Interpretation

A JOURNAL

A OF

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Number 1

Fall 1993 Carl Page Patrick

Volume 21

The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d

Coby

Socrates

on the
and

Decline

and

Fall

of

Regimes

Books 8 Richard Burrow

Gulliver'

of

the Republic

Travels: The

Stunting

of a

Philosopher Book Reviews Charles E. Butterworth

A If Lay la

wa

Layla, The Arabian Nights,

Husain

translated

by

Haddawy

Michael P. Zuckert

The Unvarnished Doctrine: Locke,

Liberalism,

and

the American

Revolution,

by
Charles T. Rubin

Steven M. Dworetz

Ecology, Community
Naess

and

Lifestyle, by Arne

Lucia Boyden
Prochnow

An Index to

Interpretation, Volumes 11

through 20

Interpretation
Editor-in-Chief Executive Editor Hilail Gildin, Dept.
of

Philosophy, Queens College

Leonard

Grey

General Editors

Seth G. Benardete Charles E. Butterworth Hilail Gildin Robert Horwitz (d. 1987) Howard B. White (d. 1974) Christopher Bruell Joseph Cropsey Ernest L. Fortin John Hallowell (d. 1992) Harry V. Jaffa David Lowenthal Muhsin Mahdi Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr. Arnaldo Momigliano (d. 1987) Michael Oakeshott (d. 1990) Ellis Sandoz Leo Strauss (d. 1973) Kenneth W. Thompson

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European Editors Editors

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Interpretation
Fall 1993 Volume 21 Number 1
Carl Page Patrick
The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d Socrates
on

3 Regimes:
15

Coby

the Decline
and

and

Fall

of

Books 8

of

the Republic

Richard Burrow

Gulliver's Travels: The

Philosopher Book Reviews

Stunting

of a

41

Charles E. Butterworth

AlfLayla

wa

Layla, The Arabian Nights,

translated

by

Husain

Haddawy

59

Michael P. Zuckert

The Unvarnished Doctrine: Locke, Liberalism, and the American Revolution,

by
Charles T. Rubin

Steven M. Dworetz
and

67

Ecology, Community
Naess

Lifestyle, by Arne
73

Lucia Boyden Prochnow

An Index to Interpretation, Volumes 1 1 through 20

81

Copyright 1993

interpretation

ISSN 0020-9635

The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d

Carl Page

Emory University

Halfway
Their
aim

through Book II

of

mantus embark upon their

famous

Plato's Republic, Socrates, Glaucon, construction of a "city in

and

Adei
as an souls

speech"

(369c).

is to
to

read

the idea of

justice
of

off

the scrutable

face

of

alternative

having

to fathom the obscurer depths of

men's

city individual

the

(368d-369a). Full development

tinguishable phases, culminating
poses

the city in speech occurs in a series

program of education

of

dis

in the

that Socrates pro

for his

philosopher-kings at the end of

mark

Book VII

(521c- 540c).

Of the
the

many transitions that

the

overall

development,
of and

two stand out for

being

only

ones marked

by

dramatic interruption

the conversation. The one is the other

occasioned

by

Glaucon in Book II
at

(372c)
of

by

Adeimantus (on

behalf of Polemarchus) city in speech begins

the

beginning

Book V (449b). Groundwork for the

through two stages before
produces a model

with

Adeimantus
"healthy"

and runs

Glaucon interrupts. The second, city that Socrates soon calls

stage of

elaborated and

from 370c-372b,

"truthful"

(372e),

while

the very

first

the

construction made

is dubbed "the
or

city"

most

necessary
(andres)"

(he

anagkaiotate

polis)

and

it is

up "from four

five
of

men

(369d). As it necessary

hap
city"

pens, the very brief

and

account of skills

demanded
the

by

"the

most

had included only four

weaver,
the

by

name:

the arts

farmer,

the

housebuilder,

the

shoemaker. spell out

In light

of

the procedurally crucial resolve to

most

their city with the

largest,
five"

clearest,
at

discernible

alphabet

possible, the

casualness of

this "four

or

for

the very outset appears arbitrarily vague; there is no evident reason allowing the outlines of the model city to become blurred so early on. Still

worse,

however, is
of

the oxymoronic
and

conjunction
five."

breath

"most

necessary"

"four

or

in exactly the same Socratic Is the fifth needed or not? What

unable

sort of superlative even

necessity

can

they have discovered, if Socrates is

to "the
most
Socrates'

to

count

the

number of occupations essential

These two
too

observations suggest

that

mention of a

necessary city"? fifth man is not

some casual

slip

of the tongue or thoughtless or

logically

embarrassing
that
calls

momentary embellishment. It is ridiculous for that. The unnamed fifth, therefore,

presents a puzzle

for interpretation.
What

Why

should

andres) have been

mentioned at all?

could

his

unnamed

he (Socrates does say function be?

Socrates'

Adeimantus happens to

make no comment about

the oddities in

summary

statement

that "the most necessary city would

be

made

from four

or

interpretation,

Fall 1993, Vol.

21, No. 1

Interpretation
men"

five

(369d). Were it

not

for the fact that for

Socrates'

interlocutors
and

are so

often represented as

only partially understanding the force be

some ground

direction

of

his

questioning, this might

unnamed

dismissing

the

need

to interpret the
not

fifth. More in the

importantly, though,
his immediate
the

Socrates'

remarks

do

have to be

meaningful

context of

conversation

in

order

for them to be
an

meaningful at all.

Not only in the Plato has

particular case of the

Republic is there
audience

audience represented within

dialogue,

there is also the

beyond the
to

dialogue for

whom

constructed

his

monologic

text.

Moreover, it is

this latter level that all intradramatic speculations must eventually be referred. I

have already given two reasons for supposing that at least Plato intended the unnamed fifth to be noticed, whether or not it could also be said that Socrates
was

tacitly addressing
meaning.

others

in the dialogue for

reasons of what

or

saying

more than
"own"

he knew has only fifth

Adeimantus

would understand

his

own

where

dramatic
was

My

aim

in

follows is to

confirm
worth

that the

unnamed

meant

to be

noticed and

to show that it is

noticing,

by deriving

directly
larger

from the document

entitled

Republic the

means

for articulating its

contextual significance.

Plato's dialogues
such

are

full

of

the quirkiest details. Hermeneutic response to

details

obsession.
of

varies along a continuum from impatient dismissal to sycophantic While I intend to pursue an expansive rather than lean interpretation

the unnamed

fifth,

there is in this case an obvious

deflationary
to

(though

not

dismissive) reading
first. It
will

that in the

interests
much

of moderation needs

be

considered

turn out to be not so

entire

incorrect

as

inadequate.
summary
characteriza

Here is the

discussion

leading
at

tion of the "most necessary

city"

up to 369d:

Socrates'

S. A.

"Well now, first

of

and greatest of our needs

is the

provision of

food for the

sake

being

living."

and

"Absolutely."

S.
A.

"Second is the
things."

need

for housing,

and

third the need for clothing and

such

"That's

so."

S.

"Come

then,"

I said, "how

will

the city be up to such provision? How else but

that one be a
shall we also
things?"

farmer,

another a

housebuilder,

and some other a weaver?

Or

install there

a shoemaker or some other caretaker of

bodily

A. S.

"Quite."

"So the

most

necessary city

would

be from four

or

five

men."

A.

"Apparently."'

Socrates'

countdown of needs stops at three:

things"

food

first,

shelter

second, then
of

"clothing

and such

third. There

is

some vagueness

built into the last

The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d

these needs,
clude
and

5
the

it

seems to

be the

ground

for the

question of whether
extended

enumeration of skilled men

corresponding

to them should be

to in

"a

things."

shoemaker or some other caretaker of

bodily
allon)
and

Although the

"other

caretaker"

is

not

named, he is different
same and

(tin'

therefore counted

other"

separately from the shoemaker, in the (alios tis) in relation to the farmer
which

way that the weaver is "some housebuilder. The named occupa

to the the
"four"

tions may reasonably be taken to mary,

Socrates'

correspond

of
things"

sum

leaves "some

other caretaker of

bodily
may be

as

the obvious

candidate

for the

unspecified

fifth. Whatever
in
other

else

said about

this, the
of man's

number of even

human
most

occupations

words, the

character of

human life
"three"

in the
needs. or

basic
"four

necessary city is underdetermined This is represented by the indeterminate

In

by the number inequality of

and
number.

five."

fact,

"four
once

or

The
or of a

most

necessary city,

is strictly speaking not even a realized, is necessarily indeterminate.

five"

The

five"

reading would have matters end here; Socrates says "four because he has named four and only vaguely alluded to the possibility fifth caretaker of bodily things. I accept the correlation, but deny that it

deflationary

sufficiently between the

"four
the
or

explains either

the

indeterminacy

of

the count itself or the merely

still an

generic characterization of resolve

the unnamed

fifth. There is
the

inconsistency
of

to be as

precise as possible and

insouciance

counting

five,"

and still an

most

necessary city
must

inconsistency between the claim to have described without having said anything of the specific need in
is,
the need that makes

which

the fifth occupation is rooted, that

it truly

neces

sary.

There

therefore be more meaning to be gleaned from the simple

fact

that the

unnamed

fifth is

"caretaker

of

bodily

things"

than this vague charac

terization.

Moreover,

there is even greater reason to suspect some

irony

in the

text at this point, for in expatiating on bodily care Socrates is made to add a city. Not only are shoemakers not obviously shoemaker to the "most
necessary"

necessary, Socrates himself is

not need

notorious

for going

about unshod.

If Socrates

does necessary for at least the Socratic Symposium 174a). way of life (cf. Phaedrus 229a, This observation can be immediately interpreted in one of two ways: either
shoes, the
shoemaker

is

not

shoemaking is
weaving,
most

without

further
and

qualification

housebuilding,
shoes would

farming,
polis.

or

less necessary to the city than Socrates is out of place even at the
second

fundamental level

of

the
a

On the

reading, the civilization

implied
part of

by

be

the

philosophical one.

necessary part of political life yet not a necessary But if shoes should mark the city for the sake of
should

this contrast, it

is

still

puzzling why they

do

so with utmost necessity.

On

then, the sophistication or apparent luxury of shoes, their be overlooked. non-necessity, mention of a shoemaker intimates that corporeal need, while com
either

reading,

cannot

Socrates'

pelling,

does

not

in truth supply the

Socrates'

complete measure even of

the most neces

needs

sary

city.

According

to

picture, the

cities of men

embody

for

Interpretation
strictly necessary for survival, for things like shoes in addition to shelter, and clothing. The principle that underlies this enriched form of
not not

things

food,
need

is

survival, to

list, but
things."

care

only food is explicitly related in (therapeia). This Socrates clearly indicates by his general
which need unnamed

Socrates'

charac

terization of the

fifth

as

"some

other caretaker

(therapeutes)
as

of

bodily
its

In seeking to care for the survival, hence one is inclined to

body,
speak

one seeks more than to ensure of self-preservation

an

instinct

instead
words,

of

consciousness of an

something purposive. Rather, such caring implies an emerging the body's well-being and its potential flourishing, in other
consciousness of
with

emerging

the

good.

that care
need

responds

to need

infinitely
care

more than

For this reason, it could be said is necessary, for it locates

inside
care

a universal

horizon;
can

for the

body

is the first

manifestation of

human

freedom.2

There

therefore be no simple deduction of the

and

forms

of

human

from

physical

necessity alone,

hence the

number of

primary
the

arts must

indeterminately

very foundation of The peculiarly unnecessary

city"

outstrip the the city in speech. first

clue

number of corporeal

needs,

even at

addition of

the shoemaker as fourth in "the most

necessary
stood on

is

that the necessity proper to cities cannot be under

the

paradigm of survival.

It is

not material necessity. ways

Foi

creatures

that care, their actions are compelled

creatures that paradigm of
serted even ground

in different

from the

activities of

do not,

and such

difference is
the seed of

at

the root of

politics.3

The

care,

which contains

before Socrates

arrives at

the unnamed fifth. It

understood.

freedom from the given, is in is against this back

that the latter may be further

II

fifth has been all but universally neglected. Aristotle at least him (Politics, iv 1291a23) yet gave no further comment. Most recently, however, Seth Benardete has hazarded that the unnamed fifth must be a war
The
unnamed noticed
rior.4

Warriors do

ruption and

officially appear until some time after Glaucon's inter therefore after Socrates and company have long since expanded
not
most

their

model

beyond the

necessary

city.

At first the

warriors appear under

the

ambiguous

designation

of

"guardians
rulers

(phulakes)"

(374d),

and

not

until

much

later is the distinction between

made

(archontes)

and warriors

(stratiotai)

(412a). It is clear, though, that they are originally introduced to explicitly serve an expressly military function and lead a martial way of life. The devel opment that leads from the most necessary city to the emergence of warriorguardians

The
gotten

background for understanding Benardete's proposal. necessary city was never, in the first place, complete. Having to "four or Socrates soon points out that the skills of farming,
requisite most
five,"

is the

housebuilding,

weaving,

and

the rest

are

in

need of

auxiliary

arts.

They

there-

The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d

fore
add carpenters and smiths, cowherds and
and

shepherds, merchants, sailors,

shopkeepers,
more

laborers,

together

with a market and a system of

currency
are no

(370d-371e). What does this list

explicit mention
given of social

mean?

The highest

ends of such a

city

than agricultural and mercantile,

its basic

structure

simply

economic.

No

is

made of political or governmental

structure, the city is

no account

structure,

family life,
resources

or

religion,

and no reference made

to

war

and

the

need

for military

at

least

not while

structed.5

Socrates'

being

con

rhapsodic
prompts

community city is not fit for

of

the spirited

men

summary of the idyllic way of life in such a Glaucon to break in, claiming that his brother's but fit only for those most accommodating and unspirited (372d).
point and

animals, namely

pigs

With
what

notable
calls

alacrity, Socrates takes up Glaucon's

"fevered"

rapidly
and

sketches

he

the

(phlegmainousa)
city
which

"luxuriating"

or

(truphosa)
in
order to and

city, in

Adeimantus'

contrast with
(372e).6

he

"healthy"

"truthful"

now calls occupations

Socrates

adds a whole swarm of

further

satisfy
and

Glaucon's

expectations

(373b-d), beginning
additions make

with

huntsmen

"imitators"

(mimetai). These two

it

clear

that both spirit

(thumos)

imagination
tioned
and

were absent

from Adeimantus's

austere polity.

Other

groups men

include the

craftsmen of

the

political consequences of sexual relations original

female adornment, reminding us that women had been conveniently over

and a whole

looked in the

construction,
than

host

of

servants,

implying
last

far
the
the

more complex social structure

was envisioned

by

Adeimantus. First
and

on are

list

of servants are

teachers, reminding the

reader of

education,

doctors. The total The human desire

politics.

number of new occupations

is

seventeen.

significance of and

the transition pivots on the natural

crucial

its

link

with

the

forms

of

specifically recognizably human

ways of

force

of

Adeimantus's human life in

on

healthy

city dissatisfies Glaucon because it leaves the

precondition of

servitude

to nature as given. It acknowledges that the given is not

its

own

sufficient, for this is the

any

and all political asso

(cf. 369b), but the healthy city merely manipulates the given (tilling fields, building houses, weaving cloaks) and pursues activities that supplement
ciation

the given

for the
within

sake of simple

bodily

goods.

To be sure,
the

such goods are

developed

the

horizon

of

care, but

care of

healthy
the

use of shoes).
make of

city is for the most part preservational There is, for example, no teacher
the

body (excepting the

alone a

as practised

in the in

hint

contained

of gymnastic

in the

healthy

city to

body

more than

is given, let
of

teacher of the soul.

moving to re ject, deny, efface, transform, or transcend it. It merely deals with it. Its pro ductions are convenient rather than beautiful, or meaningful, or noble. This is all summed up in Glaucon's image of the accommodating pig, who will wallow

Adeimantus'

city

accepts

the

insufficiency

the

given without

in

whatever

is

at

hand

and whose

horizon

of satisfaction extends

little farther

than the

feeding

trough.

Interpretation

Glaucon, on the other hand, represents the gesture of actively negating the given, of being unwilling to accept that simple necessity must dominate human
life. His
yew and appropriate
own

first

suggestion were

vegetarian

feasts that
to

for how to improve his brother's city is to get the portrayed by Socrates off the "rushes strewn with
off the

myrtle,"

i.e., up

ground,

and onto

the tables

and couches

civilized men

(372d).7

Glaucon thus

asserts a certain

freedom

by setting up distance between himself and the earth, creating such distance interposing artefacts produced by a form of human ingenuity uncompelled
material

by by

necessity but driven by an inchoate urge for refinement. At its root, human dissatisfaction with the given is indeterminate; simple rejection or negation does not result in any specific plan of action. Hence the young Glaucon is represented as not being entirely sure of what is missing from his brother's fathomed the
city.

Socrates,

on

the other

hand,
of

the expert in human eros, has

capable of

reaches of

human desire

and

is perfectly

immediately

filling
be

There may Glaucon's city, but it luxury is at least a city in which art, sex, social structure, education, politics, and in a moment, war may be found and recognized. The fevered city is manifestly a more adequate portrayal of the phenomena of civilized political life, because it
out presentiment
speech.8

Glaucon's

in terms

their city in
version of

extravagance and

in the full-blooded

acknowledges

the forces

of

spirit,

imagination,

and erotic
of

desire.

Immediately following
been from
utmost

their second expansion

the city, the first

having
luxury,

necessity to health and the Socrates discerns the origin of war (373d):
S. "And
men what about will

one now

from health to

the

land,

the

land that from

was then sufficient

for

feeding

the

then; it

become

small

having

been

sufficient.

Or how

should we

speak?"

G. S.

"This

way,"

he

said.

"Then there

will

be

need of

cutting

off the

land

of our

neighbours, if

we are

going to have
cut off

enough

to graze and plough, and there will be need

for them to

ours, should

they

too let themselves go to the unlimited acquisition of

wealth, overstepping the

boundary
he

of what

is

necessary."

G.
S.

"Quite necessarily,

Socrates,"

said.

"So

we shall go
way,"

to war after
said.
yet,"

that, Glaucon? Or how

will

it

be?"

G. S.

"This

he

"Well let's
much, that

not
we

I said, "whether say have in its turn discovered

occur

war works evil or

good, but only this

an origin of war out of those things private and

that most of all

occur.

bad in cities, both in

in public,

when

they

G.

"Quite

so."

For

reasons

he does

not

here specify, Socrates simply scarcity

conflict

assumes

the existence
supposition

of other cities and a natural makes no

of material resources.

The first

difference to the

implied

by

finite
in
a

resources and expansive

desire, for

the same conflict

would also occur

single, global polity. The

The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d

second supposition

is

initially problematic because

it

suggests that war resources

is

rooted

in the merely
scarce. principle

contingent and extrahuman

fact that

happen to be

deeper point, however, is that natural, given resources are in inadequate to the demands of emancipated (but as yet undisciplined) human desire. This is why he speaks of letting go "to the unlimited (apeiron)
acquisition of

Socrates'

bility

wealth, overstepping the boundary of what is attributed not only to the other cities but also to their
omnivorousness of

necessary,"

a possi own.

War is

rooted

in the indeterminate
the given
of

human desire. The human

negation of

is comprehensive, totalizing, and thus intrinsically prone to the vice of wanting more than is sufficient. The path has now been traced from farmers to warriors and so I return to Benardete's account of the unnamed fifth. He reasons as follows:
pleonexia,

Glaucon

and Socrates originally expanded the city dialogically (373d7), and now it is confronting invaders; but a moment's reflection shows that the army cannot be first formed now but it had to precede the original expansion; indeed, it had to precede the surplus the original member of the

city

created

for

export.

The

soldier must

have been

an

true city. He is the fifth man (369dll). (P.

uncovers of

54)

Benardete's first
rates'

point

rightly
an

the

prestidigitation

involved in Soc
of

calling their army

"guardians."

army

Regardless
the

the possibly

pedagogical purposes of such a maneuver with respect to

overall course of

the conversation, in its essence the

fevered city
the

requires aggressors as much as

it

requires

defenders.
of

Fighting is,
The

on

the reading I have given, coeval with the

move

totalizing form
subhuman

desire that

underlies

away from the for

a whole

healthy

yet

sive,

and

city forsakes

of pigs.

spirited expansion of of

the city is necessarily

aggres

passive

caretaking
all were

the
not

body

host

of possible

goods

that would not exist at

as

it

for the

presence of

human beings. (though

code-

Guarding therefore is,

termined
with

Benardete maintains,
of

logically

posterior

the possibility

invasion)

to the

aggression at

the

heart

of active

human freedom.
It
prior

is,

on

the

other

hand, difficult

to see how the army needs to

be formed he
com

to the emergence of Glauconian desire. The wholly mercantile world of

the

healthy
who

city is

also a peaceful

one,
out

as

Socrates

emphasizes when peace and

ments

that its inhabitants "will live

their lives in

health"

(372d).

Those

economic terms can take pecuniary advantage for that reason, but they can have no interest in of war and might welcome it waging it. Merchants do not care who wins. The only threat on this score to the

define their lives in

health ited

of

the

healthy

city is the

strange

potency

of money.

If

care

for comfort,
unlim

security,

and refinement of material good should promised war.

become desire for the

power apparently becomes transformed into

by

massive wealth move

then of course commerce

same

But that
on

transgresses exactly the

civilized and noble
useful

boundary

transgressed

by

Glaucon

behalf of more

inflec

tions of indefinite desire. In sum, warriors might

be

to the mercantile

10

Interpretation
Adeimantus's city, but there is
no principle within

ends of makes

its dynamics that

them necessary.

Ill

If the

unnamed

fifth

cannot

be

warrior,

what else or who else could

he be?

My

positive answer to

this

question

falls into
of

two parts. The

first

counts as a

preamble unnamed

to the second and examines the general functional significance of the

fifth in the development

of

the city in

speech.

The

second

is my in

interpretation

the unnamed

fifth's

specific character.
five"

In the first section, I interpreted the indeterminate count of "four or terms of how human care necessarily outstrips the dull imperatives
given.

of

the

This outstripping is reflected both in the fact that the count is left inde terminate, for it could only be made determinate if caring and surviving were commensurate in kind, and in the fact that the tasks of the fifth are left un
specified; care has
more

forms than

need

demands. If
then the

care of

the

body

is

minimal expression of

human

the expansiveness of Glauconian

placeholder

freedom, desire,
of

passive though

it be in

comparison

to
a

unnamed

fifth becomes
generic

for

all

the future forms

human freedom. In this

sense,

the

unnamed

fifth
be

would

indeed be
the

an anticipation of

the warrior-guardian, but

he

would also

an anticipation of

the swarm of occupations Socrates adds in

not

the initial

construction of

fevered city, freedom

to

mention an anticipation of

the philosopher-king. Whether one thinks of the tasks added to complete the

healthy
with

city

as new

forms
of

of

or not

depends

on one's assessment of
while consistent

their auxiliary status. In any event, the placeholding

function,

the hypothesis

the unnamed fifth that the city of

as a

warrior, does

not require

it. if it

Socrates

understands

utmost

is to become

an adequate model

for human

political

necessity life

needs elaboration

and thus an alphabet

for the spelling out of justice. It is not until they have described the healthy city in its entirety that Socrates asks if it is complete (telea) and where justice and injustice may be found within it (37 le). As it happens, Adeimantus cannot locate the elements of justice in his own city and Socrates does little to help him; instead he waxes eloquent on the healthy, truthful way of life that soon
provokes

Glaucon to declare its

pastoral charms swinish.

