Summary: Democracy and Virtue in the True City
  • Notes
• Chapter 5
• The True City Embodied in the Guardians
  • Preliminaries: The Qualities, Education, and Character of the Guardians
  • The First Essential Property: Shared Resources
  • Legislation and Education, Law and Virtue
  • Notes
• Chapter 6
• Rough Seas
  • First and Second Waves: Second and Third Lessons
  • The Third Wave and the Fourth Lesson: Reason Should Guide Power
  • Notes
• Chapter 7
• Building a Theory from an Account
  • Temporality and the Origins of the Polis
  • Dissolution from Growth
  • Politics, Friendship, and the Rule of Proportion
  • Notes
• Chapter 8
• The Second-Best City
  • Cosmology and Community
  • Half a Democracy
  • Notes
• Chapter 9
• The Form of the Polis in the Second-Best City
  • Political Authority and Personal Wealth
  • Public Good and Private Interest
  • Notes
• Chapter 10
• The Form of the Polis in the Second-Best City
  • Reason Guides Power: Wise Leaders and the Rule of Law
  • Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author