Plato by Hall Robert William

Author:Hall, Robert William.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Humanities
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 2004-11-03T16:00:00+00:00

Finally, the fact that the true statesman may rule by compulsion does not conflict with the earlier statement that the distinction between the rule of the tyrant and the rule of the true statesman was that under the latter the tendance of men is ‘accepted freely’ while under the former such tendance is by enforced control (276e). The basis of the state for Plato always lies in the willingness of the people to be ruled by the true statesman. Now and then, the true statesman may have to resort to compulsion implied in law to do what is best for the state and its citizens. A tyranny, however, reflects a continual compulsion underlying the tyranny and all that the tyrant decrees, which is only in his own interest.

In his discussion of the rule of the scientific statesman, the Stranger had nowhere repudiated law. He never claimed that law is evil. What is evil was the demand that the science of statesmanship must blindly follow the dictates of a popular assembly and be answerable to it for its actions. In the absence of a scientific ruler, the code of laws should be followed. What was the worst possible situation in a state was the deliberate refusal of its rulers without knowledge of the science of statesmanship to follow the laws in order to gain what they considered their own advantage (300a). For the laws, both written and unwritten, were adopted by the people with the aid of ‘counsellors’.

The laws which have been laid down represent the fruit of long experience—one must admit that. Each of them incorporates the clever advice of some counselor who has persuaded the public assembly to enact it. Any man who dares by his action to infringe these laws is guilty of a wrong many times greater than the wrong done by strict laws, for such transgression, if tolerated, would do even more harm than a written code to pervert all ordered activity. (300b)

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