Socrates

also under elab

stands that the

oration of

healthy

city is similarly inadequate. As already noted, his

attention overlooked

the luxurious city swiftly draws

to the powers of eros,

and

spirit,

and

imagination in the

in the

previous

construction,

it is

not

long

before he

passes onto

the complex topics of education and rule, also un

Adeimantus'

considered

account of

city.

So much, then, for the general functional significance of the unnamed fifth. The next question is whether there is anything native to the structure of the
most

necessary city in its

own right

that allows one to specify a task or tasks

The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d

that

11

belong intrinsically
most obvious mention

to

it but

which were

not, for

whatever

reasons,

men

tioned. I have two possibilities to suggest.

The

"caretaker

of

bodily

things"

that Adeimantus

and

Socrates

fail to

in reflecting on the most necessary city is the doctor. Besides its intrinsic plausibility, there are a few textual clues that fifth. It
will

support

this reading for the occupation of the unnamed

be

recalled

that

doctors
added

are

explicitly

mentioned as

the last

of

the

seventeen occupations are

first

to create and support the

fevered

city.

Here is how they

introduced

(373d):
S.
G.

"Accordingly,
"Much

won't we also we would

be in

much greater need of

doctors, spending

our

time this way than

be spending it in the

manner?"

previous

greater."

The

comparatives are

important; it is
And how

spoken of

in

such a way. unless

could

the only occupation in the new list that is in the there be "much greater
need"

fevered city,
encouraged

there was already need in the city that

went

before? One is

to overlook the comparative progression because the need

for doc

tors is not explicitly mentioned until the

plagued

by

the unnecessary effects of

of medicine

city has become inflamed and swollen, its effete self-indulgence. But this is not
countenances.

the only form

he has
tends
much order

later, in Book III, Herodicus, which flattering to those who waste their leisure and freedom in hypochondria, from the more severe art of Asclepius, which tends to those who need to get well in
that Socrates

Much

occasion

to distinguish the

medical art of

to continue performing their citizenly tasks (405d

one man who

ff.). It is
city.

not an accident

that the

is

mentioned

by

name as

carpenter

(406d, 407b), i.e.,

a member of

the

being healthy

patient

to Asclepius's art is a

The

carpenter also

happens to be the very first auxiliary to be added to the most necessary city (370d); he is, in effect, numbered directly after the unnamed fifth.

According
designation beings be
that
while

to these clues, the role of doctor appears to be the pivot between

the city of utmost necessity and its elaboration

"healthy"

healthy

The very itself suggests as much, for how could a city of human in body if not by the presence of doctors? But it is striking
a

into

healthy

one.

in

Adeimantus'

consistently called healthy, doctors are nowhere mentioned by name city. This provokes the evident question: Why are the doctors

suppressed?

To

state

pressed

my thesis on this point in shortest compass, the doctors are sup because the problem of rule is initially suppressed, and medicine

throughout the Republic

of rule. sented

is
the

a metaphor

for the

preventive and corrective aspect repre

(The

other main aspect of

rule, namely guidance, is constantly

pilots and

by

the image

of

pilot.

Moreover,

doctors

are almost

in

variably mentioned together. On this imagery see also 11 04a 10.) Let me now indicate the basis of my twofold claim, suppression of the issue of rule.
Socrates'

Nicomachean Ethics, ii

beginning

with

12

Interpretation
Socrates
reveals

his

awareness

that rule is demanded

several ways.

even

by

the dynamics

implied
of

the

by city kairos in the exercise

the
it."

of utmost
of

necessity in

First is his discussion

performance of who

does

any task, and This raises the

any art (370b). There is a proper moment for the it cannot be left "to await the leisure of the man
question of who

is to

ensure

that

a man should

compromise

his leisure,

auxiliary
managed

art of

is to say his autonomy. Next, in introducing the shopkeeping, Socrates makes a passing reference to "rightly
which

cities"

the secondary

ones.

(371c) wherein those too weak to engage primary tasks take up Finally, some time after Glaucon's interruption Socrates
notes a

hints

at the need

prevented

for policing the most necessary city when he the shoemaker from trying at the same time to be

that "we
or a

farmer

weaver or a

housebuilder; he had
fine
work

to stay
us"

a shoemaker

just

so

the shoemaker's

art would produce

most

for

necessary city
partners

confirms

the point:

(374b). Aristotle's commentary on the "Yet even amongst the four or however
assign and

many
just"

there

be,

there must be someone to

to

judge

what

is

(Politics, iv 1291a22). The coordination of doctoring

important
examples

and rule

is

almost

too pervasive to require

separate comment. pear as and

In setting up the problem of justice, doctors and pilots ap in the opening exchanges with Polemarchus (332e)

Thrasymachus (341c, 346b), while they are also mentioned in Glaucon's request for a more thorough treatment (360e). When rulers (archontes) are

for the very first time, their function is directly compared with the gymnastics trainer, and the pilot (389b). This is done in an effort to doctor, explain the potential justification for using lies as drugs (pharmaka), itself a
mentioned

the

further
III is
the

and

subsequently

crucial medicinal

analogy; Asclepian

medicine
lie"

is
of

char

"statesmanlike"

acterized as
Socrates'

(politikon; 407e);
459c he
calls

the infamous "noble

Book

first

actual example of a pharmacological at

lie told for the

sake of
not and

city's

health (414c);
as

for

"most

doctor,"

courageous

one of

the

ordinary kind,
of

deceptions"

is willing to use a further "throng of lies drugs "for the benefit of the ruled"; and finally, in the
who

well-

known image between the

and

the city as a

ship (488a ff), Socrates

of

asserts a

direct analogy

excellence and

nobility

the pilot, the

doctor,

the philosopher,

the

statesman

(489b).

Not naming the doctors of the healthy city, therefore, is entirely of a piece with not alluding to its governance and the governance of the necessary city at
The unnamed fifth is both a doctor and the hidden ruler in the first both the prime example and regulator of care's first manifestations. It he is city; said that the doctor is in truth the first of human beings to overrule could be nature and by that right he rules those who remain subservient to the impera

its

core.

tives

of

the

given.

In

other

words, his is the first architectonic

art.

The doctor

does not,

however,

negate

the given; Asclepian medicine is the

necessary but
sup-

not sufficient condition

for freedom.

The final

question provoked

by

the unnamed

fifth, therefore, is why

The Unnamed Fifth: Republic 369d

press the

13

issue

of rule?

I think the

reason

for

Socrates'

represented coyness on

this

is tied up with the pedagogical need to discipline the inherent fascina tion, indeed excitement, in the practical question of who should rule. A truly
score

serious response to the question of who should rule requires that the most care

ful
that

attention

be

given

to all the sources of unruliness in the community of

human beings

spirit, eros, self-interest, sex, attachment,

laziness, vanity
of

is,

sober attention must

be

given

to the theoretical question

why

rule

is

necessary.

Hence Socrates

postpones

his

outrageous

answer

to the practical
under

question, namely that philosophers

pinnings are clear.
prone

should

rule,

until after

its theoretical

Barely

asked, the

question of who should rule such as

is naturally length

to cloud the judgment of youthful souls the other young

philosophers as
men present.

Glaucon, Adeimantus,
outrageous

and some of of

Articulated to the

installing

ence at all.

kings it is virtually guaranteed of having no audi Little wonder, then, that Socrates should introduce his thinking on

the

matter with such caution.

NOTES

Translations from the Greek

"speech

are mine

throughout.
the good with the essence of man as

2. Aristotle
political:

coordinates consciousness of

both

rational and

making evident what is advantageous and what is harmful, and therefore also what is just and what is unjust; for this is, in relation to the rest of living things, proper to human beings that only they are able to perceive good and bad, just and unjust, and the
rest,

[logos] is for

(Politics, i 1253a 15- 18). community in these things makes both household and Socrates' 3. This counts as a rejoinder to Aristotle's criticism in his commentary on "first
city"

and

city"

that

it implies that is

noble"

what

"every city is composed for the (Politics, iv 1291al8).

Socrates'

sake of necessities rather

than for the sake of

4. Seth Benardete,

Second Sailing: On Plato's Republic (Chicago:

University

of

Chicago Press, 1989), p. 54. 5. Socrates tacitly draws

the

attention at

to many of these oversights when he goes on to summarize

healthy

city's

way

of

life

372a

after

he has

supposed

it

complete enough

to

pose the question

of where

to

construction:

find justice. His summary introduces "Setting out noble loaves of barley and drink
wine

elements nowhere mentioned

wheat on some reeds or clean

in the

specific
will

leaves, they

stretch out on rushes strewn with yew and myrtle and wards

feast

themselves and their children.

After

they

will

intercourse
against

with one

another,

war"

poverty or Glaucon is made to interrupt. The

anticipation of regime cannot
regimes

wreaths, sing of the gods. So they will have sweet producing children beyond their means and keeping an eye out because that is precisely where (372b). The speech ends on the word

and,

crowned with

not

"war"

reference

to

not

producing

children

beyond their

means

is

an

the

political vagaries

introduced

by

sexual eros and reproduction that even the

ultimately (546a ff.).

epithet

control and which are

therefore the ultimate cause of corruption

best in all

6.
which

Socrates'

here is

alethine

(rather than

alethes).

It

can

be translated

"true,"

either as

has been the

For
about

more common

for this

particular

passage,

although

"truthful."

"truthftil"

an explanation of

why
Ancient

is the

preferable

rendition, see Carl

its primary meaning is Page, "The

Truth
the

Lies in Plato's
states

Republic,"

Philosophy 11
put meat off

(1991): 1-33.
the ground, and couches put men off
and

7. Benardete
ground

the

point nicely:

"Tables

(372b4-6); they

separate man

from pig

by

elevating him

delay

the satisfaction of

his desires.

They

are

the first instruments that intervene between the consumer and his

immediate

things"

consumption of

(p. 51).

14

Interpretation

8. Socrates consistently testifies to his own expertise in erotics. In the Symposium he describes as someone who "knows (epistasthai) nothing other than (177d-e); in the Phae drus he claims to possess the "erotic (he erotike techne; 257a); and in the Theages he is least erotics. Yet modest of all: "I happen to know (epistasthai) nothing except a certain small subject

himself

erotics"

art"

in this
who come

subject

rank myself as and

awesomely

accomplished
live"

(deinos) beyond
Socrates is

anyone else

among those
to

have been

among those who now because that would include Plato.

(128b)."

not made to mention those

Socrates Books 8

on

the Decline and Fall

of

Regimes:

and

of

the Republic

Patrick Coby
Smith College

At the

end of

Book 9

an amalgam of unrelated

many-headed
and appetite

beast,
the

or

Republic, Socrates describes the human soul as one third human, one third lion, and one third hydra. Reason is the human part, spiritedness the lion,
of

the

parts,

hydra. Covering the soul is a body which in appearance is entirely human. This uniform exterior, however, misleads as to the reality within, for within there is absent any unity of form; and, barring education,
there is absent
as well and of

any unity

of purpose.

Human beings
and

are a composite of natural

body

and

soul,

reason, passion, and desire. When left to their

and uncultivated
Socrates'

condition, human beings are divided

and more will what

factious. Now it is
that man and city
reflected

contention are analogous

be

said of

this below

entities, that

is

present

in the individual is
so natures and civil

in the

group.
classes.

If

man

is

a combination of

parts,

too is the city a combination of

And if
too

man's parts are unrelated

in their

discordant in their
rather

union,

so

are

the classes of the city.

Accordingly,

strife,

than a

temporary disequilibrium, is

the common and expected state of political

affairs.

Why

is there faction in

politics?

Because there is

diversity

within

human be

ings. More importantly, there is

diversity

predominantly appetitive, others are may be possible to so order these types that the
the
whole

among human beings, for some are spirited, and a few are rational. While it
whole can

function

as a

unit,

in

question

is
a

nevertheless a monstrous

fabrication,

the social equiva

a

lent

of a

hydra tied to

lion tied to

human,

all wrapped

up in

form that is

human. Socrates
argues and

that psychic parts and human beings do that right ordering exists

lend themselves to
auxiliaries

right ordering
assistance of

when reason rules appetite with with warrior

the
rule

spirit,

or when philosopher-kings

over a

city

of workers.

Faction is

problem, but seemingly

effect

not one which soul

defies
at war.

resolution.

The

question must

is how to

the

remedy.

Since the
is just: it

is
to

naturally diverse, unity

be created,
whereas

and created out of elements apt reason

when

to be

Only

reason can create

other parts their

due (586e),
and

this unity because only the other parts,

gives

take for themselves and oppress

(587a, 590a-b). The

faction

soul

exercising power, cannot be ruled well

scheme

by
the

lion

or a

hydra,

the city cannot avoid

by

any

to set free

emotions and appetites.

The liberation

of emotion and appetite

is thought

by

interpretation, Fall

1993, Vol. 21, No. 1

16

Interpretation
be
a realistic expedient and not at all

modern authors to

incompatible
counteracts

with civil

ambition"

peace; for
and an

with

the proper institutions in place, "ambition

hand"

"invisible

distributes

society's resources

to self-serving
represent

competi

tors. But in
of

Socrates'

estimation and

these structured

freedoms
result

the

feeding

the

lion

the

many-headed

beast,

with

the

that the lion and the

beast "bite beast

suffer and

and

fight

and

devour

other"

each

(589a3-4).'

For

when

the lion is
of

overfed, the soul becomes the

stubborn and

ill-tempered to the detriment

and and cowardly.

the

human;
as

and when

the

beast is overfed, the lion

the human

injury

the soul becomes soft,

not on

licentious,
all

Civil

peace

depends, therefore,
moral and

the

institutions
says of

of politics and

discipline imposed
factious"

by

reason.

"When

the

soul

economics, but on the follows the philosophic

is

not

(586e4-5),

Socrates,
answer

each part receives suppressed

its

own plea

sures and

only the savage heads

the beast are

(589b).

What exactly is faction? not define it as political division

of

Socrates'

is

somewhat

unusual, for he does

caused

by disagreement
much

about who should rule

(immoderation; 43 le). Aristotle defines faction in

this way, as a problem

distributive justice (Politics 5.1.2-5). But to Socrates faction is tantamount

to privacy; it also is the consequence of privacy (464c-d). Faction

est evil

is the

great

that

can afflict a

city, he contends,
greatest good

pain,"

of pleasure and

is the

its counterpart, a "community (462a-e, 464bl). A community of

and
own"

pleasure and pain exists when citizens same

things,

or when

privacy is

all

about the say "my own and not my but eradicated. Socrates is something of a

"republican"

here,

or what

present-day scholarship
the solution to
a

calls a

"civic

humanist,"2

for he

expands

the public and constricts the private, proposing a homogeneous

community is more of

of patriotic citizens as
"liberal,"

faction. Aristotle,
a

by contrast,
of offices

his

solution

which citizens retain a class

being identity and where

compromise,

polity regime, in sharing

law

and a

protect against

the abuse of power (on the sharing of power

see

by

the classes of

rich
It

and

poor,

Politics 6.3).

should of

be noted,

however,

that what

Socrates recommends,

an extreme 466a8-

melding b2). The

interest,

applies

mainly to the ruling class

(464a9, 464b6,
and

rulers must surrender public on

their private lives and transform themselves

into

perfectly The ruled,

the ruled

beings; they must all be as the other hand, are not asked
an

one, like-minded to agree,

in

agreement.

and no measures are

taken

to insure their loyalty. Even in

moderation.

aristocracy little
actively

attention

is

paid to

teaching
arises

The

supposition

throughout is that the

oppose

ruled will support

the

established

order,

or at

least

not

it,

and that

faction

when private pleasures

divide the

rulers and

interfere

with

the performance of

their

duties (465b, 545d).

As Socrates remarks, the kind of faction that can topple regimes occurs among the rulers: "Or is it simply the case that change in every regime comes when faction arises in it from that part of it which holds the ruling offices
while when
few?"

it is

of one

mind, it cannot be moved,

be it

composed of ever so

(545c9-d3). Since stability is

a consequence of

unanimity

at

the

top

Socrates
rather

on the

Decline

and

Fall of Regimes

17

than of

inclusivity
durable

and

breadth

of

support, it

should

follow that the fewer

the people who need to agree, the more unified and secure the regime. Accord

ingly,
and

the

most

regime

is monarchy,

whether a

kingship

or a

tyranny;

the least durable is democracy.

conclusion

But this
original
tes'

is incorrect, for it

presupposes that the

individual, in his
in life. Socra

state, is

a unified whole with a single

interest

or purpose

analogy of the tripartite soul says otherwise. So too does the conversation in Book 1 of the Laws about the ubiquity of war and the political primacy of
war preparations.

Two

of

Stranger,
hoods

agree

that not

dialogue's discussants, Cleinias and the Athenian only are cities perpetual enemies but also neighbor
that
within

within

cities, individuals

neighborhoods,
carried

and persons

in

relation

to themselves

(625e-626d). When discord is

very identity, it is impossible to determine victors and all against all. Cities cannot recognize victory, much less
citizens are

far, into a person's vanquished in the war of

this
achieve

it, if

their

if the
and

self

divided in their ends, and the soul cannot pursue its selfish interests is a chaos of discordant parts. The soul or the city must be mastered
whole

made

before the
a

combatant regime

whether power

monarchy is

than on the
and

nizes,

if the

lasting harmony of the king is educated

for
success.

is ready for a depends less on

world at

war.

Thus

the concentration of
what

monarch's soul. while

Education is

harmo
and

the tyrant is not, then

kingship

tyranny,

rather

than equally durable monarchies, are political

opposites with

opposite prospects

Education is

mentioned

frequently in
as

Book 8 but

never with precision

(un

like in Book 7
times practice

where

it is described

the

turning

around of

the

soul).

Some
to
of

times it is called argument, sometimes speech,

sometimes

music, and some

seems

(546d, 548b, 549a, 552e, 554b, 559b, 559d, 560b). It

and

include both instruction

habituation. Its
soul

purpose

is

not truth and the

idea

the Good but psychic constancy. The

ordering
remains

will obtain with some one part

in

has many parts; willy-nilly some command. But whether that part
guardian,
and

in

command

depends

on

its

skill as a

guardianship de
the soul and the

pends on education.

Unless there is education, the

order of

the city will not endure. Education is the means to peace and stability. We have been considering such questions as why faction exists, what faction is, whether it is curable, and how it is cured. Before a final answer is given to these latter two questions, some observations are in order about the general
order of character of science

Socratic

regime analysis.

is the

proposition

The starting point of that the individual is prior to the

Socrates'

political regime or

that the
as

city is an image Socrates begins the

Book 8
means

writ large of the soul. This principle work of relates

is first

stated

in Book 2

as

Socrates

the

founding (368d-369a), and it history of political decay

is

repeated

here in

(544d-e). What it

is that the democratic soul, for instance, comes before and is the cause of the democratic city. From this relationship Socrates concludes that the re gime is a function of the likes and dislikes of the ruling class. By whatever
means

the

souls of

the rulers come to be

arranged

(whether

by

the

education of

18
a

Interpretation
or

founder

by

the

interplay

of chance

events), that ordering

of parts shows

itself in the regime, or in the laws, customs, and institutions of the city. And the regime in turn shapes the souls of the ruled; it "tip[s] the scale, as it were,

draw[ing]
exactly is

the rest along with

not

[it]"

(544el-2). But how this

the
regime

"tipping"

occurs or the rulers

explained, for
ruled.3

we never see

in action,

relating to the Socrates classifies

one,

regimes not

by

the

number of

their rulers

(as

with

the

few,

which

Aristotle's typology; Politics 1.7.2) but by the good to many the rulers aspire. What they love and honor most determines who they
and of

are and

as

how they behave.4 Applying this method, Socrates defines aristocracy the regime in which the rulers love virtue or wisdom; timocracy is the re
the love
of

gime where wealth

are

honor

or reputation

prevails; in oligarchy the love

of

is primary; in democracy it is freedom, and in tyranny love itself. There five regimes in all examined, although aristocracy, the subject of the middle
seen element

books, is
One
and

only in transition. missing from the

the

analysis

despite We

remarks made above

is

consideration of

durability

of regimes.

are not

told how

long they last,

Instead,

they

are not evaluated

in terms

of

their relative staying power.

regimes are ranked on a

thing loved to
explain

make people

descending happy (580b, 583a,

scale

corresponding to the
587c-e).5

capacity of the Socrates does not

why the
next

oligarchic man

timocrat is
oligarch wise

to the aristocrat. The

knows something of the democrat rejects oligarchic happiness

pleasures of

man or why the be for the expected, contrary the happiness of the timocrat and rejects it; like might well

is happier than the democratic

knowing

sary
point

is

clear: the

money-making important rankings

and so on
are

something of the neces down the scale (582a-c). One

those of aristocracy and

tyranny

at the

extremes; the

king or aristocrat is happier than the tyrant, Socrates affirms; indeed the former is 729 times happier than the latter (587e). The middle three by
their proximity to the
worst

regimes seem ranked

regime,

and what makes

them proximate or remote is the

class:6

degree

of self-restraint oligarchs

democrats

are restrained

by law,

by

operating in the ruling law and necessity, and is true, democratic

timocrats

by law,
not on

necessity,

and

honor. If this
whereas rather

observation

freedom is
is heroic

less

conducive to

happiness than

oligarchic wealth

(democracy

the Hesiodic scale,

p.

1959,
least

p.

36; 1964,
or

130]). 7 It is

oligarchy is bronze [546e; Strauss, the case that democracy, because of its

freedom

lack

conducive

restraint, is closer to tyranny and that tyranny is the regime to happiness. Democracy is the precipice and tyranny the abyss.
of

Defective

regimes are all

troubled

ruling
essary

class.

Timocrats
to

are

defined

by the presence of mixed principles in the by their love of honor, but they harbor a

secret attachment
pleasures

tempted

by

Oligarchs love money-making but also the unnec money can buy. And freedom-loving democrats are the lawlessness of tyrannical lust. In every case the rulers expel an
wealth. which

alien element

been

replicated within.

from their company only to find that the division without has Mixed principles coexisting in the souls of the rulers are

Socrates
the

on

the

Decline

and

Fall of Regimes

19

bane of politics

and the cause

of a

regime's

decline. That
his

mixed principles of

are a political outcome which

good, stabilizing the city through a balance

power, is

an

Socrates does

not

foresee,

although

comments would seem

to invite

a consideration.

political faction is an evil, the question of its prevention is under foremost. To this end it is worth noting that in standably story of decline and fall mixed principles seem not to be the consequence of necessity.
Socrates'

Given that

It is

not as or

if timocrats

need oligarchic wealth

in

order to

buy
to

off

the working
offices of

class,

that oligarchs need

democratic

numbers

in

order

fill the

to broaden support for their money-making regime. Nor do demo crats, in fact, need the leadership of a tyrant in order to defend against oli
state and
garchs

bent

on reprisals

(oligarchs
of

are

described

quite

differently). (It is true

of

that philosophers need warriors,

but this

particular

mixing

types is not what

brings
tion

about the

destruction
their

aristocracy.) If
unavoidable.

coalition governments were a

political

imperative,

diversity

of purpose might cause

it to

seem that

fac

is

constant and

degeneration

But

what we observe

instead is

that

mixed principles are

freely

adopted

by the people
oligarchs.

for

instance,

change

themselves into
occurs

This choice,
suggests
rulers'

in charge, that timocrats, which follows

that the preserva

from the
quires

claim

that faction

among the rulers,

tion of single principles and pure types is within the

disposing

and re

ameliorative
pression

The fact that only that the rulers take seriously the work of legislation is hinted at and sometimes proposed furthers the im
education.8

that political science the best regime.

is

equal

to the task of supplying

political

peace,

even outside

But

an optimistic made

reading

of

Books 8

and

9 is

finally impossible,
as

is

not

attainable

by having
which

education named

its

cause.

for stability Education in the best

and

means either

the knowledge

informs

reason when reason rules and

regime,

or

the habits

which restrain emotion regimes.

desire

when emotion

desire
the

rule

in defective

Human

knowledge, however, is insufficient

a

to

understand causes and support of

to control effects, and habits

are unsustainable without an educated reason

knowledge-directed legislation. To

degree,
is

is

causative when

it

rules

the city or the soul, but there are causes outside itself
mysterious.

which are

fundamentally

The

situation

much worse when reason

with

is merely advisory,
olis"

with spirit or appetite causes

(560b7-8)

thus vacant, the

holding sway, for impacting the city or

regime and souls are

the

"acrop
in

the soul grow

number and complexity.

If

even

the best

the rational soul are prone

to

change,9

defective

regimes and

irrational

hopelessly

unstable.

I. TIMOCRACY

declines from aristocracy because the philosopher-kings, at some point in their tenure, make a mistake in the timing of births. Several genera tions later the ruling class is revealed to be a composite of all four metallic

Timocracy

20

Interpretation
which one of

types. A compromise is effected in

and

these types

is

excluded

(gold),
two

in

which

one

of

the

remaining
timocrat

three

(silver)

dominates the
soul

other

(bronze

and

iron). A
of will not

single and

emerges as

ruler, but his

is divided

between love Socrates

tacked"

honor

love

of money. own

tell the tale of the fall of aristocracy in his

and

voice,

but

invokes the authority

is
explained

tragic

irony

of

the Muses. How "faction first at

as must

by

an act of poetic

imagination,

indeed be the

case

since

Socrates ties

political

decline to
of

revolutions of

the cosmos and to the

life

cycles of organic can speak.

beings

these obscure subjects only

poets and prophets

To say that all created things (even those created by man) will of necessity decompose is to resign oneself to the city's fate and to discourage accusations that its founding was imperfect. The founding was perfect in the
sense that philosophers were
phers passes

installed like

as rulers.

But the intelligence

of philoso

is

a part of

nature,

and

nature
and

its

capacities

rise

and

fall. Reason

through cycles
misidentifies

of vitalization

exhaustion.

When

worn

down

by
a of are

time, it

the period for conceiving

divine offspring,

a period com

prehended

by

perfect numbers and ascertained mathematically.

which can correct

Socrates is We

tease: there

is knowledge to be had
we cannot

the impermanence

becoming; but

have it

or

have it

with sufficient regularity.

invited to look for solutions, in particular to fix the problem of faction, but we are cautioned that no fix will forever hold. Even in the best regime where
philosophers are

harmony
ruling
the
upon

gives

in power, reason is defeated way to discord.

by a mysterious

nature,

and social

Decline is
class.

not

immediate, however. Four

generation a mistake of

generations are needed

to ruin the

In the first

is

made

result

that the
of

best

the offspring

are unworthy.

in timing the matings with The second generation,

its
children are

coming
still. of

age, fails to defend the education,

and so

less iron

worthy
the

Being

unmusical, this, the third generation, is

gold"

unable

to perform
of

testing

the races. Thus the fourth generation is a "chaotic mixing

with silver and

bronze

with

(547a2).'

the ruling class produces "unlikeness and turn produce "war and
ways
hatred."

The mixing of metallic types inside which in inharmonious

irregularity"

Socrates'

conclusion
ancestry'

is that "faction

must al

be

said to

be 'of this "of this

wherever
ancestry"

it happens to

arise"

(547a4-5).

is borrowed from Homer's Iliad (6.211); Glaucus speaks it after reciting the generations of his forefathers. Because of this recitation, Diomedes, the Achaean enemy to whom the speech is ad dressed, recognizes Glaucus as his family's guest-friend and proposes that the
The
expression

two of them exchange armor

agree
and

his bronze for Glaucus's

or

gold

and

that

they

to avoid each other in combat,

rather

that

they declare

a private peace.

Peace

friendship

than

enmity

and war are the results of an encounter used

puzzle

by

Socrates to

illustrate,

paradoxically, that mixing breeds faction. This

the fact that the mixing in question (all four metallic types in the ruling class) does not lead to faction and civil war but to compro-

is further

complicated

by

Socrates
mise and civil peace:

on the

Decline

and

Fall of Regimes

21

"Struggling
who

and

to an agreement on a middle way:

straining against one another, they came they distributed land and houses to be held

privately,
supporters
pied

while

those

they
is

then enslaved and

previously were guarded by them as free friends and held as serfs and domestics; and they occu
men"

themselves

with war and with

compromise private

"middle

way"

guarding because the

against

these

(547b-c). The

money-makers are rewarded with

property while the guardians are rewarded with mastery and combat. But what has become of war and hatred, said to be the consequences of faction
in the ruling class? One prominent feature
of the

the poet that

action

Glaucus's

exchange of gold armor

well worth

Glaucus-Diomedes story is the judgment by for bronze was a witless trans

noting that in the Republic the
alliance with
silver-

(6.234-36). Now it is for

souled warriors of

the timocratic regime trade away their

an alliance with bronze-

golden-

souled philosophers

(and
calls

iron-)

souled

laborers. Is
way"

this too a

bad exchange,
the
of

even though

Socrates

the deal a "middle

and specifies

social peace

that

guardianship
cess of

philosophers, this "middle

issues from it? Yes it is, for without the comes to favor the lesser of
way"

the contracting parties (timocrats

decline

characterized

by

become oligarchs) and ever increasing levels

sets

in

motion a pro

of violence:

Aristoc

racy's transformation

war; but then the

gime.

enslavement of

into timocracy is wrought free citizens is

by
an

compromise rather than

by

Oligarchy comes about democracy through civil war (556e-557a),

and

ugly feature of this new re through intimidation or force of arms (551b3-5),

calls

betrayal

which

Socrates twice is timocracy

tyranny through parricide (569b, 575d).

and

a usurpation

The

mixture that

consists of elements

drawn from

aristocratic
old

and oligarchic regimes and of elements peculiar

to itself. Vestiges of the

aristocracy
oligarchy behind the
are

are

the

honoring

of rulers and their separation

from the

money-

making classes,

plus common meals and gymnastic

training. Harbingers of the

ahead are
walls of

the love and accumulation of

timocrats'

wealth concealed

from

view

the
of sexual

private

homes.

Missing

from this

new regime

the "three

waves"

equality, familial communism,

about are
.

and philoso of

pher-kingship.

What is distinctive
grounds

timocracy is
.

the exclusion from rule

the wise few on

that

they

"no longer
.

simple and earnest

but

mixed"

(ouketi
that

haplous te kai

ateneis

alia

meiktous; 547e2-3). Is it to be

understood which

that the

philosophers

have

suffered a

fall from

perfection similar

to

has

afflicted

the city? Are

they

corrupt

And

king
since

it that they were "simple is the product of a dual education of

when was

earnest?"

and

because they are "mixed"? Since the philosopher-

music-gymnastics and

dialectics,

and

his

responsibilities are

twofold,

that of philosophizing and of ruling,

he is

from the
mark of

outset a mixed personality.

Mixing

ought not

then to be regarded as a

his

corruption and a

disqualification from
that are "no
who were
longer"

the simple
are

and earnest rulers

But if so, who were (ouketi)! Presumably, these

office. as provisional guardians be-

the elder warriors

(412c2)

installed

22

Interpretation
advent of philosopher-kings. and one

fore the

The

warrior-guardians are said

to be wise

(428b-429a),
cause

feature

of their education

is

that

they

avoid mixed

imita

tion (of bad and

good characters

alike)

and

the company
nor manifold

of mixed

men, be

"there's
one

no

does
then

thing"

double man among [them], (397el-2). The exclusion

out of

one,

since each man

of mixed philosophers represents

not a

weeding

deceitful

sophisticates,"

but

a rebellion
other

by

auxiliaries which

against

philosopher-kings,

as well as a rejection of spirited warriors.

the

institutions

so radicalized

the regime of

Having
of

described the timocratic

Socrates'

regime as a mixture of principles

in

which

the love of victories and honors is predominant, Socrates turns to the character
the timocratic
man.

purpose

is to

point out the correspondence

between city and man (548d). And indeed the correspondence is fairly exact: there is some remembrance of the aristocracy-lost in the timocrat's love of
music and

rhetoric, but

without skill

in either;

some anticipation of

the oligar

in the timocrat's growing love of money; and much of timocracy at the core in the timocrat's devotion to war, gymnastics, and the hunt. It might be recalled, however, that Socrates said more than that the citizen corresponds
chy-to-come

to the
and

city.

He

said

that the citizen, or the ruling class of citizens, the city to

of

by their loves

their

hates,

cause

reflection of
we see

the dispositions

it is, that the city's regime is a its governors. But nowhere in Books 8 or 9 do

be

what

of

Socrates establishing this causal connection. Indeed, the whole question cause and effect is left in the dark. For not only does the citizen not plainly
the city,

produce

is

meant

by

but the city in no instance plainly this claim is that Socrates chooses to
from
an aristocratic

produces

the citizen. What

examine

how

a timocratic

youth emerges

household

rather

than examine how a house

hold in tune
pattern

with

the regime produces a citizen just like the regime (and the

repeated with every regime). Nor will it do to answer that Socrates is for the very first timocrat, who necessarily comes from a household looking that is not timocratic; for the household in question exists in a city that is already a timocracy (this too is true of all other households, except the one

is

producing
with

tyrant; that is, the timocratic household

who

exists

the oligarchic household exists in a democracy).

Why
not

then

in an oligarchy and does Socrates begin

regime"

"the young son of a good father (549c2-3)? Bloom has noted that if

does

live

under a good

Socrates'

beginning
city;

of an aristocratic man

not of an aristocratic

also

indicates the possibility that families, banished

of
of

from the best regime, play an important, conservative role in the history defective regimes (1991, pp. 415, 420). But it is also true that the choice
households
compromises the

formative
and

power of

the city. How

does the timo

cratic youth come

by

his beliefs

loves? Not

by

law

or

by

public education

such, but by the accidental clash of contradictory influences. His aristocratic father nourishes the calculating part of his soul. But this father, unambitious
as and wife

apolitical, is despised and abused

and
servants

by
and

his timocratic
respect.

neighbors and
opinion

by

his

wanting property

Public

weighs

in

Socrates
against private

on

the Decline and Fall of Regimes

a contest

23

instruction,

and

the result is

the soul

with spiritedness

emerging

victorious.

The

youth

among the three parts of becomes a timocrat,

were son

but

easier and more certain would a

the outcome have been if the father

himself
honor
scure course

timocrat, who, in
The

concert with the city,

simply taught the

to

love
of

above all else.

choice of an aristocratic

father, then,

serves

to ob

the operation the

regime

of causes and

to

impugn the importance

of regimes.

But

is itself
man?

an effect caused

by

the

character of

the

man.

What
that

then produces the

This

question also will yield no clear answer since

reason

Socrates

chooses to

investigate the city before the man, his

"luminous"

being

the city is the more

of

the two (545b4).

II. OLIGARCHY

But
a

can we not

do better in
love

discovering
of

the

origins of oligarchic man?

He is

timocrat

whose secret

wealth, supported

by

a private storehouse of

treasure, looks for commodities to buy. Timocracy is an austere regime, and timocrats abstain from farming, manual arts, and money-making (547d). In

theory they do. In

practice

they break
and

the

law, first by accumulating

others

wealth,

by finally by
then
oligarch

spending it conspicuously

them, forcing rivalry changing attitudes about who and what is worthy (550d-551a). The is an erstwhile timocrat whose love of money displaces his love of
a
with

into

honor. And oligarchy is

and privilege on a

created when a

property any
of

qualification confers power

There is

no

wealthy few. founder of oligarchy,

or of

the other defective regimes.

center of

They

come about
moves

because, in

the absence of education, the soul's

from reason, to spiritedness, to appetite. They come about be gravity cause nature, of a kind the body's nature assumes command when unim peded by wise legislation. Aristocracy is safeguarded by the music and gym
nastic

education,

which

efficient cause of aristocracy's prohibitions against

is its law, and the neglect of this education is the decline (546d). Timocracy declines when its
are

alienation of one's property (552a, 555c, fail to pass a 556a) and a law withdrawing protection from commercial contracts (556a-b). Finally, democrats lose their regime because they lack the foresight to control

garchs

money-making law against the

ignored (547d, 548a, 550d-e). Oli

by

law the
soul

criminal

whose

is

writ

fatherly tutoring

or

In every case the man, large in the regime, is not self-made or the product of of some founder's design, but is a result of legislative/
and

beggar drones

(564b-c).12

educational errors which set cause of either man or

free the lower

to

powers of mistakes

his

soul.

Hence the first

city is traceable to
numerous

too various to

identify,

committed

by

people

too

name.

Causality
armed

follows

then that there

prevent

is

no political science,

is truly obscure. It with the knowledge of

causes, able to

the occurrence

faction."

of

When Socrates laid the

24

Interpretation
on the

blame

ruling
since

class

for their

own

disintegration

and

demise, he

made

it

seem that remedial actions could

interests. But

they

are,

much

be taken if only rulers would consult do not know exactly where they came from they less know what their regime is or how it functions, they dangers to it arise, especially
met
within

their true
or who are at a

loss to dangers
attain

protect their regime when

arise

when
us!"

those

from

"We have

the enemy

and

they

are

Unfor

tunately,

Socrates'

citizens never attain

this

particular of

self-knowledge, or

it in time.
man, every

Every
with

family,

and

every city

mixes

its

own

that of its

successor

this is a

Socrates'

constant of

analysis.

defining principle Aristocracy

is

a mixture of wisdom and spiritedness

banished

by

spiritedness,

new

in the ruling class. When wisdom is division emerges between spiritedness and

oligarchy's ruling cir desire. cle, Likewise, when unnecessary necessary desire is excluded, unnecessary desire splits into lawful and lawless pleasure. Under the influence of the higher principle, the lower principle ap
money-loving. appetite when spiritedness

And

is banished from

divides into necessary

and

pears to seems

be

some one

thing:

when

serving

as reason's

auxiliary,

spiritedness spirited
and

ness shows

to be wholly separate from appetite; but when reason is gone, itself to be just another form of desire, half honor-loving

half

money-loving. what causes

The downward

pull of the

selves:

along with For honor is dependent on the

sentiment

the divisions

body, ending in the tyrant's lust, is the defectiveness of the principles them
opinions of

others; it is a noble but

voluntary

displaced

by

the

compulsions of self-interest.

Wealth is
the virtues

more substantial which produce

than
are

honor;

but

wealth

is

not

for its

own

sake,

and

it

lost in the indulgent life

which enjoys

it. The indulgent

life is the free life, and the free life is pleasing; but if freedom is nice, license is better. Accordingly, the timocrat exchanges honor for the independence of the
oligarch,
who

is drawn to the
oligarch

enjoyments of the

democrat,
man and

who sinks

into the

excesses of the tyrant.

How is the

defined? He is

greedy

parsimonious, but

hardworking
allows mination

and capable of self-denial.

Wanting

to succeed in

himself little time for

to the

education or amusement.

his labors, he Socrates traces his deter

the

disgrace

of

his timocratic father

and

loss

of

his family's
and

fortune. Once

again

the youth

is

raised

in

"retrograde"

environment,

his

a product of conscious design, is a chance blending of dissonant forces. But on this occasion no conversation is recorded between father and son. It seems that the elder timocrat has nothing to say, either be

character, rather than

cause

dedicated to
all

he is unmusical, or because he cannot manage to vindicate honor in a city All other fathers fight for the souls of their sons; but then
profit.14

fathers

save

the timocrat have

an

identity

apart

the change of regimes. In any event, the youth swears

acquisition and makes calculation and spiritedness

from the city and can survive himself to a life of

the servants of enterprise.

Despite

such singleness of

purpose, the

oligarch

is

not whole

inside

(554d-

Socrates
e).

on the

Decline

and

Fall of Regimes
It is
not

25
true

His

continence
and

is the

work of soul

fear,

rather than education.

virtue,

its

control of

the

is

uncertain.

Thus the

oligarch

is tempted

by
the

unnecessary The

pleasures and

is

unjust when out of

the sight of

law.

Pity

orphan entrusted to
oligarchic

his

care

(554c).

city, says

Socrates,

corresponds to the oligarchic man.

Like
the

the man, the regime is defined

Money-loving
honor
also
of

is institutionalized

by by a

its dominant passion,

which

is

avarice.

property

qualification which reserves

citizenship for those most successful defined by three deficiencies relating to

of

at

amassing

wealth.

Oligarchy

is

class-functions an oligarchic

faculties
gifted

the soul.

Ruling

is done

badly

in

in society and to regime because the

requirement

that citizens

be rich

excludes

from

office some of the city's most

is ineffective because the city is weakened by factions of rich and poor and because miserly oligarchs are unwilling to put up the funds for an adequate defense. And the economy is poorly managed be

individuals.

War-making

cause as

the principle of job specialization, or one man, one art, is not

oligarchs are meddlers

respected:

money-makers,

in

political

affairs;
explain

as

politicians,

oli

garchs are meddlers

in financial

affairs

(which may

why

oligarchs en
evils"

courage

profligacy
regimes

even

to the point of engendering "the greatest of all

[552a4],
defective
would

the classes of stinger and stingless drones).

Oligarchy
not

is the first

of

the

in

which appetite rules.

Hence it is

surprising that there But like the man, as it twists them to

be

shortcomings

respecting

reason and spiritedness.

as much

the regime does not

abandon

these higher faculties

p.

its

own purposes

(Nettleship, 1937,
because
class

297). former timocrats, the

principle

One final
come made

point:

oligarchs are

holds
not

that faction in the ruling to

power

is the

cause of regime transformation.

Oligarchs have

by

the conversion from

excluding from the ruling elite those timocrats love of honor to love of money.

who

III. DEMOCRACY

Can the

same

be

said of

democracy,

that it comes about because of division

among the rulers of the preceding, oligarchic regime? What Socrates contends is that the lean and tanned poor make war on the soft and fat rich (556c-d).

from internal dissent, but from outside as sault by the democratic drones who disagree that wealth entitles a person to rule, who think instead that physical prowess, or the right of the stronger (when the stronger is the multitude), is the origin of political legitimacy.

Apparently, oligarchy topples,

not

Civil
seem to
who

war

is the
of

cause of

democracy's

be

different

social classes.

the warring parties do But Socrates indicates that the drones

institution,

and

live in

oligarchic cities are who are not

themselves the scions of oligarchic families

"human beings
of

ignoble"

(555d4).
order

They

are

the more self-indulgent

the

rich

who sell

their

property in

to

purchase their pleasures

(552b).

26

Interpretation
are

They

declasse oligarchs,
class.

and

in this

respect their rebellion

is faction

within

the ruling

Nor
ened

are

they

alone,

or alone

for long. For the

relieves

oligarchic work ethic

is threat
that

by

its

own success.

Wealth

the

pressure of

necessity

and with

the

fear

which

impels the

oligarch to work.

Socrates

observes

that the children

of wealth and privilege are

luxurious,

soft, and idle (556b-c). The suggestion

is that

what

distinguishes

oligarchs

from democrats
two.
and

necessary

versus unneces

sary pleasures passes in a generation or Thus not only are rebels former rulers
the ruling class
oligarch
.

the

civil war a struggle within

but the two

classes are more alike

than

they

are

different. The

is a "squalid says Socrates, "getting a profit out of everything (554al0-ll). Who is it, exactly the kind of [man] the multitude that the the have-nots admire? the haves. True then, enough, that as lean and
praises"

man,"

tanned
even

rebels against oligarchic

rule, the

poor withdraw

their

"consent"

and

respect ence

look to be timocrats spoiling for a fight; but once they are in power, their for money-making again asserts itself. Moreover, the primary differ
between
oligarchs and

democrats,
firm
as

that the
at

latter love
quires

freedom, is
and

not as

it may

former love money and the first appear. For freedom re democrats
need oli

money,

money is for the

of

sake of
as

freedom

garchs,

and oligarchs complete

themselves

"money-making"

desires

the

oligarch of

democrats. The necessary and provide the foundation for the unneces

"spendthrifty"

sary

and are

desires

the democrat (559c). And insofar as unneces

sary desires dence and

judged "harmful to the

(559b 10-11;
and

body

and

the

soul with respect oligarch

to

pru

moderation"

emphasis of

added), the

himself

succumbs to their
with moderation

charms, for his love

wealth, says
of

Socrates, is incompatible
oligarchs

(555c7-9),

his destruction

fellow

is

an act of

imprudence (like Marx's bourgeois

who

despoiling
has
much

their own class). The oligarch

is

busy becoming

a monopolist

in

common with

the democrat
un are

life is devoted to hedonistic pursuits, for the pleasures of each are necessary. One is reminded that in the best city oligarchs and democrats
whose

treated

as a

appetitive

money-makers, members

of

the one, chrematistic class

distinction is made, it is between kinds of money-making bronze artisans and iron farmers rather than between amounts rich and poor). There is, then, in these middle regimes a blurring of class divisions.15

(when

Democracy

is

created when

the victorious democrats extend

offices are

equal

rights to

those who remain and when the

distributed mostly by lot ruling (557a). Lot distribution defines democracy as property qualifications define oli garchy. Democracy rests upon the principle of equality, but Socrates says that its animating passion is freedom. In fact, freedom and equality are presented
as

complements,

and

they

combine to produce an

individualism verging

on

autonomy.

Notwithstanding
live in
a

the

individual's

extreme

independence, democratic
called a

citizens

distinctive way,

and their

community is

regime, although

Socrates
Socrates is
citizens or
again

on the

Decline

and

Fall of Regimes
a consequence of

27
the

imprecise
and
and

about whether of

the regime

is

the citizens a consequence

the regime

(557a-b).16

they

are

free to say
various,

do

as

they

wish.

On

account of this
all possible as

Specifically, freedom they are

of people and

private and regimes.

their city is

home to

types

Political

responsibilities are

nonexistent,

are political restraints:

Anyone

can rule or not

rule, be

ruled or not

be

ruled as

he

sees

fit;

even a

private war and a separate peace are permitted entitlements.

Criminals
useless

are con

demned but rarely

advancement cation

punished.

Education is

neglected

because

to political

is

(supposing politics to be one's fancy), while substituting for edu professed loyalty to the multitude. All in all, democracy and its prac
fair,
exquisite,
and

tices are thought to be

sweet; it is the

regime most appeal

ing

to females

(557c).17

order

When aristocracy changes to timocracy and timocracy to oligarchy, the new in each case sets its sights on the father of the unregenerate household. It
and ruins him, causing the son to forswear his father's values and to himself in the image of the ascendant regime. This pattern, however, is

humiliates
remake

not repeated with the establishment of

democracy,
from

perhaps

because

democracy

has
the

no central

base

or authoritative core

which

to launch an attack against

family; democracy is
present

amorphous and

tolerant. What happens

of

instead is that
with

bad influences

in society take hold

not

the son and fill his soul

illicit desires. It is the son,

a seduction rather
war

the

father,

who

than an insult and rejection.

is the target, and the targeting is The seduction reenacts the civil

that brought democrats into power. For the son's soul, divided between

necessary and unnecessary desires, is like the oligarchic city divided between rich and poor citizens. Each part of his soul receives advice kindred to itself

from the father

pleasures"

shame and order

(560a), from
is
not

the drones "manifold and subtle

receive assistance

(550d9)

just

as

the factions of the city

from

partisan allies abroad.

The

outcome

predetermined, for both the father

and

the oligarchs
new prevail

can win

temporary

victories.

Eventually

though the armies of that has

the

in the
of

case of

the son

by

storming

a psychic acropolis

been left empty

practices and

its "best

guardians,"

watchmen and

namely "fair

studies and

speeches"

true

(560b8-10). No detail in the

city's civil war corre

sponds to this undefended acropolis, but if there were one, likely it would be the failure of oligarchs to train and finance a warrior class (551d-552a, 555a).

The
and

democrats'

victory is

accomplished

by killing

and

banishment,

the drones

Lotus-eaters'

stituted vices and

allusion

victory by driven out; vices are to the Corcyrean Revolution is

the "transvaluation of

values"

virtues are recon

renamed virtues and unmistakable

brought in. The

(Thucydides, The Pelo

ponnesian

War, 3.82). Finally,

a certain

with each of sweet

these conflicts there is a

without rulers and

happy
many-

ending, for the democrats institute "a

regime,

(558c4-6); equality to equals and unequals while the son, if he has the luck not to be swept away by the fury of desire and if in growing older he readmits his exiled relations, "lives his life in accord
colored,

alike"

dispensing

28

Interpretation
pleasures"

with a certain

establishes

equality of and defines itself

his
pleasures point of

man chooses

gether at this
with

very

city so the new-made democratic lot distribution, by as though by lot (561b4). City and man come to the city despising, but relativistic
as
egalitarianism18

(561b2-3). Just

the democratic

Socrates'

sympathy

and without
man

pettiness,

all of

educational plans

(558b);

desires equally (561c). The honoring democratic city holds within its borders every possible human type (557d), and the democratic man takes up and puts down every significant human activity
the nonjudgmental
all pleasures and

(561c-d).
Is it
possible

that contained
"good"

in democratic

relativism

is

a solution

to the

problem of

faction? Socrates does

not pose this question as

just

portrayed a
whether

democracy
and

at peace with
practices

itself,

and

such, but he has it is worth consid

of enduring.

ering Where there is less

cause

its institutions

diversity

coupled with

hold any as in a equality

promise

supermarket
wants.

there is

for

people

to quarrel,

for

everyone gets what

he

In the demo

cratic

city

all occupations are

present, but

no one occupation

is thought bet
money-making

ter than another.

Philosophy
arrange

is present,
them

as are

soldiering

and

(561d). These
Socrates'

represent

the three main classes of the best regime, and

it

was

business to
no rankings

in their

proper order.

But in

democracy

there are
concern

to create, no

hierarchy

to

defend,

no pursuit of virtue or

for education, no determination to train and empower good leaders (558b, 561b-c). Could it be that such looseness is the formula for civil peace? It should first be noted that democracy is something of a mixed regime in

that oligarchic exiles are reintegrated into the political

cratic

life

of

the

city.

Demo

inclusiveness
class

means

that all citizens are members of the ruling

apoliticism means point

class.

On

is effectively without for worry, since with so many ruling rulers agreement is difficult to attain; but the latter point is cause for hope, since there is little that democratic citizens need to agree about: the one thing
the other
a

hand, democratic

that the city

(558c4). The former

is

cause

people
mon.

is the conviction that nothing is worth having in com is Democracy practically a nonregime regime. It is a nonregime because democrats love freedom but count among their
common citizens oligarchs who

have in

fellow

love

wealth.

On the

other

hand,

neither

freedom

nor wealth

is necessarily

a principle of rule.

Democrats

and oligarchs are not

like timocrats, who to satisfy their love of honor must be given power and recognition. Democrats and oligarchs are private people, or at the least they are
capable of

leading

private

lives. Moreover

and as mentioned above

free
are not relative

dom

complementary is the means; money is not self-justifying, free. Socrates even suggests that rich and
harmony. For the rich do
are

and wealth are

principles:

freedom is the end,

and wealth

and

poor can

unnecessary pleasures live together in

as

orderly
affairs

(564e6)

and

the multitude (565b9 11), and the poor are just

work and

seemingly insofar

well-disposed toward

they

stick to their

not meddle

in

(565al-2).

Socrates
IV. TYRANNY

on the

Decline

and

Fall of Regimes

29

But if democratic relativism can result in diversity and tolerance (everything is available, everything is sampled, nothing is important), it also can result in suspicion of inequalities and impatience with restraints (the rich are thieves,
and

the law

itself is

tyrant). Socrates blames the fall

made absolute.

of

democracy
says

on

the

principle of

democracy
engender

Anything

carried to

excess,

Socra

tes, tends to

its

opposite

(563e). Now

the only regimes faulted for carrying their

democracy and oligarchy are defining principles to excess (562b,

all regimes, in a sense, produce their opposite and despise what they leave behind: The wisdom-loving aristocrat produces the brutal and boorish timocrat; the violent timocrat produces the cowardly and parsimonious oligarch; the miserly oligarch the spendthrift and hedonistic democrat; and the freedomloving democrat the slavish and enslaving tyrant. By comparison with these other

555b), but

regimes,
of

democracy

seems an exemplar of

tolerance

and

moderation, for

instead
else. no

expelling its
welcomes

predecessor and

racing

headlong

toward its successor,

democracy

the return of oligarchs on an equal basis with everyone

How then does

our

happy hedonist,

the consummate

amateur who makes of

judgments,

become the furious

partisan of

freedom? Part

the answer is

pride.

befitting

Freedom is elevating adult-like and democracy is the only regime free men (562b-c). Pericles in his Funeral Oration expresses the pride
character of

Athenians feel in the democratic But if it is freedom

which makes

their city

(Thucydides, 2.37-41).
citizens superior
status even

the city

great and

its

human
to

beings,
accept

then

more of

this freedom

should enhance

their

further.

Thinking
arises

it impossible to

overdo a good

thing, democrats

are predisposed

uncritically any partially from a mistake in judgment. It arises also, and more importantly, from the
and equality. when

enlargement of

their liberty. Thus democratic excess

appetitive character of once

free
are

dom

As appetites, freedom
the

tried;

overindulged,
when

comes

insatiable

they demos,

turn

equality intensify insatiable. The appetite for free

and as

they
from

living

be
an

if

at a wine

party,

overdrink

"unmixed
ness

draught."

Their

to be governed

by

for authority erodes along with their willing law. The authorities, in turn, fearing the loss of their
respect

positions and

wanting
teachers

not to

thereafter the

anarchic

offend, back away from enforcing the rules. Soon spirit spreads from the political to the social and the
on students and parents ape

familial,
children.

and

fawn

the

manners of

their

In this lawless climate, nothing is so tyrannical as the presumption to know better than others and to deserve one's place in society's hierarchy. Hier archy is tyranny; equality is freedom. The culminating
emancipation of slaves and gesture

is the

effective
ani

the equal treatment of

women.

Even domestic

mals are said to benefit from the absence of authority.

This last (or it

would

point about

horses

and asses a

taking right

of

way is

of course a

joke
per-

have

seemed to

be

joke before the

advent of

"speciesism";

30

Interpretation
prescient

haps it is

instead). But the

should

point about slaves and women

whose

is

of a

different

order.

Why

there be human beings

lives

are purchased

by

others?

And why

should women

be inferior to
this

men?

These

are serious ques

speaks

tions

which are called

to

mind

by

the very way in

which

Socrates

that

he highlights the is
a

conventional nature of own

slavery,"

and that sexual

equality

feature

of

his

best

regime

(563b). Is Socrates, then,

being

critical of

democracy

when

he

attributes

to it the abolition of slavery and the equality of

the sexes? He is explaining how the passion for freedom is a slippery slope leading to tyranny. But it is arguable that part of the attraction is an advance in

justice

which

democracy

brings

about.

Democratic partisans, it
want also

seems

fair to

say, are not out simply for

a good

time; they

to make the world

better. Their desire for equality, scent of progressiveness about it.

while given

to ludicrous extremes,

has the

Still, it
Socrates'

must

be

admitted

that there is little

political consciousness

democrats.

They

are

tender souls who so

of

animating love their independence that live

without

they
or

resent public

interference in the

any kind

and would rather

laws

than be lawgivers themselves (563d). Apoliticism is their characteristic

"individualism"

fault
vol.

words of

Tocqueville

(Democracy

in

America,

2,

bk. 2, ch. 2). Preferring private pleasures to public power, they leave vacant the highest offices of state, as do their money-making compatriots. Democracy
might survive

its

apoliticism

if there

were no warriors

ready to

seize control.

But
who

democracy

breeds

a warrior-like class of

drones, both
and

criminal and

beggar,

become its leaders in the

a who

absence of citizen

involvement. The

main politi

cal
are of

force operating in the "bad

democracy

is the demagogue
could

his henchmen.
"unmixed

They by

winebearers"

intoxicate the demos

draught"

with an

freedom. Socrates implies that the drones

beekeeper"

have been
requires a

suppressed

prudent
or

legislation (564b-c), but prudent legislation "wise to see far off dangers and to

"good

doctor"

guard against emotional

weaknesses.

Democracy

lacks this

person and

these precautions and

is thus
be

prey to a usurpation from below. The demagogic drones have but

tween democrats
classes and oligarchs.

one

objective, to foment
above, Socrates

a class war

As
a

stated

can of

imagine these
drones'

But add drones to the mix, and the solution is combustible. The first step in the conspiracy is to make the public business more agreeable by paying the people

living

peaceably together in

kind

of advanced

"city

pigs."20

for their
is

means also, if secondarily, public power, and it that the drones play to the people's democratic pride, suggesting to them that anything less than full democracy is an assault upon their dignity. Reminded thus of the special legitimacy of popular rule, the peo participation.
a plausible surmise

Freedom

ple

look
are

with a suspicious squint upon mixed elements and social

inequalities.

They
cess;

drinking
order

now

and one mark

that strong fermentation which excites freedom to ex of this excess is the demand that oligarchs surrender their

property in

to finance the people's attendance at assembly.

Predictably,

Socrates
the
oligarchs

on the

Decline

and

Fall of Regimes
as

31

object,

and

their resistance

is interpreted

hostility

toward the
process of

people and as evidence of a plot to overthrow

the democracy. In the

defending
garchs

themselves

against

these accusations,

largely

unwarranted, the

oli

become in fact

enemies of

the people. The

class war

has begun.

instead
spite

But why would a civil war between oligarchs and democrats end in tyranny, of in oligarchy or democracy? The outcome is not predetermined (de

tion

is

Aristotle's reading that it is; Politics 5.12.10-11): an oligarchic restora possible (566a3), but a sustainable democracy seems not to be. The
why

reason

democracy
its

must

fall,

one

way

or

the other, is its need for a leader

to champion
utilize

cause against the oligarchs.

This
of

leader, Socrates
murder;

argues,

will

the judicial system as an

are excited

instrument
the

and once

his lupine

instincts

by blood, he,

people's

pressor unless

he is first destroyed
own

by

champion, becomes their op his intended victims. Indeed, it is the

very

effort

to target the leader that

makes possible

his

transformation
with a

into

tyrant:

For his

defense he

asks

the people to supply him

bodyguard.

among the wealthy, again calling them enemies of the regime. To curry favor with the people, he cancels debts and redistributes land. It is now that he is established in power, and he provokes a
proceeds opponents war
war

He then

to kill

his

in

order

to insure that the people

will continue

to need his leadership. The

wherewithal

effort impoverishes the citizens,

depriving

them of the

to plot

against speech.

him. The

war

is

also a pretext

Those among his

associates who speak

for proscribing free thought and free up and speak back are elimi hired
as

nated,

as are

the courageous, the great-minded, the prudent, and the rich. For

eign mercenaries and

domestic

slaves are

spent and private

property taken. Finally,

when

bodyguards. Sacred money is these limited supplies are ex

hausted, the property of the people is confiscated for the support of the tyrant's court. Since the tyrant was brought to power to defend the popular interest, it
was expected

that he

would when

conduct

himself
against

as

fiduciary

agent and as

respectful child.

Thus

he turns

the people

who made

him their

protector, his
Socrates'

oppressive measures are

likened to

a parricide committed

by

an

ungrateful son.
account of

the tyrannic

youth and and

the tyrannic

man returns almost

imperceptibly
justice
and

to the debate in Books 1

about

over

the

relative goodness of choice given

injustice. What brings

this return

is the

the to

tyrant,

or

the tyrant-in-making,

of a private or public

life. The tyrant is

asked

his chances for carefully the effects political power would have upon happiness. Because Socrates means to dissuade the tyrant from seizing power, and thus from changing a democratic regime into a tyranny, it could be said
consider

that the whole discussion of happiness adds up to a practical, if not theoretical, democracy. Recall that democracy changes to tyranny because of defense

of

agitation

by

the drones. That there

will

will

be drones in

democracy

is

given;

that democrats
seems not a

be

open

to their

propaganda

is

also a given.

But

what now

given,

rather a matter of

deliberation

and

choice, is the

demagogu-

32
ery
tes

Interpretation
of

these drones and their tyrannic leader. For

they
not

are advised

by

Socra
the

and

have the

option of

following his
remain

advice

to

enter politics with

goal of

grabbing power, but to

continuance of
tyrant;21

in

private and

to let

democracy

alone.

To be sure, the
tes succeeds

Socrates'

democracy

is

not

the

main point of consequence

conversation with the

it might,

however, be

the

if Socra
to

rhetorically. effected a subtle shift

That Socrates has

activism on
scription of

from detached

regime analysis

behalf

of

democracy by

and against

tyranny is
of

evident

from his de
human type

the tyrant as someone petty and

contemptible.

Every
of we

hitherto
dom

presented

is

animated

love

of

virtue,

honor,

wealth, of think

free

but the tyrant is the

to an

embodiment of

love

itself.22

Lest

well of

the tyrant for an eroticism so exorbitant that

eros

it

needs no

object,

Socrates likens
effect not a

insect,

a winged

drone. And
who

since

he

earlier

distinguished the

winged

drone from the footed drone

saying that the tyrant is not a harmless bug, for unlike most
stingers, the tyrant has the

is human (552c), Socrates is in human being; he is a bug. But he is

winged of

drones

which

are

parasites

without a

"sting

longing"

in him (573a7-8). He is
The targets
of

gadfly

(577e2). What
sort of

harm does the tyrant

contemplate?

his

malice are
and

those nearest to

him, his
he
moves

parents when

he is

still a private

citizen,

his

fatherland

when

up to political power.
who

Socrates
of

speaks of a
and

tyrant in
mother

the "precise

sense"

(573c7)

"gets the better

his father
account

his

(574a8-9). An
worker who

artisan

in the

precise

sense, from the

of

in Book

1, is

his craft, who serves others, and by who gets the better only of his inferiors in knowledge and virtue. The tyrant, by contrast, has no art of tyranny and no respect for nature's hierarchies. Indeed, he seems particularly vindictive toward those who have commanded him.
governed

is

the

knowledge

Even though the tyrant

over
of

aspires

to enslave his
cannot

human beings

and gods

(573c), it

fatherland (575d) and to rule be said that power is the object

as

his love. More

often than not the

tyrant is described

lusting

after sex and

food (571c, 573d, 574c, 574e, 579b). He is feckless, just like his democratic forebear, although he is more energetic. What is unique about the tyrant is the

intensity of his love,

sity,
cious or

and

that it is unconstrained
no single object

by reason, by honor, by
defines him but is
He is lawless

neces

law. The tyrant has

pursuit of

that

more auda

in the

while awake what

any object that attracts others dare only in their dreams is

not a man of

him.23

and will

do

(572b, 574e, 576b).

This fact becomes
clear

The tyrant if
might recall
ment

as eroticist

high

ambition.
of

we consider

for

a moment an alternate

that oligarchy and

democracy
curious

to their

defining

principles:

entry decline because of excessive attach oligarchs love money and democrats love
that similar ardor is
not attributed

the tyrant

into history. We

freedom
regime.

with unabated zeal.

It is

to

timocrats. It is not their excessive

Decline happens to

honor that causes the decline of their because of failure to protect its timocracy defining
of

love

Socrates
principle against corruption

on

the Decline and Fall of Regimes

33

by

wealth.

If timocracy
was

oligarchy, the

more

honorable
until

of

the timocrats would

to go the way of exclude from office their

were

less honorable peers,

a change of regimes.

only The love

one
of

timocrat

left

or rebellion conclusion

brought

about of

honor

carried

to

its

is the love
could

glory; it
then that

points

to

monarchical rule and could arise out of

imperial

expansion.
and

Is it

not possible

tyranny
as a

timocracy

that the tyrant

be

described inspire

glory-seeking, world-conquering

monarch?

Such

a man would

admiration and convince

many

an onlooker

that the tyrant's

life
a

was

well worth

living. But instead

the tyrant we are criminal. possibility It is worse for the tyrant, says Socrates, if he actually achieves power, for then a life driven by vulgar eros becomes a life tormented by mortal fear. The tyrant dreams

lordly figure with grand designs given is a lusty gourmand and a petty
of a

distinct

city whose only purpose is the satisfaction of his desires. But he is defenseless, as vulnerable as a slaveowner alone on an city island with his slaves (578d-e). The tyrant must somehow escape his isolation
of a

in

such a

by

giving others a stake in his career. As it happened, there were others who first came to him, looking for a leader to help them lay hold of a greater share of the city's resources (572e). The tyrant, then, has his own band of followers,

but

as

they
the

support so

him,

so

he has

responsibilities

to them

it is his job to he is depen

people whose

"bring
dent

beer,"

to speak. The problem

facing

the tyrant is that

on and responsible

to

people who are also erotic are apt

(573e6),

loyalty
selves.

is

suspect are

because they

to

aspire

They

the tyrant's

bodyguards, but
different
a

becoming tyrants them they can hardly think the less of

to the tyrant
was

themselves

for

that since under

circumstances

himself

bodyguard (575b). Add to this the fact that

tyrant
soft and unprepared

life

of

pleasure-seeking leaves the

and

to

contest with others

(579c-d),

the

conclusion members

is that the tyrant is

of society.

threatened
end

both

by

his

associates and

by

the

finer

In the

Socrates

says of

the tyrant that he

gets no satisfaction

(579e)
A
sisted.

and

that it is bad luck that has brought him to

to

power

(578c, 579c).
should

sensible person would not choose

be

tyrant; tyranny
the
soul

be

re

It

part of

be resisted, or not, rules. Socrates soul the

will

depending
provides

on what

loves,

or on what

a reasoned account as

to why the

pleasures of appetite and spirit are

inferior to the
soul's

pleasures of mind.

If this

account succeeds

in restructuring the
and

desires,
of

the lawless

eroticism of pleasures of

tyranny

will cease

to attract, to say nothing

the less intense

timocracy, oligarchy,
throughout the

democracy. But

where

has the

voice of reason

been

reported

history

of regime transformation?

Funny

that

it

should

be heard from only in conversation with someone described as "most distant (587a7). Socrates pays the tyrant the compli from philosophy and ment of arguing with him. Again, where has reason been? In aristocracy it was in charge, educating the
argument"

spirit and

commanding the

appetites.

Outside the best regime,

and without au

thority,

reason

has

either

been

silent

(timocracy)

or weak and

ineffectual

(oli-

34

Interpretation
and

garchy

democracy). It

speaks now

to the tyrant because the tyrant above, but the

"cave"

is,

or

may be,
common
of

not

the low-class sensualist

as pictured

philosopher's

soul-mate and pedagogic

rival. What the

philosopher and

the tyrant have in

of opinion in the case is the desire to transcend necessity the As such they stand latter. the reach of the law in the case of the former, equidistant from the oligarch, the man of utmost necessity whose way of life is

the

determined

by

fear.

The commonality of the philosopher and the tyrant can be better perceived when looked at from the vantage point of oligarchy. Oligarchy, rather than the middle regime of description, situated on a downward slope between
Socrates'

aristocracy and tyranny, is a pinnacle rising from two points on a plane below. Or so oligarchy might see itself, claiming to be the best and the highest regime
providing for life's necessities. Other regimes are childish by comparison, because in their pursuit of unnecessary pleasures they pretend that the necessary is secure. Most child
on grounds

that it alone

performs

the grownup

work of

aristocracy and tyranny, regimes dedicated to good life but negli gent of mere life. The aristocrat wants virtue or the unnecessary pleasures of body.24 the mind (58 le); the tyrant wants license or the lawless pleasures of the
of all are

ish

When

the realism of oligarchic fear, aristocracy and tyranny are hopeful and fantastic regimes. equally Tyranny is the body's attempt to render itself free of its own necessities, to
viewed against

find

an almost spiritual

delight in

carnal and

indulgence

and

limitless freedom. This

attempt to escape all

philosopher

limitation

to defeat all resistance explains why the

reason
conservation.25

quiescence,
tyrant

bothers to talk to the tyrant, why as an instrument of political

message

is enlisted, after a long The message to the

the first

(576b-580c)

is that tyranny is dysfunctional. It

that he return to the
ways of past re

does

not make

the tyrant powerful but exposes him to death and impoverish

which requires

ment, deliverance from

gimes

that he save his life

resources

by

oligarchic

by democratic lawfulness, and that he husband his orderliness. But there is little cause for supposing that
pragmatic

the tyrant is better

cal

disposed toward

type, that
not

an explication of consequences would make a

reasoning than is any other politi difference to him

but

to the timocrat or the oligarch. The real attraction is the second message
which states

(580c-588a),
impurities
asked of

that the tyrant's pleasures are ill-chosen since

they
the

are more apparent

than genuine, are mixed with pains, and are tainted

and of

by

becoming mutability, mortality, to retreat from tyrannic ambition because

the tyrant

falsity

(585c).26

Rather than

this maddened soul

that are altogether satisfying.

such
will

of little influence with is invited to push ahead in pursuit of pleasures But he must take it on authority that there are

fear

pleasures, pleasures

be led

outside of politics.

private than

fact that his life Socrates has set it up that the tyrant is more public, for the love of power is not what defines him, but has

of

the mind, and he must accept the

Socrates
Socrates
explained

on

the

Decline

and

Fall of Regimes

35

philosopher's word?
crazed parricide.

why a man so resentful of authority would ever accept the Perhaps not, particularly if we think of the tyrant as the But if for the tyrant we substitute Glaucon, then the project of

less improbable. Adeimantus his brother, set the conversation on its course by wondering aloud whether they should choose a life of tyrannic lawlessness. They are close to being enemies of democratic Athens when Socrates seduces them with philosophy. So delighted are the brothers Glaucon especially that captives (Bloom, 1977, pp. 320-21; by the dialogue's end they are
philosophical seduction seems much

Glaucon,

and

Socrates'

Christian, 1988,
auxiliaries.

p.

58). Reason is

determining

what

their souls

will of

love,

al

though without the

benefit

of office

and without

the support

disciplined
ruling, is

Private
and

education

is its

work when public

education,

or

forbidden it,
too
much

democracy

is the

regime where private education

thrives. It is

into

to say that tutelage of the young will save democracy from falling tyranny. Not every youth, after all, can have a philosopher for a tutor, and
are examples of

there

failure

even

among those

who

do.

Nevertheless,
the

this

attempt of

to deflect the erotic young from careers as tyrants

Socrates'

imparts
since

a small note

hopefulness to is
there is

study

of political

decay. And

defense

of

democracy
least),
the
aristocratic

conducted
a return

by

the making of philosophers (or gentlemen at the

not

implied, if
what

to the aristocratic regime, then to the

family. But
of
of a

addition

aristocrats,

drones? Aristotle is
own analysis

better way of preserving democracy than by especially when these aristocrats are wouldbe similar mind (Politics 5.8.17-18), but then Aristotle
about

faults Socrates for indecisiveness

it
ought

the

fate

of

tyranny

when

by

Socrates'

to

belong

to a cycle and be

followed

by

the best regime

(Politics 5.12.11). In
catch on that

point of

fact,

there is a cycle of sorts and a renewal. than political. Glaucon is quick to

Renewal, however, is
Socrates'

personal rather and

just

happy

man

is

not a ruler of anyone

but himself

(592a-b;

also

580c2). And
regime

institute the best

even

Socrates does say that divine chance could in practice, divine chance would have to do more than
while
wisdom"

make a philosopher

king. For this "lover

and once wise

of

would

have to become

wise,

infallible;

he

would

have to interest himself in

accept as

bring

ing
one

peace

to the unwise, who in turn

would

have to

their

ruler some

radically unlike themselves. All things considered, the best regime is im possible. And defective regimes are unreformable for the very reason that they
are

defective
most

they lack
that
can

education or

the

rational control of emotion and appe can think

tite. The

be done,
of

or

that Socrates

to

do, is

to draw

away from
tant to

politics a

few

the young who are

tyrants-in- waiting.

It is impor

note p.

then,

and others

have

noted

1978,

172),

that when Plato wants to

before (Strauss, 1987, p. 78; West, reconsider the future of politics and
than

what advantages might

lie in

law, he

chooses a protagonist more political

Socrates.

36

Interpretation
NOTES
in Platonis Opera among the and Wood

1. Translations

of

the Greek

are

from Bloom (1991). Line

numbers are

those

(1978)

and are given

only

when needed.
republican

2. See Arendt
ancients; Pocock

(1958) for a discussion of the origins of the (1975) for its revival among the moderns of the

tradition

Atlantic community;

role in the American Revolution and in the founding of the American regime. Politi decline owing to a loss of virtue is an important part of this tradition and is another sense in which Socrates is its progenitor (although the honor is often given to Aristotle). See, for instance, Wood (1968, pp. 48-53) and Pocock (1975, pp. 66-74).

(1969) for its

cal

3. Benardete
of

(1989,

p.

194)

observes

that the

slaves of

the aristocratic

father inculcate the love

rulers"

honor in his he

son.

Benardete
"the
case that

concludes that

the slaves

reflect

the values of the timocratic regime,

and

generalizes that

principle of the regime

is

never embodied

in the
extent

and

that "it
of

would never

be the

the

Maybe. But still ruling 4. Augustine and Montesquieu, it

analysis

element."

any city there is no instance

might

rulers of

show to the of

fullest

the

impress

the

the

rulers

educating the

ruled.

(City

of God,
arises,

19.24; The Spirit

in the

of the

be mentioned, Laws, 3.3-9).

which

adopt a similar approach

to regime

5. Regimes
relative worth
worst regime

are examined

order

in

they

are thought
regime

to

occur.

The intimation

of

by

and

large, from

the

fact that the best

or

is in the

beginning

and

the

is

at the end. consensus

But Socrates
Socrates'

also attributes

(544c). Popular
second

favors the Cretan

own

in

popular esteem.

the ranking to what people commonly praise Laconian regime (timocracy), and oligarchy is assessment, however, may be somewhat different, for he throngs of
evil,"

describes oligarchy

as a regime

"filled

with

whereas

democracy he

describes

without untoward comment

only

as oligarchy's adversary.

Barker (1959, pp. 176-77) observes that the state declines in the reverse order in which it was The state began with workers, then added warriors and philosophers; so when it un ravels, the first to be removed are philosophers, then warriors, then successive stages of appetitive
constructed. workers.

6. If the

middle regimes were ranked also

by

timocrat should be more rational than the

oligarch and

their proximity to the best regime, then the the oligarch more rational than the democrat.

But
gain

the timocrat

is described democrat

as an unmusical

(553d),

and the

as a philosophical

brute (548e-549a), the oligarch as a calculator of dilettante (561d). The further one is from aristoc
with

racy, the more one has in common, timocrat has

more of

intellectually,

the aristocrat. On the other

hand,
of

the
the

the habits

of virtue

than does the

democrat,

although without

any

aristocrat's prudence.

And the timocrat is

more public-minded.

of

desire

As to self-restraint, see Strauss (1964, p. 132). Bloom says that the ranking reflects the measure present in a regime: the more appetitive a regime, the lower the rank (1968, pp. 417,
says that regimes are ranked

421). Nichols
tion is caused

by

the extent of their

fragmentation
p.

and

that fragmenta

by

the dominance
passages

7. There are three invites Glaucon to say

order of presentation.

privacy in Book 9

of

and selfish

desires (1987,

125).
or
regimes

which argue

the contrary. At 580b Socrates says

Socrates'

that the degree of virtue and happiness corresponds to the

in their

At 583a Glaucon

asserts

following
at

lead

that the pleasures of

honor

the oligarchic man that his pleasures are midway between those of the tyrant and the aristocrat. In each case the precise ranking of regimes, of their citizens, and of what they love is seemingly reaffirmed. But the
says about

are superior

to the pleasures of gain.

Finally,

587c Socrates

in which these reaffirmations occur do not support the precision: In the first, Socrates is explaining that the tyrant is miserable because he is a master rather than an equal and because his desires exceed his true power. But little can be inferred about other regimes from the tyrant's weakness and isolation; indeed, if these are the causes of would be unhappiness, then
contexts

democracy

preferable to

oligarchy on the grounds that it is the stronger and more inclusive regime. In the second, Socrates is arguing that each part of the soul has its own peculiar pleasure. But the three
parts of

the soul

five

regimes and

(reason, spiritedness, and appetite) and their pleasures do not correspond to their loves; specifically, oligarchy and democracy are each subsumed under

the

the

Socrates
pleasures of gain;

on the

Decline

and

Fall of Regimes

37

consequently, precise comparisons with the pleasures of honor are impossible. And in the third, Socrates is contrasting the pure pleasures of being with the impure pleasures of becoming, included in which are the pleasures of gain and honor treated quite equally (586a-d). If any status attaches to honor, it is as a consequence of spiritedness 's capacity to ally itself to reason (589a-b). But the situation in Book 8 is that education is absent and that spiritedness and appetite
are at

of

liberty to pursue their own ends. Taking education seriously, however, means returning to the regime of philosopher-kings. 9. Socrates ends Book 9 by affirming the possibility of an ordered soul, though not, it seems, an ordered city (592a-b). But is there some deficiency of soul and body which brings about a
8.
of

decline

the best

individual

parallel

to the decline of the best

regime?

Is

passage through the

stages of

life

a reproduction of oneself equivalent

in riskiness to the
with gold?

reproduction of metallic

types

through mating?

10.
of

Why

does iron

mix with silver and

bronze

They

do have

similar colors

(the gray

iron

and silver,

particular

the yellow of bronze and gold), but something more may be intended by these combinations. The Noble Lie assigns to reason or the philosopher the element of gold, to

spiritedness or the warrior the element of

silver, to

appetite or

the farmer the element of

iron,

and

to appetite

or

the

artisan

the element of bronze (415a). The mixing of iron and

silver means

then

the mixing of farmers and warriors;

artisans and philosophers.

At 373d fanners
tillage."

to,

or taken

from,

the

city's
and of

likewise the mixing of bronze and gold means the mixing of and warriors do mix in the sense that warriors are added population in order to provide through conquest the extra land needed
And
at

by

farmers for "pasture

495c-e

artisans mix with philosophers when a worker

in bronze,

leaping

"out

the arts

into

philosophy,"

takes his master's daughter

as

his bride; the

result of their union

is sophistry (496a). Now the common understanding underlying conquest and sophistry is that justice is the advantage of the stronger. In other words, sophistry is the use of philosophy to rationalize conquest, such as the theft of land by avaricious fanners and the destruc
tion of aristocratic rule tic

by

subordinate classes not

metallic combinations

minding their

own

business. Foreign

and

domes

injustice
iron
as

are what

these

therefore suggest. What

they do

not suggest are

new class alliances. against and

For

when

faction does

come to the

best regime, it is
(the wise)
as

gold and silver

lining

up

bronze (547b).
and

11.

Sterling

Scott

(1985)

translate tous

sophous

"clever

men"

and meiktous

(mixed)
a

"equivocators."

12. What Nichols (1987, p. 218, n. 1) observes of oligarchy is in fact true of all regimes that of statesmanship is the cause of their decline, that law could save if only the rulers had the intelligence to legislate.

failure

13. James Madison in Federalist 10

recognizes

the

mysteriousness of

the human soul and so

backs away from any

same

project

to prevent
and

faction through
the same

education

the
p.

opinions, the same passions,

interests"

(1961,

to every citizen the 78). He does not, however,

"giving

of controlling faction's effects through the institutions of representative government. 14. He might also be dead or in exile (553b4). Still, there would have been time for fatherly counsel had Socrates thought it fitting. 15. But none of this reasoning seems sufficient to explain away the civil war that brings oli

despair

garchy to an end. There are angry people outside the ruling class, and whether or not they once were insiders themselves, they have since assumed a new identity by virtue of their exclusion and their poverty; and they topple the government, often with the help of foreign powers (556e).

Accordingly,

the

survival of

Why

then

is

Socrates'

analysis

oligarchy depends on something indifferent to the phenomenon

rulers

more

than the unanimity of oligarchs.

of class struggle?

Perhaps he

confines
a

regime transformation

to faction among the

in

order not

to detract from the lesson that

and

common love as the basis of unity

is

unsustainable without

education,

that education

rightly
the

done

requires

the guardianship of

philosopher-kings.

But

philosopher-kings could not even save

regime

in

which

they

ruled.

Thus it is
more

of

little

use

to

regimes

in

which

they do

not rule

to have their
problem of

importance

reaffirmed.

The

Socrates

emphasizes

education, the more hopeless the

faction becomes.
16. Because there different
regimes

are

(557d); hence

present in a democracy, there are also many many different individuals the individual corresponds to the regime (man and city parallel is

38

Interpretation
although

maintained),

it is

not stated which of the

two is

causative.

The formative

power of

form

democratic man at democracy by induces the individual to try every activity. In other words, because democracy refuses to say that one way of life is superior to another (philosophy, soldiering, money-making), the individual is incapable of sustaining a choice for any one way of life, and so must choose them all.
the description
of
relativism

less

is indicated

561c-d: democratic

17. It is

also

the regime

description
own

of

democracy
his
and

most appealing to Socrates. Strauss (1964, p. 132) observes that this has the look of a Socratic fantasy, for the regime's pluralism provides the

philosopher with

subject

matter, its apoliticism allows the

saves

philosopher

the privacy to mind his

business,

its

leniency

the philosopher from exile

or execution. man

democratic

18. Cf. Bloom (1991, pp. 417, 419) who contends that the democratic city. See also Annas (1981, pp. 301-2).

is

unlike the

20. Compare this

account of

19. At 578d Socrates likens household slavery to tyranny in the city. with Machiavelli, for whom rich and poor are class
the transition
where

enemies.

Machiavelli's

from

Plato's; but
antagonism

there are

(republican government) to tyranny is quite similar to differences (some of the tactics adopted by the tyrant/prince), class

democracy

is the
not

explanation.

21. from
and

Proving

that the just

man

22. I do
philia

believe that
philonikiai

See The Discourses, 1.16, 40; and The Prince, ch. 9. is happier than the tyrant is the main point. anything can be made of the fact that the word for
kai
philotimoai

"love"

changes

(as in

[548c6-7]

and philochrematon

the first place, the democrat's love is

"thirst"

never called philia

but

"greediness"

[553d9]) to eros. In (aplestia; 562b6, 562c5)

given a while a

form
and

of

(dipsa; 562c8); thus it is not the case that all three intermediate regimes are desiring, philia, that is in some way distinct from eros. Second, the tyrant's eros,

leader
and

of the soul
are

rivaling
both

the

philosopher's
"desire,''

reason, is

leader that is

one with

its followers: leader money-loving

followers

named

or epithumia.

Eros is desire, but

all

so too are

freedom-loving

(and possibly honor-loving); they

p.

"whether its

23. White (1979, object is

220)

calls

the

not."

present or

Is

belong to the appetitive part of the soul. that is active tyrant's eros an "unremitting it then the case that oligarchs, by contrast, desire wealth
obsession"

only when economic opportunities 24. Aristocracy is also

are present

before them?
condones

"lawless"

in that it
and

incest

and attacks the structure of

the
at

family

(cf. 461e

and

571c-d; 457d ff.

574a-b). And
a

of course

the philosopher is an erotic

least he is in

other

dialogues. Hence there

are several points of commonality.

25. Aristotle
sures and

makes

the same point, that

of

tyrant, identified

as a person restrained

wanting

painless plea

independence

others, is properly satisfied and best

by

philosophy (Politics
pleasures,
see

2.7.12-13). See Bloom (1991, 424-25). 26. For discussions of the quality and
baum

choiceworthiness of philosophical pp.

Nuss

(1986,

pp.

147-48); Murphy (1951,

207-23).

REFERENCES

Annas, J. (1981). An Introduction to Plato's Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Arendt, H. (1958). The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Aristotle (1984). Politics. Chicago: Augustine (1972). The
Books.

University

of

Chicago Press.

City

of God.

Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin

and

Barker, E. (1959). The Political Thought of Plato

Publications.

Aristotle. New York: Dover

Benardete, S. (1989). Bloom, A. (1977). "Response

Socrates'

Second Sailing. Chicago:

Hall."

University

of

Chicago Press.

to

Political

Theory 5:315-30.

Christian, W. (1989). "Waiting for Grace: Philosophy

(1991). Interpretive Essay. In The Republic of Plato. New York: Basic Books. and Politics in Plato's Republic. Canadian Journal of Political Science 21:57-82.

Socrates
Hamilton, A., J. Madison,
American Library.
and

on

the Decline and Fall of Regimes

39

J.

Jay

(1961). The Federalist Papers. New York: New

Machiavelli, N. (1970). The Discourses. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin

Books.
(1985). The Prince. Chicago:

University

of

Chicago Press.

Montesquieu, C.-L. (1949). The Spirit of the Laws. New York: Hafner Press. Murphy, N.R. (1951). The Interpretation of Plato's Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Nettleship, R.L. (1937). Lectures on the Republic of Plato. London: Macmillan and
Company.

Nichols, M. (1987). Socrates

State

and the

Political Community: An Ancient Debate. Albany:

Ethics in Greek

University

of

New York Press.

and

Nussbaum, M. (1986). The Fragility of Goodness: Luck

and

Tragedy

Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge

University

Press.

Plato (1978). Platonis Opera, vol. 4. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1979). The Laws of Plato. New York: Basic Books.

Pocock, J.G.A. (1975). The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought

the

and

Atlantic Republican Tradition. Princeton: Princeton

and

University

Press.

Sterling, R.W.
Norton
and

W.C. Scott, trans. (1985). Plato, The Republic. New York: W.W.

Company.

Strauss, L. (1959). What Is Political Philosophy! Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.
(1964). The
(1987).

City

and

Man. Chicago: Rand

and

"Plato."

In L. Strauss

ophy. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Thucydides (1982). The Peloponnesian War. New York: Random House. Tocqueville, A. de (1972). Democracy in America, vol. 2. New York: Random House.

J. Cropsey, eds. Chicago Press.

McNally & Company. History of Political Philos

West, T. (1979). Plato's Apology of Socrates. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. White, N. (1979). A Companion to Plato's Republic. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing
Company.

Wood, G. (1969). The Creation of

W.W. Norton
and

the American

Republic, 1776-1787. New York:

Company.

Gulliver's Travels:
The

Stunting

of a

Philosopher

Richard Burrow

Gulliver is
Studies"

not

are exceptional. at

Everyman: Both his inquisitiveness and his power of memory When we first see him he is "applying himself close to his

These are cut short at the age of seventeen because of his father's poverty, and he is apprenticed to a surgeon for four years. During this period his father sends him money, but he lays this out in "learning Navi gation, and other Parts of Mathematicks, useful to those who intend to travel,
as

Cambridge.1

he

always

believed it

would

be

some

time

or other

[his] Fortune

to

do."

After his apprenticeship he scrapes together enough money from various rela tives to study "Physick two Years and seven Months, knowing it would be
useful

in

long

Voyages"

Gulliver is Gulliver

more concerned with

returns

(p. 19). In short, despite his poverty, the youthful seeing the world than securing his future.
voyage of three and a

from his first

alter

half years,

having
whom

"re

solved to settle

in London, to

which

Mr. Bates, my Master

and takes a
Portion"

me."

encouraged

He is "advised to
received

[his]

Condition,"

wife, "with

[he]
of

four Hundred Pounds for

(pp.

19-20). At the

age

twenty-seven,
cial and

conventional opinions combined with

his

own

desire for finan

domestic security have induced Gulliver to turn away from his desire to travel, which has in any case been temporarily sated. His business fails, however, since he is unwilling "to imitate the bad Practice of too many among

[his]
top

Brethren."

Gulliver lacks
rivals

common

worldliness, that

small-mindedness

which enables

his

in business

to put preservation of self and

family

at

the

of

their list of priorities. Not surprisingly,

restore

he decides to

return

to the sea in

order

to

his fortunes. Although the

overt purpose of

this

second voyage

is to
to

ensure

the financial security of his

family, Gulliver

chooses

this moment

reveal

the intellectual pleasures which his travels afford him:

My Hours of Leisure I spent in reading the best Authors, ancient and modern; being always provided with a good Number of Books; and when I was ashore, in observing the Manners and Disposition of the People, as well as learning their Language; wherein I had a great Facility by the Strength of my Memory. (P. 20)
Nevertheless his
cease to
voyages are now also

be

so

he

returns

stay

at

home

with

home, growing [his] Wife and

financially successful, and when they "weary of the Sea, and intending] to
However, Gulliver's continuing

Family."

interpretation,

Fall 1993, Vol. 21, No. 1

42

Interpretation
sea get

hankering for the ping, "hoping to

whether

is

shown

by

his decision to

move

his

practice

to Wap-

despite

or

Business among the because of this move is not

Sailors."

Once

again

he fails

made clear

and once again

would

he
(p.

mend"

resolves

to set sail, "after three Years Expectation that things

20). Gulliver's trip to Lilliputia is therefore his third major voyage. He embarks it at the age of thirty-eight, having already spent nearly ten years at sea, reading and observing foreign customs. It would not be the full truth to say that
on

he is
so

once again

forced

poverty is the
tive
of which

result of

financial necessity to leave his family, since his his distinctive nature, and his attempts to remedy it are

by

thoroughly in

accord with

that nature. Although at this stage the

main mo

Gulliver is

aware

is his desire to
the
soul."2

provide

or superconscious yearnings seem

which

to be a match

for his family, his subfor the opinions and impulses he

resists all encour

"turn downward the

to settle into a

vision of

Ultimately
life.

agements

domestic,

acquisitive

In Lilliputia Gulliver's nobility is emphasized as well as his intelligence. He is immediately willing to risk his life to defend the Lilliputian emperor, for
which

his

reward

is "the highest Title

Honour"

of

and

"all

possible

Enco

miums"

honor,

50, 53). His underlying motive seems to be the desire for such for he would have gone "to congratulate with the had he not
(pp.
Emperor"

suspected resented.

that the

manner

in

which

he had

extinguished

the

flames

might

be

Size
gard

of

It is precisely his human

superior

Understandings"

intellectual ability beyond the "common which the Lilliputians favor (p. 59) that pre
urination on
Realm"

vents

him from achieving his goal. His for "the fundamental Laws of the
is beneficial to the
world

the palace

reveals a

disre

which arises

from

a clear view

of what of of

state.

His
on

refusal

to assist the emperor in his project

conquering the

is based

"many

Arguments drawn from the Topicks

which most

Policy

Justice"

as

well

as

(pp. 53, 56). These two actions,

clearly form the

reveal

Gulliver's

large-mindedness,

principal grounds of

are the very two that eventually his impeachment (pp. 68-69).

Gulliver's
are not all are

experiences

immediately
Passions"

obvious.

among the Lilliputians affect him deeply in ways that At first he feels bitter "Of so little Weight

the greatest Services to

Princes,

when put

into the Balance

was

with a

Refusal to

gratify their

while at

the same time

Ministers"

ing ing
of

of political

life has been deepened: "This

of

some

imperfect Idea
When he

Courts

and

recognizing the first time I began to form (p. 54). But the more far-reach

that

his

understand

consequence of

voyage.

realizes

his disillusionment only begins to emerge during his return he is about to be rescued he is joyful at the prospect

seeing his "beloved joy increases when he

Country,
sees

and

the dear Pledges

[he] had left in

it."

His

the ship's "English

Colours."

becomes
ened:

clear

that his attachments to his

family

and

Nevertheless it soon country have been weak

before his "insa
to continue no

He

stays a mere

two months with his wife and children

tiable Desire of seeing foreign

Countries

would suffer

[him]

Gulliver's Travels
longer,"

43

though there are "Tears

profit

on

both

This time
creased

is

not the main motive

considerably, though he is still (p. 80). He sets sail "against the Advice

when he departs (pp. 79-80). for the voyage, as his wealth has in "in Hopes to improve [his] of all

Sides"

Fortunes"

[his] Friends

Relations"

and

(p.

86). This change in Gulliver which could best be described as the unleashing of boundless curiosity becomes even more evident during the voyage to Brobdingnagia. For the first time Gulliver shows a clear awareness of his own dis
a

tinctive nature, referring to himself as "having been condemned by Nature and Fortune to an active and restless Life" (p. 83). his is called

Significantly, ship The Adventure. It is his inquisitiveness that leads to his encounter with the Brobdingnagians in the first place. While a group of his shipmates were explor and driven ing the island, "well only by the need to find water, Gulliver
armed"

requests
what

"Leave to

go with

them, that [he]

might see

the

Country,

and make

osity,"

Discoveries [he] He returns, "seeing nothing to entertain his Curi to find that he has been left stranded by his more prudent companions in
could."

their

hurry

to escape

from

Brobdingnagian. Gulliver's

appetite

for knowledge
as well as

seems at such times patriotic and prospect of

to override his instinct for self-preservation

own

his

return briefly (pp. 92). His which had been mentioned in Book I, now be 86, curiosity, hardly comes a constant feature (pp. 106, 110, 113, 114, 119, 137, 138). The voyage to Lilliputia therefore constitutes a decisive stage in the unfold

domestic feelings, though fear for his his "desolate Widow, and fatherless

life

and regret at the

Children"

ing

of

Gulliver's

nature.

In Lilliputia he learns that

on understandings of

even

acts of
Size"

the

most

the "common for their nobility rely Since honor is the highest worldly goal, an understanding of its limita tions calls into question all worldly attachments. The philosopher's purely intel
uncommon
reward.

lectual desires
other motives. on a

emerge more

powerfully as he begins to Events in Book II reveal that Gulliver is

the vanity of his now ready to embark

see
present.3

deliberate enquiry into the best regimes of the past and The conversations between Gulliver and the Brobdingnagian

king

reveal own

the

extent to which
est

Gulliver's

patriotism

has been
not

weakened.

The king's
arises

inter
tem

in the English
to

political system

is

theoretical, but
might

from

a practical

concern as

whether

porarily Gulliver's very presence in Brobdingnagia is evidence of a found detachment. Nevertheless his continuing loyalty to his
more apparent

overrides

anything his fondness for his "own

about

it

"deserve

Imitation,"

which

Customs"

(p. 127). In

contrast

much more pro native regime

is

in the

subsequent

dialogue. He is
our noble

deeply

wounded

by

the king's

mockery
eral and

of

his "beloved
with

Country"

(p. 106). His "Colour

the

came and went sev

of

Times,
Arms

Indignation to hear

...

the Pride and

what

Envy

of

Country, the Mistress World, so contemptuously

Partiality"

Arts

treated"

(p. 107). He displays

Mother,"

he

calls a

"laudable many

to

his "Political
enquiries and

which

leads him to

"artfully

elude"

of the

king's

44

Interpretation
favourable Turn
(p. 133).
Thoughts"

to give "to every Point a more

by

many Degrees than the

and

Strictness

of

Truth

allow"

would

However, Gulliver
customed several

tells us that on "mature

and

having

been "ac

Months to the Sight

People,"

Converse

of this
pride of

his

sense

of proportion was so altered

that he too began to find the

the English

ruling below

class

ridiculous,
usual

and even

"to imagine

[him] self dwindled many Degrees

himself
considers

[his]

Size"

(p.

107). The
Country"

king

that,

having

Gulliver "may hitherto have [his] Life in escaped many Vices of [his] (p. 132). The tension between Gulliver's patriotism and his curiosity is illustrated by his admission that "nothing but an

"spent the

greatest

Part

travelling,"

of

extreme
Story"

Love

of

Truth

could

have hindered

me

from concealing this Part

of

my

(p. 133).

Gulliver's behavior
conversations with
country.

during and after his return to England confirms that his the king have further weakened his attachment to family and
him
appear

The

sailors who rescue

beheld."

"the

most

little

contemptible
"Laughter"

Crea
"a

tures

[he] had
of

ever

The

sight of

them fills him

with

and

Sort

Wonder"

(p. 147). To
a

Gulliver, England

seems as

tiny

as

Lilliputia.

Thinking
are at

giant, he behaves so peculiarly that his family and friends first convinced that he has lost his wits (pp. 148-49). From the perspec
the ordinary citizen,
who

himself

tive

of

is dominated

by

"the

great

Power

of

Habit

and

Prejudice"

(p.

149),

even a partial emancipation

from

political and

domestic

loyalties

seems monstrous. now calls of

What Gulliver "violent Thirst

his "evil

Destiny"

has

gripped

...

seeing the

World"

grants

him firmly, and his him only ten days respite

wife protests
of

before he
and

agrees

to set sail once

again.

This time his

is only

persuaded to agree to

his departure

by

"the Prospect

vehemently Advantage

she proposed

to her

Children"

(pp. 149-54). As

experience and a

political alternatives

have diminished Gulliver's

respect

study of the for the highest goals of

the active
rein.

life, his purely intellectual desires have increasingly been given free In Book III he begins a conscious examination of the merits of the philo
life.

sophical

tradition of
of

Gulliver's curiosity has clearly been shaped by the dominant intellectual his time. In Brobdingnagia his assumptions and methods are those

the New Science: He removes, measures, preserves, and

later

exhibits

inter
of

nationally, the stings of the gigantic wasps that attack them to Gresham College (p. 110). His
shown

him, donating

three

familiarity
of

with

the scientific method is

which

by
he

his

reaction

to the gigantic

limbs

the

Brobdingnagian lice,

he
a

says

can examine

Microscope"

"much better than those of an European Louse through 113). (p. He criticizes the Brobdingnagian king's ignorance of
to "reduce

technology
of

and refusal
done"

Politicks to

Science,

as

the more acute

Wits

Europe have

(pp. 134-35).
comes

In Laputa Gulliver

to realize that the

drastically

limits the

scope of philosophy.

Modern intellectual tradition While Gulliver himself is, as always,

Gulliver's Travels
eager to see

45
not

the "Curiosities to
enquire

of

the

Island,"

the Laputian

king

"discovered

the least

into the Laws, Government, History, Religion, or Curiosity the Manners of the Countries where [he] had been; but confined his Questions
to the State
such of
Mathematicks"

(pp. 166-67). Soon Gulliver

and

grows

weary
the

of

"disagreeable
populace,
not

Companions"

begins instead to him

a

converse with
Answer"

uned

ucated

who will at

least

give

"reasonable

(p. 173).
and

His desire is

merely for

knowledge, but for

a philosophical

friendship,

this cannot be satisfied

within

the Modern tradition.

After his
one who

encounter with outgrown when

the Laputians Gulliver represents himself as some

with

has

his fascination

the New Science (p.

178). In

Glubbdubdrib,
nent

he has the opportunity to summon up the ghosts of emi figures from the past, his first impulse is to see Homer and Aristotle rather Gassendi (p. 197). Here Gulliver
of common
which

than Descartes and

confronts

the characteris
systems
ac

tic Modernist preference for the absolute certainty of

over

mathematical

the

partial

validity

opinions,

the classical tradition

discussion.4

cepted as

the necessary starting point for philosophical

We

can

note,

end of

however, that Gulliver remains a Modern in many respects even at the Book III, as is evident from the confidence with which he looks forward
Motion"

to the

discovery of "perpetual Swift's increasing concentration

indicates
a conviction

and

"the

Medicine"

universal

(p. 210).
work

on

this theme in the latter half of the

philosopher

that the development of a

in

modern

times

is

impossible
extent of

without a radical critique of

encounter with

the Modern

philosophical allows us

tradition. to gauge the

ghosts of
soon as

Gulliver's

the

ghosts of

Glubbdubdrib
the first

his continuing has

attachment

to the

political sphere.

In fact the

the ancient and

modern philosophers are not prevailed over wants

he

asks

to see. As

his
not

"Curiosity
take
meet

[his]

Apprehensions"

(which, typically, does

Magnificence"

long), he
those

to

who are

up "Scenes of Pomp distinguished by their "Love of

to
conjure

and
. .

and

Country,

and gen articu

eral

Benevolence for
on

Mankind"

(pp. 195-96). Insofar

still considers

as

Gulliver has

lated his thoughts

the subject, he

the glory of a life

sacrificed

country to be the supreme good. He passes on sur great patriots, however, and in fact spends much from the prisingly quickly (pp. 197-98). A voracious, if more time conversing with the "antient

for the benefit

of one's

Learned"

indiscriminate curiosity is now his primary characteristic. During his final conversations in Glubbdubdrib Gulliver his veneration for the political sphere as a whole. A study
reveals

comes

to

question

of modern

history
and

"how

great a

Share in the Motions

Senates
foons"

might

be

challenged

Courts, by Bawds, Whores, Pimps, Parasites

and of

Events

Councils
and

Buf

(p. 199). In every age he finds virtue threatened or corruption. By the end of his stay his initial reverence for the
Reflections"

extinguished civic virtues

by
has

way to "melancholy lizations (p. 201).

given

on

the ephemerality of the

greatest civi

Gulliver is

overjoyed when

he hears

of

the

existence of a race of

immortals

46

Interpretation
Struldbruggs. Here
without are

called

beings

who

"have their Minds free

of

and disincontinual

gaged,

the Weight
Death"

and

Depression

Spirits

caused
would

by
do

the

Apprehension

of

(p. 208). When

asked what

he

with

his time

if he himself

were

immortal he
easy to be

can answer at

length:
delightful
a

I answered, it
should

was

eloquent on so copious and

Subject,

especially to me who have been often apt to amuse myself with Visions of what I
do if I
were a

King,

General,

or a great

Lord: And
should

upon

this very Case I

and pass

had

frequently

run over the whole

System how I

employ myself,

the Time if I were sure to live for ever. (P

209)
which correspond

As

an

immortal Gulliver

would pursue

three goals,
Virtue,"

to

his
in

threefold interest in

"Pomp,"

"consummate

and

"Wit

Learning"

and

Glubbdubdrib (pp. 195-97). His first

Man in the
Kingdom,"

aim would

be to become "the

wealthiest

"hopeful young Men "steals into the

sure of

of

his second, to serve the public, both by convincing the Usefulness of and by keeping a careful
Virtue"

record of political and cultural changes as a means of

World."

opposing

corruption as sheer
. .

it

Thirdly
Nations,

Gulliver
and

would

seeing the

various

Revolutions

of

simply enjoy the States and Empires

.

"Plea

Barbarity
civilized"

overrunning the (p. 210).

out

politest

the most

barbarous
the

becoming

Gulliver is horrified

when

he actually

meets

to possess "not only all the Follies and Infirmities of old

Struldbruggs, for they turn Men, but many

dying"

more which arose

"vision"

from the dreadful Prospect

. . .

of never

(p. 212). His

wisdom-

of a

"hospitable

saving,"

yet

magnanimous and
which

loving race is in direct contrast to the infinitely covetous, small-minded and

Friendship,"

truth,

is that the Struldbruggs

are

pable of
and

and seen all

incurious. We learn that they are "unca"although they were told that I was a great Traveller,
. . .

had

the World

had

not

the least

Curiosity to

ask me a

Question

(pp. 212-13). It is the "natural Desire

pelled of endless

Life

and

Gulliver to

expound

his fantasies

so

that im sublunary gleefully (p. 210). Swift sees an

Happiness"

inseparable
desire for
a

connection

between the
since a

pursuit of

"sublunary

Happiness"

and

the

immortality,

life devoted to
which

such a pursuit

involves attributing
condition

significance

to human existence

a sober consideration of

reveals

to be disproportionate. The recognition that the

human

mortality is such

death, passions become jaded or physically impossible bound, therefore, to reduce the intensity of all worldly desires. Gulliver "grew heartily ashamed of the pleasing Visions [he] had
that,
even

leaving

aside

to satisfy in time is
formed"

(p. 214). His

mortification reveals an awareness

over"

that he has been gov

which

his by pride. He has "frequently run volved imagining himself as "a King, a General,
erned

"Visions,"

have in
or

...

a great

Lord,"

"the
are

Oracle
more

of

the

Nation"

(p. 209). He his

now

begins to

view

his

passions

in

a much

rooted

detached light, as he in an irrational sense

comes to appreciate
of

the extent to

which

they

own significance.

Gulliver's Travels
Now
more

47

in mind, Gulliver can begin to contemplate bonum dispassionately. The three basic options correspond to the three projects he imagines himself pursuing if granted immortality. Although it
and

"free

disingaged"

the

summum

might appear
counter with

that

all of

Gulliver's
this

"Visions"

are

the

Struldbruggs,

is in fact

not the case.

equally deflated by his en His patriotic fantasies

Pomp"

have

his desire to become the "wealthiest Man in the just as in Glubbdubdrib his desire to see "Scenes of is (pp. scarcely distinguishable from his admiration for "consummate 195-96). Both arise from pride and involve forgetting the transient nature of
much

in

common with

Kingdom,"

Virtue"

"sublunary

Happiness."

Gulliver

two Hundred

Years"

to the acquisition of

excelling all others in wealth virtue in "hopeful young eventual death. The difficulties here
Men,"

only imagine himself devoting "about riches before achieving his goal of (p. 209). To achieve his second goal of instilling he would have to become reconciled to their
could
are

optimistic account: or no

"Length
as a

of

Time

would

only partially concealed by Gulliver's harden me to lose [them] with little

with

Reluctance just
and

Man diverts himself

the annual

Succession

of

Pinks

Tulips in his

Garden,

withered

the preceding

Year"

without regretting the Loss of those which (p. 210). All this vigilance would only "probably

prevent"

the

onset of corruption.
of all civilizations which

the ephemerality Glubbdubdrib now comes to the

sense of
which

The

Gulliver

acquired

in

fore,
as an

as

he begins to discuss the

with:

third way in

he

would

occupy his time

seeing the

immortal, namely
of

The Pleasure in the lower

the Seats of

of

various

Revolutions

States

and

Empires;

the

Changes

Cities in Ruins, and obscure Villages become Kings. Famous Rivers lessening into shallow Brooks; the Ocean
and upper

World;

antient

leaving

one

Coast dry,

and

overwhelming

Countries barbarous
Changes

yet unknown.

Barbarity
...

becoming

civilized

another: The Discovery of many overrunning the politest Nations, and the most the Progress and Returns of Comets, with the
and

of

Motion in the Sun, Moon

Stars. (P.

210)
it in fact
contra

Although this is

added almost as an afterthought

by Gulliver,

dicts

rather than supplements as a of

the previous, patriotic

fantasy, for
"continual

where, in his
Degeneracy,"

capacity as a lover
cal

defender

of

liberty, Gulliver
would

would resist

knowledge he

take positive pleasure in observing the cycli

decay

"Politeness."

and rebirth of

To

lover

of

knowledge

all

human

activ which

merely ultimately includes the galaxy itself. Unlike Gulliver's previous fantasies this does not involve a sense of superiority to others, which distin
"Pleasure"

ities

would appear

as one aspect of a great pageant of

mutability,

guishes antidote

it

even

from the

noblest of

ordinary human

motives.

The

potential

to Gulliver's pride lies in his philosophical the largest perspective from

disposition,

which

leads

him to
see

embrace

which others shrink.

It is hard to
to Gul

how

Struldbrugg

who possessed and cultivated a nature similar

liver's

could

become jaded.

By

the end of Book III Gulliver

is

on

the verge of making a conscious

48

Interpretation
the contemplative life. Swift
years old at allows us to calculate that

choice of

Gulliver is

roughly

fifty

the end of the voyage to Laputa. His

ripeness

for

philosophy is once again reflected in his ever-increasing detachment from ordi a nary, domestic ties. Although he remains at home for five months this time

longer interval
and

than that which preceded either of

Condition,"

his two

previous voyages

in

"very happy
and

Adventure,

eventually he embarks once this time he leaves his "poor Wife big with

again on

The

Child"

(p. 221).

The implication is that his curiosity is now in a sense both less more concentrated as a result of his third voyage. Although
appearances suggest

passionate and

otherwise, the eros,

fact

governed

by

eros, but

a rational

tween real and apparent satisfactions.

way of life is in distinguishes carefully be Their complete liberation from pride is in

which pursuit of

Houyhnhnms'

fact the
refers show

result of

their complete to their

dedication to the

knowledge. Swift
are said

insistently
which

"manifest Tokens

of

inquisitiveness concerning Gulliver. They and then "new Signs of

Wonder"

to

Wonder"

at

his

clothing,

those of a

they examine very closely, "using various Gestures, not unlike Philosopher, when he would attempt to solve some new and difficult
(pp. 224-26). The first
at we see of

Phaenomenon"

Gulliver's Master is his

concerted effort and particular

"Signs

Wonder"

of

Gulliver's

gloves.

Behind his

to teach

him the Houyhnhnm language is

"eager to
learn"

a great

"Curiosity
when

Impatience."

He is

everything
of

about

Gulliver (p. 234). In

he

reveals

"great Signs

Curiosity

Admiration"

and

he

sees

him

undressed at

last

(p. 237). After the

astonished at
gence"

revelation of

Gulliver's true
and urges

appearance

he is
"the
. .

even more

his reasoning powers,

the

him to

exert

utmost
.

Dili

to
might

acquire

language,

so

that his "Impatience to hear

Wonders"

be

eased as

quickly
with as

as possible

(pp. 237-38). When Gulliver is he

picks

able to

communicate

his thoughts (as

always

up the language quickly), his

Master badgers him "fuller

Satisfaction"

frequent

questions and

interruptions,

often

desiring

Gullivers vocabulary improves (p. 244-45). He does not rest until his (pp. 259-60). "Curiosity seemed to be fully The Houyhnhnm is the first being Gulliver has met whose inquisitiveness matches his own. If his dedication to the pursuit of knowledge is even greater
satisfied"

than

Gulliver's it is because he has had the advantage society where the "grand Maxim is, to cultivate
and

of

being

brought up in

Reason"

(p. 267).

benevolence
neither of
Race,"

Friendship

are

mentioned

though
whole

these are

first among the Houyhnhnms' virtues. Al "confined to particular Objects, but universal to the

it

soon emerges

"They

will

have it
Virtue"

that

that only benevolence is truly indiscriminate: Nature teaches them to love the whole Species, and it is

Reason only that Degree of

maketh a

Distinction
moral

of

Persons,

where

there is

a superior

(p. 268). Since there is

no evidence

falls

short of perfection

in the

virtues, it
must

that any Houyhnhnm is clear that the "Distinction of

on some other crite

Persons"

that leads to

special

friendships

be founded

rion. We have already been told that the Houyhnhnms differ greatly in intellec-

Gulliver's Travels
tual ability (p. 256). The suggestion is that the Houyhnhnms
ents of who possess

49

"Tal

Mind

[and]

Capacity

to

purpose of which

is to

exercise

drawn into friendships, the their intense curiosity. Philosophical conversa

are

improve

them"

tion

panions"

is the only activity specifically mentioned as giving the Houyhnhnms plea sure: "No Person spoke without being pleased himself, and pleasing his Com (p. 277). Swift's description of their discourses on "Friendship and Benevolence; on Order and Oeconomy; sometimes upon the visible Operations
of

Nature,

or ancient

Traditions;
Reason,"

upon

the Bounds

and

Limits

of

Virtue;
way

upon

the unerring Rules of and on many other subjects, forms the culmination of his account of the himself,

including

Gulliver
of

Houyhnhnms'

life

(pp.

211-19).'

Gulliver's
mination of

encounter with education.

the Houyhnhnms
are

should also constitute

the cul

his

They

free from

all

the passions

which are rooted

in self-love, including the domestic and patriotic attachments which have hith erto formed the chief obstacle to Gulliver's development as a philosopher (pp.
268-69). This is The
most

clearly illustrated
now seems
which

by

their calm

acceptance of

death (p.
virtues. eulogis

275). Gulliver himself

account of

ready to appreciate and imitate their

the human race

of

he

gives

his Master is
as

much

less

tic than his description

England in Book
wonder own

II,

he himself is Race
of

aware:

"The

Reader may be disposed to free a Representation of my already too

explanation

how I

could prevail on myself a

to give so
who were

Species, among
as

Mortals

apt

to

conceive

the vilest Opinion of Human

Kind"

(p. 258). The

for his indiscretion is

follows:

The many Virtues of those excellent Quadrupeds placed in opposite View to human Corruptions, had so far opened mine Eyes, and enlarged my Understanding, that I began to
view

the Actions and Passions of Man in a very different

Light;

and

to

think the Honour of my own Kind not worth Managing. (P.

258)
be is
of pride

He is led to find
numbered even accompanied

"thousand

Faults"

in himself "which This

partial

with us would never

among human by an "utter Detestation

Infirmities."

overcoming
and

of all

Falsehood

Disguise."

He tells

us, "Truth

appeared so amiable

to me, that I determined upon sacrificing every

thing

to

it"

(p. 258).
sphere of of

This further weakening of Gulliver's attachment to the and the concomitant intensification "Actions and
Passions,"

human

his devotion to
of

the

pursuit of

knowledge,

are caused

less

by

his

new of

understanding
than

the

pervasive power of self-love, or calls

by

an abstract

love

truth,

by

what

he
to

"a

Motive,"

much stronger

namely, "his Love

Veneration"

and

for the

Houyhnhnms. It is this

above all which

leads him to

resolve

"never to

return

human Kind, but to pass the rest of [his] Life among these admirable Houyhn (p. 258). Love for hnms in the Contemplation and Practice of every admiration for the great classical authorities is a one's instructors including
Virtue"

great part of

the

joy

of

philosophy, one can conclude.

patriotism

However, Gulliver's

is

still

very

much

in

evidence:

50
In

Interpretation
what

said of

my Countrymen, I

extenuated

their Faults as much as I durst

before

so strict an

the Matter would

by
He

his Byass
the

and

Examiner, every Article, gave as favourable a Turn as bear. For, indeed, who is there alive who would not be swayed Partiality to the Place of his Birth? (Pp. 258-59)
and upon

"malicious"

resents

comparisons and

that the Houyhnhnm draws

between
Kind,"

man and

Yahoo,
could pride

is

at

times "silent out of

Partiality
is

though

he

discover"

"plainly
and

the truth

of what was
Man"

[his] own being said (pp.

to

263-

64). His

in the "Actions

Passions

of

finally

overthrown

only he is
that

by

an accident which occurs while

Gulliver is

out on an expedition of

to observe

the Yahoos. A female Yahoo is

about

attracted

by
as

the sight

Gulliver

naked as

to bathe and leaps on him

passionately.

Gulliver finds this "no longer

experience

both terribly

frightening

and

mortifying,

he

could now

deny,

[he]

was a real

Yahoo, in every Limb

Feature"

and

(p. 267). begins

Gulliver's
this episode,

eulogistic account of

the Houyhnhnms

immediately
has been
was

after

and with a curious abruptness. appreciate

The implication is that he

that his pride

can

for

the first time

out. as

fully

their

virtues now

rooted

From

now on

he

views

"a Loss

of so much

any Time for

of an

contribution of

his

own

to their conversations
.
. .

improving
humble

myself:

But

infinitely
the
that

delighted

with

the Station the

Auditor"

(p. 277). He
...

regards
Value"

Houyhnhnms

as

source of

"all the little Knowledge

of

any

he possesses,
wisest

and was

"prouder to

listen,

than to

dictate to the
their

greatest and

Assembly
[him]

in

Europe."

He is both

awestruck at

wisdom and

filled

"with
guish

a respectful

Love

and

from the

rest of

Gratitude, [his]
forms:

that

they

would condescend

to distin

Species"

(p. 278).

Gulliver's "enlarged
all

understanding"

is

now

seemingly free from

self-love

in

its disguised

and extended

When I thought
general, I
perhaps a no other

of

considered them as

my Family, my Friends, my Countrymen, or human Race in they really were, Yahoos in Shape and Disposition,
civilized,
and qualified with

little

more

the Gift of
. . .

Use

of

Reason,

than to improve and multiply

Vices. (P.

Speech, but making 278)

In

contrast

to his behavior
at

at

the end of the voyage to

Brobdingnagia, he does
with even more

not and

"wink

his

Littleness"

own at

(p.

148), but is filled

own reflection

"Horror

Detestation"

the sight of

his

than at the sight of a "com

Yahoo"

new, Houyhnhnm-like indif death. When forced to depart from Houyhnhnmland his "utmost Grief and are caused less by the "certain Prospect of an un Corruptions" than by the danger of natural relapsing into [his] old
mon

(p.

278).6

Gulliver

also reveals a

ference to his

own

Despair"

Death"

280). Thus the

(p

attempted rape of Gulliver represents a crucial moment in his edu It is in many ways the most dense and enigmatic episode in the book. The fact that it is Gulliver's nakedness that arouses the lust of the Yahoo is

cation.

Gulliver's Travels
significant, for Gulliver's

51

When he

clothes play a central role in the allegory of Book IV. in Houyhnhnmland he is wearing his "best Suit of He is allowed to do so only because of some curious behavior on the part of his mutinous crew, who treat Gulliver with astonishing leniency as they set him ashore in Houyhnhnmland, even though seized control have arrives

Cloaths."

they

successfully

have previously subjected him to many violent threats and a imprisonment (pp. 221-22). Not only do they let him change into his best long clothes before being marooned, but they are even "so civil as not to search [his]
of and

his ship

though they contained money. As they set him down ashore they him to "make haste, for fear of being overtaken by the (pp. 22122). Their contradictory behavior becomes explicable if one remembers that the crew itself is composed of two groups. The mutiny was led by whom Gulliver recruited in the West Indies to replace members of his crew
advise
Tide"
"Buccaneers"

Pockets,"

the surviving It is surely this latter group who treat Gulliver in such a merciful way, for Gulliver asks them "who their new Captain (p. 222). The motive for their civility is guilt and a desire to avoid a
who

had died

during

the voyage from England. These

original crew.

"debauch"

members of

Gulliver's

was"

feeling

of

clothes are

responsibility for Gulliver's death. From the start, then, Gulliver's linked with the moral and religious opinions which restrain man
character of

from barbarism. The traditional fact that they

mutiny. seem not

these opinions

is

suggested who

by

the

to

be

shared

by

the

"Buccaneers"

rootless

lead the

As has been

mentioned

the Houyhnhnms

are much puzzled

by

Gulliver's

clothing (pp. 225-26). He is "obliged to [his] Cloaths, whereof they had no Conception" for their initial uncertainty as to whether or not he is a Yahoo (pp. 230-31). He keeps "the Secret of [his] as long as he can, in order to
Dress"

"distinguish [him]self
revealed,

as much as

possible, from that

cursed

Race
when

Yahoos."

of

His Master is fascinated both

by

his

clothes and

his

body

the truth
a

is

and after a careful examination concludes that

he is indeed

Yahoo.

Gulliver's

his giving me so often the Appellation of Yahoo, an odious Animal, for which I had so utter an Hatred Contempt," and and to request that the secret of his "false be kept for as long as possible (pp. 236-37). The power of Gulliver's clothes to con
response
express at
Covering"

is to

"Uneasiness

Yahoo "in every Limb and from the Houyhn hnms, and from Gulliver himself to a large extent, may remind us of the em coats in A Tale of a Tub, which "served to hide or broidery on the
ceal
a
brothers'

the fact that he is

Feature"

strengthen

Flaw."7

any
concealing
obstructs

The
and

religious

tradition restrains

man's

bestial

nature

partly

by

it,

emphasizing his

unique status within

the divine

scheme.

It

the philosopher's progress towards self-knowledge because

it

masks

the extent to which self-love underlies even some of the most noble

motives.8

In

a sense
must

tion,

since

it

then, the attempted rape of Gulliver completes his educa finally lead to the rooting out of his patriotism and desire for
now

honor,

which

have up to

formed the

chief obstacles

to a thorough "enlarg-

52
ing"

Interpretation
of

the understanding and a radical

detachment from

all

that

is local

and

transitory.

The

difficulty

is that Gulliver's
Feature"

efforts

to cling to his best

suit seem

justified in the light

every Limb and final misanthropism
not clear nant

of subsequent events.

The

revelation that

he is

entirely Yahoo "in

to his

leads to his

exile

from Houyhnhnmland

and

and self-loathing.
characteristic

The

eradication of

the way for his

soul

love

of

his worldly pride does knowledge to become the domi

in the way one might expect. The implication is that the female Yahoo's assault on Gulliver not only facilitates but also radically dis torts his development as a philosopher. The reason for this is hinted at in the force in his
opening
sentence of

the episode,

where

Gulliver

explains

the

motive

behind his

expedition.

As I

ought

to have understood human Nature much better than I supposed it

so

possible

for my Master to do,

myself and own

it

was

Yahoos to

my Countrymen;

and

easy to apply the Character he gave of the I believed I could yet make further

Discoveries from my

Observation. (P. 265)

assumptions are still

These lines

reveal

that

Gulliver's basic intellectual

his
adherence

derived
of

from the Modern tradition. His

Laputians has
not affected

earlier rejection of

the Cartesianism

the

to the new scientific method,

which

leads him to favor

cal character

observation and experience over reason.

Although the

classi

tradition provides the theoretical starting point,

its lofty,

contemplative

is

presumed to render

it

unsuited

to a

bestial drives. Ironically, it becomes

pher

a matter

detailed understanding of man's of pride for the Modern philoso

to

to

uncover

the most mortifying to the

truths,
which

and

find

clear and

direct

proof of

man's

sense,

bodily affinity by creating an

are

beasts. Although this facilitates

in
the price to

enlightenment

in

atmosphere

the common opinions that mask this

affinity

easily

discredited,

be

paid

is

a major

distortion

of

emphasis

in the

philosophical account

that replaces these opinions, which

is

brought

about

man nature.

by too exclusive a concentration on the lowest elements In deciding that he is a "real Yahoo in every Limb and
own

in hu

Feature,"

Gulliver leaves his

The
the
shock of virtues of the

characteristic, intellectual desires

enlightenment

out of

the account.
eyes

Gulliver's

initially

serves

to open

his

fully

to

tion in their

Houyhnhnms, but ultimately closes the door to his participa happiness, for he has defined his nature in terms that deny the
his

possibility the justice

of of

imitating

them. His exaggerated

humility

leads him to

accept

the decision to banish him much more readily than his Master does (p. 280). It leads also, paradoxically, to his eventual isolation from his

fellow men,

whom

he

now views as

"a Species

of

Animals utterly incapable

of

Amendment"

(p. 6).
"soft"

Neither the

nor gulf

the

"hard"

school of

Gulliver's Travels
no

criticism takes

into

account

the

between the
IV.9

philosopher and

the nonphilosopher in their

reason

interpretations

of

Book

While there is

to

doubt that Swift

Gulliver's Travels
equates the essential motives of the nonphilosopher with those of the

53

Yahoo,

there is every reason to suppose that he considers the potential of Gulliver in particular to imitate the Houyhnhnms to be very great indeed. The increasing

dominance
his
pher.

of

the sense

of wonder and
a

the progressive subordination

aware of

of pride

in

soul are arrested

only by The implication that the

that his

failure to become
is

himself

as a philoso

philosopher's education should culminate

characterized

in

an

explicit recognition one of

soul

by

desire for knowledge is

Platonic.10 After many indications that Swift's teaching is fundamentally Gulliver's traumatic enlightenment Swift draws a contrast between the Houy

hnhnms,
ral

who are

"wholly

governed"

by

reason,

and

Modern "Systems
were

of

Natu be

Philosophy."

Gulliver's Master
of such

agrees with

Plato (the "highest

certain,

Honour"

possible) that knowledge

Use"

systems, even "if it

that

could

of

no shut

(pp. 267-68). Gulliver

World"

adds
were

"many

Paths to Fame

would

be then

up in the Learned

this advice

heeded. These

systems

facili
the

tate the enlightenment

not yet

of nonphilosophers and potential philosophers who are

consciously
man's

ruled

by

the

love

of

knowledge. In

such circumstances

fact that

kinship

to the Yahoo is only partial (in

governed"

"every

Limb

and

Fea

ture")
that

can

which contributes

easily be forgotten. In Platonic terms the most useful knowledge is to a life "wholly by reason. The fact that the Moderns like Gulliver's
than
expeditions

systems of the stem

to observe the Yahoos

from

pride rather

curiosity is itself

evidence of their uselessness

in

this sense.

In contrast, Gulliver's Master's approach represents the classical, especially the Platonic, stance. From the start he is convinced that Gulliver is a Yahoo,

but tactfully
ableness,

conceals and

this

fact (p. 234), placing

which

more emphasis on

his "Teach

Civility

Cleanliness,"

"astonish"

him. As

we

is

consumed with

curiosity; fascinated both

by

Gulliver's

clothes

have seen, he and his body,

the distinction between the two, but even more "astonished at my Ca for Speech and Reason, than at the Figure of my Body, whether it were pacity covered or (p. 237). He agrees to keep the secret of his "false a
and

by

no"

Covering,"

promise that
which wise

he

seems

to break only when

directly
.

challenged

by

his peers,

by
it

time the truth has been revealed (pp.

all
. .

272, 279). In fact he

. . .

considers

for

be

hardly

supportable"

Yahoos to "conceal many Deformities which would else (p. 260). In brief, his enquiries into human nature are
several ways:

contrasted

to Gulliver's in
rather

His

motive

pride; he is interested

than repelled when

is curiosity rather than Gulliver's nakedness confirms

same time
seeks

his

physical affinities to the

Gulliver's own attitude full enlightenment (p. 237).

One
of the

Yahoos; and at the is very different, and so

aims

he

recognizes

that

to soften and

delay

his

Houyhnhnm 's

in his

conversations with

Gulliver is to lead
his
own nature.

him

gradually towards a sober and measured assessment of

concern with

Gulliver's

identify

himself

as a

clearly observable phenomena, which causes him to Yahoo solely on the basis of external resemblances, is

54

Interpretation
his Master's
attempt

contrasted with

to encourage him to
a

examine and

discuss

his

own

distinctive disposition. Such

self-examination,

which might eventu

that has ally have led Gulliver to a full awareness of the thirst for knowledge always been his underlying motive, could only be conducted through philo sophical conversation. The Houyhnhnm's intention was for Gulliver to move
rational elements gradually towards an understanding both of the bestial and the in his nature. An analysis of his desire to grasp the most mortifying truths even as he was investigating them would have reduced their power to mortify. As it

is, his typically Modern

him to finalize his
articulated

concentration on

the

commonest

human

passions

leads

account of

his

own nature
enquiries.

before he has

fully

purified and

the

motives

behind his

Evidence
nature and

of

the Houyhnhnm's fundamental optimism concerning Gulliver's

can

his desire to teach him

relationship.

be found throughout Swift's

as

account of

their

developing
than his

Right from the start,

Houyhnhnm is
Reason"

much more

interested in Gulliver's

has been said, the "Capacity for Speech and

astonishment at

body

or clothes

(p. 237). In fact his

Gul

liver's rationality increases when his physical kinship to the Yahoos is con even deceiv firmed, for "he doubled the Pains he had been at to instruct
me,"

ing

his friends

as

to the

reason

for

introducing

anxiety to have him always present relatively honest account of his species, the Houyhnhnm
pected

him into their company in his (pp. 237-38). In the course of Gulliver's
pays

him

an unex

compliment,

declaring

that he must be "born of some noble

Family"

in

his

is he both physically and mentally to common country, Yahoos (p. 256). He draws a parallel to Houyhnhnm society, where "the
own so superior

the

White, the Sorrel, and the Iron-Grey, were not so exactly shaped as the Bay, Dapple-grey, and the Black; nor born with equal Talents of Mind, or a
to improve
them."

Capacity
in

(Swift

never makes

it

explicit that

Gulliver's Mas
wish

ter shows him more respect than many, if not most, of

his fellow Houyhnhnms

to
we

introducing "daily

him to his

circle of philosophical a

friends [p. 277]). His

learn from Gulliver is inextricable from

desire to teach him. As Faults in

have seen,
which

he

convinced

[him]

of a thousand example

[him]

self,"

during

time Gulliver is also

258). Before stating learning by his final verdict on the human race that almost all its characteristic namely, passions originate in a Yahoo-like self-love he commands Gulliver to "to sit down at some Distance, (an Honour which he had never before conferred on
me)"

to love truth (p.

(p. 259). His

aim seems

to be to make it clear that

he

now considers

Gulliver to be ready to accept the truth. distinguishes carefully between Gulliver latter for their 259). The
misuse of

he his countrymen, criticizing the reason, but the former only for his physical defects (p.
and

During

the course of his speech

intensity of the friendship between Gulliver and his Master is eventually recognized by the Houyhnhnm assembly, who censure the latter for appearing
to
receive

"some Advantage

Pleasure"

or

from his

conversations with

Gulliver

Gulliver's Travels
(p. 279). While

55
the

telling Gulliver
to

about this and the

decision to

exile

him,

Houyhnhnm is

careful

distance himself from the

general view:

He concluded, that for his own Part he could have been Service as long as I lived; because he found I had cured

content to

keep

me

in his

myself of some
was

bad Habits

Dispositions, by endeavouring, as far imitate the Houyhnhnms. (Pp. 279-80)

and

as

my inferior Nature

capable, to

Further

evidence of the Houyhnhnm's esteem for Gulliver emerges as the latter is preparing to depart. Resisting Gulliver' s humble efforts to bid him farewell at his home, "his Honour, out of Curiosity, and perhaps (if I may speak it
without
Canoo,"

Vanity) partly
even

Friends"

see me in my "several of his going bring along neighbouring (p. 282). Before Gulliver can kiss his hoof as a final gesture of re

out of

Kindness,
to

was

determined to

so

far

as

spect, his Master "did

[him]
which

Gulliver

sees

this act

the Honour to raise it gently to is quite remarkable in the context

[his]
of

Mouth."

Book IV
a

as a sign of a should
I,"

"noble

and courteous

Disposition";
of

that

so

"illustrious
a

Person

descend to

give so great a

Mark

Distinction to

Creature

as

inferior

as

but it

seems to

have been intended

one of a

rather as an expression of

friendship dog

and even respect. considers matic

This is

the many indications that the Houyhnhnm

rational

Gulliver to be

fundamentally

being

which

the latter's

humility

leads him to ignore

the new,

or misinterpret.

The
the

effects of

reductive analysis of

human

nature are

illustrated
clothes

by

Houyhnhnms'

decision to banish Gulliver. Now that Gulliver's

have

worn out

learned

world

it is commonly believed that he is a Yahoo (pp. 276, 279). Once the has accepted that the nature of man is fundamentally bestial, the

is denied the opportunity to form the philosophic friendships, which, in the Platonic view, represent his ultimate goal. Whereas the classical tradition had cultivated the love of knowledge by providing a theoretical ac
philosopher

count of

its

nature and ultimate

goal, the Modern

philosopher

existence,

even though

it may

constitute

his fundamental
a

motive.

denies its very Thus Gul

liver's

eventual conception of
represents a

loathsome truths
philosopher.

and sociable openness

and solitary pursuer of Modern distortion of the joyous characteristically to experience which initially distinguishes the potential

himself

as

fearless

The

consequences of a general

unmasking

of

the

common opin

ions that
as

provide a

"false

Covering"

(p.

far-reaching
At the
were

for the

philosopher as

237) for human nature are, in they are for the nonphilosopher.

the end,

end of

Book IV Gulliver

exhibits

the despair and nausea which, Swift

new account of

implies,
nature.

the original and natural reactions to the

human

One

might wonder

clearly

of no use

to him

Tub,
and

one might expect and

why he remains so dedicated to truth, since it is so in securing happiness. Like the narrator of A Tale of a him to search longingly for "an Art to sodder and patch
Nature,"

up the Flaws
exposing

Imperfections

of

rather

than continually

"widening

them.""

The fact that he does

not

do

so

is partly due to his

56

Interpretation

devotion to the Houyhnhnms, but his more fundamental motive turns out once again to be pride, though in an uncommon form. We are alerted to this in the

final
of

paragraph of
Vice"

the
not

book,

where

he

entreats

Yahoos

who themselves

this "absurd

to "presume to

appear"

in his

sight

(p. 296). His

display feeling

superiority
that

extends even

to the Houyhnhnms themselves. He

remains con

vinced

they
to distinguish this

were not able

[vice]

of

Pride, for

want of

thoroughly

understanding Human Nature, as it sheweth itself in other Countries, where that Animal presides. But I, who had more Experience, could plainly observe some

Rudiments

of

it among the

wild

Yahoos. (P.
to himself

296)
a unique position

The Modern
their

philosopher assigns

in the

history
radical

of

thought. All previous philosophical traditions

analysis of

have been

insufficiently
they have
of a

in

the pervasive power of self-love, since

rather

relied on

meditation

and

discussion

than

observation and common

experience.12

Gulliver forgets that his Master had

Faults"

arrived at a

knowledge

"thousand

of which

he himself "had
and

not

the least Perception

before"

(p.

258)

purely by in humanity
lies"

discussion

meditation,

and

which

had

never even

had discovered many "Vices and Fol been mentioned to him (p. 278). One

may

conclude

that the Modern philosopher's despair is

tempered,

and

indeed

fuelled, by

a perverse pride

in his

stern refusal

to

lose

sight of the most painful

truths, which he contrasts to the unthinking complacency of common folk and, in particular, to the cosiness and naivety of the classical tradition. However,
once

this pride has faded

away along

with memories of of self-love at

the tradition

itself,

Swift implies that the

and

Moderns'

discovery

the root of
and

all action

thought will lead them to question both the

possibility

the use of

reason.

Gulliver's
gerous

experiences

reveal

that

premature

enlightenment
more

is

more

dan

to the philosopher's

development than the

grows as

traditional obstacles, the

of

moral and religious

traditions which form the principal subject

the

first three
of

books. Gulliver's desire for knowledge

tion on the approach
of

experience, study
of

and medita

death

expose

the vanity

the noblest

forms

human

endeavor,
classical

and

is further

cultivated

by

his final

encounter with
a match

save

form. His intense curiosity is ultimately those that present themselves as a part of his

philosophy in its for all distractions

education.

NOTES

1965),

The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. 11, Gulliver's Travels, p. 19. All further references are given in the text.

ed.

Herbert Davis (Oxford,

2. See Plato's Republic, 519a-b. 3. For the resemblance between Brobdingnagia and the Greek polis see Allan Bloom, "An in Ancients and Moderns, ed. Joseph Outline of Gulliver's Cropsey (London, 1964).
Travels,"

Gulliver's Travels
4. See Leo Strauss, The Political
pp.

57

Philosophy

of

Hobbes,

trans. E. Sinclair

136-53.

(Chicago, 1952),

5. The implication

to imitate the Houyhnhnms. Most

view. pp.

187-91; C. Winton, "Conversion on the Road to Houyhnhnmland," Sewanee Review, 68 20-33; Ernest Tuveson, "Swift: The Dean as in Swift: A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Ernest Tuveson (London, 1964), p. 107. There have been some dissenting voices, however: see particularly John Morris, "Wishes as Horses: A Word for the Houyhnhnms The Yale Review, 62 (1972-73): 354-71.
(I960):
Satirist,"
"

that it is both desirable, and in some cases possible, twentieth-century critics deny this, or deny that it is Swift's See, for instance, K. Williams, Jonathan Swift and the Age of Compromise (London, 1970),

of this

interpretation is

6. The in the

evidence seems

common sense of

the

to me to be clearly against those critics who argue that Gulliver is proud word at the end of Book IV: See Winton, cited above in note 5, and
the
ed.

Edward Rosenheim, Swift and 7. Swift, A Tale of a Tub, 8. Some

of
tif,"

Satirist's Art

(Chicago, 1963),
and

p.

222.

(Oxford, 1958), p. 136. Max Byrd, "Gulliver's Clothes: An Enlightenment Mo in Enlightenment Essays, 3 (1972): 41-46. 9. The school maintain that Swift finds man wanting according to the highest standards
these points are made

A.C. Guthkelch

D. Nichol Smith

by

"hard"

Houyhnhnms represent such a standard and See, for example, R.S. Crane, "The in Reason and the Imagination: Studies in the Houyhnhnms, the Yahoos and the History of History of Ideas 1600-1800, ed. J. Mazzeo (London, 1962), and K. Williams, cited above in note
of rationality, while the argue
critics

"soft"

deny

that the

that

he

takes a more

liberal

view of

human

nature.

Ideas,"

5.

My

own approach owes more

to Allan

Bloom,

cited above

in

note

2.
"Charmides"

10. See D. 1981).

Hyland, The Virtue

of Philosophy: An Interpretation of Plato's

(Ohio,

11. A Tale of a Tub, p. 174. 12. See Leo Strauss, Studies in Platonic Political

Philosophy (Chicago, 1983),

p.

212.

Book Reviews

AlfLayla
on

wa

Layla, The Arabian Nights,

of

translated

by
+

the text

the

fourteenth-century

Syrian

manuscript

Husain Haddawy, based edited by Muhsin

cloth

Mahdi (New York: W.W.

paper

Norton, 1990),

xxxii

428 pp.,

$25.00,

$12.95.

Charles E. Butterworth

University
Long-time

of Maryland

at

College Park

readers of

Interpretation

will remember

Muhsin Mahdi 's

and

sugges

tive explanation several years ago of the

frame-story
tales.1

dominant theme in
of

The Arabian Nights. Since then, he has

provided readers

Arabic

with

painstaking scholarly edition of these intriguing dawy has used that edition as the basis for a masterful
translation of these same

And

now

Husain Had

Alf Layla

wa

Layla,

that

thoroughly charming 1001 Nights or The The is,

and

Arabian Nights. Although Mahdi has already

explained

the basic structure of the

of

tales, it
this new

bears repeating
translation may
main character

if only to
contribute

prepare the

way for speaking

how

much

to

our own reflections on politics and

literature. The
ex

tremely
narzad,

gifted

raconteuse.

is Shahrazad, the vizier's daughter who proves herself an She speaks ostensibly to her younger sister
to

Di-

who serves as a prompter

Shahrazad

either

by beseeching

her

night

after night what she

to relate another tale or

see

has just recounted, and to beyond the alluring appeal of

by complimenting her on the marvels of King Shahrayar, the one who must learn to
s stories and come to understand

Shahrazad'

human beings
need of these

their passions and their aspirations

better. Shahrayar is in
how to
overcome

lessons because he has

not

learned

yet

the

deceit humans employ against one another. It is his younger brother Shahzaman who first ful
ways of

alerts

Shahrayar to the deceit

And, to go back yet another step (an in the tales themselves, one tale calling up unfolding another so that two or three smaller yarns are related before the larger story is completed), Shahzaman himself becomes aware of women's infidelity because

humans, especially
to

women.

similar

what occurs

of

Shahrayar.

Having

ruled

successfully

over

Samarkand far from his brother

for ten years, Shahzaman is visited by Shahrayar's vizier, Shahrazad's father, and told of his older brother's longing to see him. Shahzaman eagerly makes all
the
preparations

for the

long journey

and even camps outside

the city on the eve

interpretation,

Fall 1993, Vol. 21, No. 1

60
of

Interpretation
his departure in he decides to
order

to get

night

return and wife

early start. But towards the middle of the bid his wife farewell. This solicitous gesture
an with a

leads him to discover his

in bed

lowly

kitchen helper.

Enraged, Shahzaman kills them both, throws their bodies out of the castle, and departs immediately. He travels relentlessly night and day until he reaches
his
older

brother. Though Shahrayar

But Shahzaman

notices

zaman, he

cannot extract an explanation.

that something is troubling Shah To distract him, Shahrayar proposes a

to stay behind. Looking out the his brother's palace quite by acci

hunting
dent, he
vants

expedition.

prefers

window of

the guesthouse at the garden of

sees

his brother's
and

wife

walking

about with

twenty
really
the

of

her female
Each

ser

ten white

ten black.

Suddenly, they

all

take off their clothes, and

men.

Shahzaman discovers that the ten black

promptly
settles

servants are

of

them

down to
for her

sexual pastimes with one of

women servants as

the

queen cries out

own

lover. The

moment

his

name

(Mas'ud

or

"Lucky")

is called, another black man jumps down from a tree and tends to her desires. The realization that not even his brother is safe from betrayal relieves Shah
zaman 's

depression,

and

Shahrayar

notices

the change

upon

his

return.

Lengthy

questioning finally leads to Shahzaman's explanation of the reasons for his depression and its cure as well as to a plan whereby Shahrayar can discover for himself how his wife deceives him. Throughout Shahzaman's account of his
own misfortune and rayar sumed and

then
own

both

by

his

infidelity of his brother's admission and by the way he is

of

the

wife,

we see

Shah

portrayed

as con wife

her

by lowly lover,
at

immense

anger.

Whereas Shahzaman
confesses:

was content

to slay his
your

Shahrayar least
a

"By

God, had I been in

thousand
women. we are

place, I

would

have killed

hundred

or even a

would

have

been

furious; I
was

would

have
and

mad"

gone

(p. 7). And

told that "when

King
pre

Shahrayar heard

what

his brother his blood

said and
boiled."

found

out what when

had happened to

him, he

furious

Thus,

the two brothers

tend to go off on another

guesthouse so that
narrator explains:

hunting

expedition, only to slip secretly back to the

"When

Shahrayar may observe his wife's conduct in the garden, the King Shahrayar saw the spectacle of his wife and the
his
mind"

slave

girls, he
rage

went out of not yet

(p. 8).
wife and

This
to the
needed women

does

lead Shahrayar to kill his

the

slave girls nor

decision that brings Shahrazad into the tale. Another experience is before he becomes so persuaded of the treachery or deceitfulness of
that he

first

wreaks

his

vengeance upon

his

wife and

her

servants and

then concludes that the only way he can protect

of women

himself from the faithlessness

them. But to step
wife's
of

is to kill them

after

having

spent the night with

upon

back

brother, however, Shahrayar does not first kill his wife and her lover. Moreover, unlike Shahzaman, Shahrayar undertakes his voyage for the sake of learning: he wants
younger

moment, his immediate reaction like the reaction of his younger brother
a

learning

his

infidelity

is flight. Unlike his

Book Reviews
to

61

find

someone who suffers greater misfortune

than they. Thus

he

proposes

that if

they find
all

such a

person,

they

will return and reestablish need

themselves; if

not,

they

will roam

the land "without

for the trappings

royalty.

of

Whereas
the

that has taken place

stands

until now

is

fully

explicable within normal

of

human norms, the tale that

as an

between

us and a

the introduction

Shahrazad

storyteller par excellence

involves
a

being

beyond human

comprehen

sion

'ifrtt

or a

jinn,

that

is,

demon

or supernatural

being

of suprahuman
of our coun

size and power.

From this

point

on,

we are confronted with

the limits

traditional skill and

learning. Even

religious

knowledge is insufficient to

ter the powers of these supranatural

and an additional and

morning

having

taken them to the

an

beings. At any rate, the wandering of a day edge of the sea, Shahrayar
extraordinary being rise up out of the seen the demon first, they are able to hide

Shahzaman

are astonished

to see

sea

like

huge black
As

pillar.

Having
have

in

a tree.

chance would

chest with chest a

four locks

on

it

stops

beautiful young woman. chest away on her wedding night and keeps her for himself in this padlocked the bottom of the sea, the demon lays his head on her lap and falls asleep. The young
woman

the black demon carrying a large glass beneath just that tree and takes from the Then, speaking to her of how he snatched her

it,

at

happens to look up into the tree and see the two brothers. Gently placing the demon's head on the ground, she beckons them to come down to her and insists they make love to her or else she will awaken the demon. Now, then, they find themselves in the position of the kitchen helper
and

Mas'ud

with respect and

to the

demon, both insofar

as

as

they

are

demonstrably
is completely
what

inferior to the demon

woman whose passed

insofar

they have had illicit

be to
another.2

sexual relations with a guilt

first

allegiance should

Their

over, however, in the

woman with respect
need,3

emphasis

the story

places on

the perfidy of the

she

young

to the demon.
woman

refers to as

her

the young

Indeed, after satisfying demands they give her their

rings
of
made

rings and shapes

shows them a small purse and colors.

containing
a man who

ninety-eight other

different

Each is from

has

love to her:

although

four locks and kept at the bottom of the sea by her wedding night only to be brought ashore when he deems it perfectly safe, she has still managed to betray him with a hundred different men! The explana "when a tion, as she puts it so succinctly to Shahrayar and Shahzaman, is that in
a chest with
her"

locked up the demon since

woman

desires

something, no one can

condition

stop

(p. 10).

Shahrayar's
suffers
greater

has been

misfortune

They have surely found someone who Therefore they. than they return to Shahrayar's
met.
governed

camp,
of

and

he

sets about

the task of ruling

honor

on those who

had

his kingdom. After bestowing robes during his absence, Shahrayar orders his
wife

vizier

Shahrazad's father

to put

his

to death. It

is he himself, however,

who puts the

female

servants

to death. At this point he makes the decision that

leads to

the

tutelary

role played

by

Shahrazad:

62

Interpretation
He then
swore to

order to save

marry for one night only himself from the wickedness

and

kill the cunning

woman

the next morning,

in

and

of

women, saying, 'There

earth."

is

not a single chaste woman anywhere on

the entire face

of

the

(P.

10)
the

No further

mention

is

made of

his

earlier

anger,

way it blinds him to the pursuit of his own good after sending Shahzaman back to his kingdom, not to be
tales that

its very depth frame what follows.

yet

and

Indeed,
in the

mentioned again a wife

follow,
of

Shahrayar

orders

the

vizier

to find him to
put

the daughters
next

the princes.
a

Ordering the

vizier

from among this woman to death the

morning, he takes

next night and

daughter from among the army officers as a wife the does the same. Then he turns to the daughters of the merchant
of

class and

eventually to those
much

the commoners, sleeping

with each

woman

through the night and ordering the vizier to put her to death in the morning.

However

this practice protects Shahrayar from the possible

infidelity

of

his mates, it wreaks havoc among his subjects mothers and fathers as well as daughters. Soon the whole kingdom is in an uproar, and everyone is praying to
the Creator for help.

At this point, Shahrazad is

presented

to us.

She is described

as a

well-read,

highly

cultivated,

and

thoughtful young
of

woman:

Shahrazad had poetry

wise,

read

the books
studied

literature,

philosophy,

and medicine.

She knew

by

heart, had

of men and

the maxims of

historical reports, and was acquainted with the sayings sages and kings. She was intelligent, knowledgeable,
read and

and refined.

She had

learned. (P. 11)

She is, moreover,

a woman with a clear

ity

who wishes

to

try

to

save

her

people

understanding of her exceptional abil from Shahrayar's wrongful rule. Con

her
as

sequently,

she

asks

her father to

choose

Shahrayar's

"bride."

next

Though nothing has been said about her skill in telling tales, the account of how she counters her father's attempt to refuse her request illustrates her deep understanding of the narrative art. To dissuade her, he relates two tales for understanding the speech of animals
about a merchant whose unusual gift almost

leads to his death. It does

so

because for him to

reveal more

this gift to others will

bring

about

his death. But

Shahrazad, seeing
turns them merchant,
an ox who

against

clearly than her father the real impact of the tales, him in an unexpected manner. The first tale involves the lives in the country and has a farm, overhearing a donkey tell

how to

avoid work

by

advice, the

merchant

has the he

pretending to be sick. When the ox follows this donkey do the work normally assigned the ox.
made a

The

donkey

realizes that

he has
perish

dreadful

mistake

by

and will perish unless

can return

things to their previous order.

coaching the ox So, too, says

as

the vizier,

will

Shahrazad

When

she

persists, he responds

by her mistake. by threatening

to treat

her

the merchant

did his

wife.

Walking

through the stable later that night

with

his wife, the

Book Reviews
merchant

63

hears the
the
next

donkey
on

tell the

ox

that he

will

be

slaughtered

if he feigns
laughs
when

sickness
aloud.

day. Amused

His

wife

insists
on

by the donkey's knowing the reason for

he heard
will what

guile, the

merchant

his laughter. Even

he

explains

that to

for him to insist

reveal what

continues

knowing

lead to his death, his wife he heard. As he is about to reveal his

secret and thus

die, he

overhears a rooster who satisfies

fifty

hens tell

dog
is

that

all

the

merchant needs

to do is

push

his

wife

into

a small room and

beat her

with a stick until she relents.

The

merchant

heeds the

rooster's advice and

saved.

But Shahrazad is

not

deterred

by

her father's threats to treat her in the

Nights,"

same

fashion. As Mahdi notes, the vizier's stories fail because he does not under stand their real point (see Mahdi, "Remarks on the 7007 pp. 159-60).
He likens his daughter to the
will

lead

to

donkey in the first tale, saying that her meddling her demise. And he likens himself to the merchant in the second

tale, claiming that he will beat her until she relents just as the merchant did to his wife. He does not understand that the key to both stories is the merchant's
secret knowledge of the way animals speak. That knowledge brought about the donkey's misery in the first story and the wife's beating in the second. The vizier misses the point of these stories because he does not appreciate

the

merchant's unusual gift.

Shahrazad does, however. Even if

she

is

not able

to understand the secret language of animals, she is

secret

fully

conversant

in the

language

of

human beings

who resort

to tales in

order

to

communicate

their ideas. Thus

she sees

that the real point

work and

of

both

stories

is the

donkey lying
her
appre

to trick the ox into resuming his

pain

the merchant substituting fear and

for his

wife's

idle,

even

pernicious,

curiosity.

In

keeping

with

ciation of

these tales,

she

threatens her

father

her in

marriage

to Shahrayar she

will accuse

by telling him that unless he gives him of begrudging his sovereign a

desire to
use

woman such as

herself.
appreciation of

Shahrazad's
tion
of

her

own gift and

it for

the

instruc
to

Shahrayar finds its first

Dinarzad:
well

expression

in the wily instructions

she gives

her

sister

Sister, listen
you, and

to what I

am

telling

you.

When I

go

to the

king, I
a

will send

for

when you come and see

that the

king

has finished

with

me, say,

"Sister,
will

if

story."

you are not

sleepy, tell

us a

Then I

will

begin to tell

story, and it

cause

the

king

to stop his practice, save myself, and deliver the people. (P.
spin

16)

Once

she

begins to
with

tales, Shahrazad clearly demonstrates her

unusual skill.

She begins
strife

the extraordinary or the superhuman, that

is,

the role demons to questions of

and other enchanted

beings play in

our

daily by

affairs,

and moves

between the
tales

religious communities as well as manuscript edited

to the way rulers lose their

and translated enough

power.

Although the

Mahdi

by Haddawy
of

contains

the dangers

lasting for only 271 nights, it is long lurking just beyond our immediate

to give us a view of

perception.4

The last tale

the

64

Interpretation
details how easy it is to fall under an enchantment or a spell and how break that spell once it has taken hold of us. Several other stories
and,
above

collection

hard it is
show us

to

all, Shahrayar themselves

how

prudent rulers can use

disguise

and

elusive speech to present

as other than

they

are,

thereby gaining
spellbound

better insight into The

compiler

is going on in their kingdom. of these tales indicates how easy it is to become

what

by

showing us what occurs to King Shahrayar in the course of as he listens to Shahrazad. In the beginning, almost every
notation about

these nine months

night ends with a

how

eager the

king

is to hear the

end of

the story or about how

over.

he tells himself he explicitly

thoughts
razad's content presses

will

delay

Shahrazad's death
a particular story.

until

it is

Sometimes, he

her to finish

and even seem

his

commands

become less

As time passes, however, his part of the framework: Shah

tales

to take on a life of their own, and the

king

appears

as

to hear her out as the rest

to himself that

thinking
will

he

would

of us; only rarely is mention made of his like to hear the end of a particular tale and

then put Shahrazad to

would

death.
silence

It

have been difficult to

Shahrazad

at

the very

beginning, for

every tale seemed to beget another, thereby leading to tales that are themselves tales within tales. Thus, in the collection as presented here, there are only
seven major

tales in

addition

to the tales

of

the

recounted.5

prologue

already little

Yet four

of these major

tales give rise to at least twenty-five smaller stories.

not

Even those tales that do

have

explicit excursions nonetheless contain major

byways that
razad

must

be followed before the

nature of

theme can be regained.

we

Given the incomplete

we gain

the collection,

do

not

learn how Shah

practice.

eventually leading King insight into difficulties between men

succeeds

in

Shahrayar to stop his

and women

But

that go far

beyond

sexual

infidelity,

and we see

that Shahrayar's experiences were nothing com

rulers.

pared to

the deceptions that have befallen other

practice of

We learn that

some men

discern the inequities in the

urge against
man and

marrying

more

than one woman and

it (see

p.

352). And

King

Shahrayar

of

their wives,

for

each

King Shahza acted too impetuously when discovering the infidelity one failed to find out why he had been deceived by his
we come

to understand that both

mate.

In sum, Shahrazad's tales

world around us

prompt us to greater reflection on what goes on

well as

in the
act as

the seen as

the

unseen

and on

why

people

they do.
provides an explicit answer

No tale

to these reflections or even the outlines

of an answer.

But taken in how

conjunction with the

frame story, they

remind us

over and over again of

how little deserved it truly is how little deserved and, more importantly, how little ap preciated until lost. In the end, then, we come to replace King Shahrayar
our present contentment and ourselves and

fleeting

is

by

to ask what

Shahrazad's tales Although

we

might

teach

us about not

ourselves as well as of others.

are,

hopefully,

rulership of in as dire need

Book Reviews
of

65

lessons

of statecraft as well-read and

King Shahrayar,
thoughtful

we can still

learn
tales

much

from the
them

tales of this

woman.

Husain Haddawy's felicitous translation

more accessible verse

enlivens these

and makes

than any previous English version. His rendering of the poetic is excellent, for it has both rhyme and meter. Shunning the older, Victo

rian

practice of

what

is

on

and sexual

making the text mysterious or Haddawy translates the page. He uses precise terminology for spices, flowers, clothing, allusions. When the languge is robust, even crude, in Arabic, Had
a similar
such a competent

"oriental,"

dawy renders it in largely because in

require about sexes our

English. Finally, footnotes are kept to a minimum, translation few things seem so arcane as to

learned

explanation. came and

Consequently, for
thus appreciate

the first time,

one can wonder

how Shahrazad (see

pp.

to such an awareness of pleasantries between the

73-75)

how

she

holds Shahrayar's

and

interest.

of

In sum, this is as much a book for reading as it is for teaching. To students literature and of comparative culture, it provides a delightful introduction to different
world.

a quite

For thoughtful

readers

desirous

of

learning
has

more about

the

problems of statecraft and

the tensions between politics and revelation,

The
a

Arabian Nights is

also most

instructive. Husain

Haddawy

presented

here

very faithful
centuries as readers

rendition of

tales that

have thrilled
where

millions of

Arabic

speakers

for

patrons of coffee

houses

these tales

would

be recited,

as well

delighting

in these tales

at

their leisure.

The text has been extremely errors have slipped through:

p.
p.

well

prepared,

and

only

few

typographical

p. p.

94, 9 lines from bottomread for 169, line 14read bottom read 177, 15 lines from bottom read 305, 11 lines from
"by"

"I"

for

"It"

"my"

"in"

for for

"on"

"and"

for

"ad"

Inside jacket

on

hardback

"Jewett"

"Jowett."

read

NOTES
Nights,"

1. Muhsin Mahdi, "Remarks on the 1001 Layla wa Layla, ed. Muhsin Mahdi (Leiden: E. J.

Interpretation, 3 (1973), Brill, 1984).

is
white and

pp.

157-68.

Alf

2. Shahrayar, moreover,

reverses

the racial roles here: he

the demon black. The

notes seem

issue is

not

race,

however, but
Nights,"

color as a sign of p.

the

oppressed class.

As Mahdi
royal

in his
to be

"Remarks
the the

on

the 1001 the

158: "The
of a new

declining

fortunes

of

the

house

coordinated with

rising

fortunes

religion, whose

lucky
man.

star appears

to signal a

rise in
the

fortune

of

the unfortunate, the kitchen hand and the

black

In

fact,

the transformation of

slave

ladies into

men

indicates that the

new conjunction of

the stars is

favoring

in general, both women and black men, the conventions that had established their inferior
unfortunate

who are

joining

in

a common rebellion against

position."

66

Interpretation
3. Literally, her purpose (gharad). For whatever reason, literal translation would entail. 4. The story
related on

Haddawy

avoids

the philosophical

speculation such a

the 136th night, that to have his

is,

the central

night of this

collection, explains theft

how did
and

a noble

young

man came

right hand
and

cut off as punishment

for

it turns

out

he

not commit.

5. Namely, "The the Three

Hunchback"

Ladies"

of the

(pp. 17-66), "The Story of the Porter (pp. 66-150), "The Story of the Three (pp. 150-206), "The Story (pp. 206-95), "The Story of Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Bakkar and the Slave-Girl

Story

of the

Merchant

the

Demon"

Apples"

Shams

al-Nahar"

(pp.

295-344), "The Story

and

of the

Slave-Girl Anis
of

al-Jalis and

Nur

al-Din

Ali

ibn-

Khaqan"

(pp. 344-83),

"The

Story

of

Jullanar

the

Sea"

(pp. 383-428).

American Revolution
p.p., $37.50.

Steven M. Dworetz, The Unvarnished Doctrine: Locke, Liberalism, and the 247 (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1990), x
-I-

Michael P. Zuckert Carleton College

Steven Dworetz 's Unvarnished Doctrine

revolution server at as

provides evidence that

the

counter

is proceeding in full swing, and, in the eyes of this interested ob least, is now near total victory. Dworetz joins such other retrogrades

John Diggins, Joyce Appleby, Isaac Kramnick, Thomas Pangle, and Robert Webking in attempting to roll back the revolution in the historiography of the American

founding

initiated
as

almost a quarter

century

ago

by

Bernard Bailyn. It

is

obvious

the time for a "revision of the

revisionists"

"republican

paradigm,"

Dworetz

calls

it, has by

now

has arrived, for the left the pages of its

initial sponsors, Bailyn, Gordon Wood, J.G.A. Pocock, and Lance Banning, and become not only the dominant view among specialists, but also the staple
of college

textbooks and the received wisdom among nonspecialists, especially,

it seems, legal nonspecialists. Dworetz's contribution to the ject

of

counterrevolution

is

considerable.

"The

sub

this

book,"

he says, is "a
who

critical examination of

the

republican revision

and a reassessment of
tion"

the role of Lockean-liberal ideas in the American revolu

(p. 7). For those he

sketches the
origin of

have been in
of

some sort of stupor since at some

the late
perhaps

sixties

history

the

historiography

length,

reflecting the

the book in a doctoral dissertation. The old,

prerevolu-

tionary view was captured well by the title of a famous article: "The Great Mr. The republican paradigm pushed Locke pretty Locke, America's far off stage; he had, at most, a negligible presence during the revolutionary
Philosopher."

era,

much

less

significant than associated

the

classical republican or civic

humanist

con

Machiavelli, Har by of importance for the John Trenchard and most Americans, rington, and, Thomas Gordon, writing in the 1720's as Cato. Dworetz "considers this historiographical revolution in and concludes that the old view was essen
ception of politics

Pocock

and

others

with

detail"

tially

correct, if

not always

well

supported

by

its

proponents.

"In terms

of

and prescription, American revolutionary thought differed in (p. 96). from Lockean-liberal political way The nonspecialist might be pardoned for wondering why Dworetz devoted six or seven years of his life and why so many others get excited about what

language, theory,
no essential

theory"

might appear a

very

academic question

indeed,

whether

the Americans were

interpretation, Fall 1993, Vol.

21, No. 1

68

Interpretation
taken
made with

more

Locke

or

Machiavelli. Like
defense"

most

specialists, Dworetz
pursue

could

have
cause

the

classic

"Everest

("Why
bunch

do I

this

research?

Be

posthumous reputations of
phers.

it's there!"), but he insists the Locke and

"A
society's

stakes are much a of other

higher than the dead

an

mere

political philoso

understanding
the

of

its

founding

doctrine is its

integral

part of

its

self-consciousness and
vision"

ultimate source of

sense of purpose and nor

mative

(p. 3). This

self-consciousness provides purposes and national

"the Republic's

self-

understanding of its origins, and bad, right and wrong,

distinctions between

good

...

the standards

by

which citizens evaluate con

arrangements"

temporary
version of

events, practices,
the

and

(pp.

3-4, 184). The Lockean

historical

founding

supplies

"the

essential source of

legitimacy

for the defense

is

of constitutional politics

in the
(pp.

age,"

modern

for Lockean theory

preclude,
and

inherently
The
part

liberal

and constitutionalist

94, 186).
not

republican

paradigm,

by

contrast, "does

inherently

may in

be inclined toward, the antithesis of constitutional politics and personal (p. 5). Although it is probably entirely foreign to their pur pose, the new historians are giving more than aid and comfort to liberalism's
freedom"

(p. 38). Some unnamed "leading contemporary "political are now engaging in "antiliberal encouraging "the Republic to reject own its first (p. 188). Insufficiently aware of the political implica
rhetoric" principles"

enemies"

politicians"

tions of their own research, "the most principled scholars may

inadvertently
assault"

have helped to (p. 38). For

reasons

prepare

the intellectual ground

for this

current political

that will become clear

of

later,

this explicit political defense only

partly tells the tale

neath sense of

Dworetz's

engagement with

his subject, however. Be historians

miss or

the surface and between the lines pokes out another kind of motive. His

fairness

and

truth is offended. The republican

dis

miss so much clear evidence

and spirit swell

in

order

to make their case that Dworetz's anger

power."

forth to "speak truth to his instruments

(It is power,

by

the way,
a

because grip
with on

at

the time Dworetz began

work

the republican paradigm had

firm

the academic

of preferment and

position.) He is

concerned

quite so cosmic as

historical truth, per se, and I for one find this at least as admirable if not his rising to the defense of the republic (cf. pp. 197 n. 43; 199 n. 72; 204 n. 31, 111-13). To be sure, this concern for historical truth him
pre-"postmodern,"

makes

but he

seems

blissfully

untouched

by

such

corrosive

teachings.
make some of scholar

genuinely amazed that the historians could do. For example, John Dunn, an English they Dworetz retains much respect, asserted that the colonists,
seems claims attention

He

the

for

whom

so far as they paid Locke in the any prerevolutionary struggle, probably misread him in thinking that he supported their position. Instead, Dunn thought there was but one "objective reader of the Two in those years, Peter van Schaack, who used Lockean arguments to conclude that revolution was not

to

Treatises"

Book Reviews
justified (p. 21). Dworetz
stead

69

almost

entirely disagrees

with

Dunn, believing in

that the colonists both widely and accurately used Locke, but he finds especially noteworthy what Dunn failed to say about Peter van Schaack. Dunn

"left the theater

of

In 1776, Van Schaack, by his own account his mind, without changing his political (p. 28). Earlier he had "allowed the British government the benefit of the doubt"; more experience taught him that he had reasoned on the basis of "inadequate information concerning Parliament's (p. 28). The full story of Van
at
...

intermission.

the event, changed

principles"

intentions"

Schaack, then,

provides no support

for the idea that

tion to the events of

1763-1776

would produce a

genuinely Lockean reac Tory rather than a Patriot

a

revolution.

stance, for using the same Lockean principles, Van Schaack came to favor the But of this change of heart, we learn nothing from Dunn.

Another

example

that

seems

to

have

energized

Dworetz
to

concerns

the

tally

by

one scholar of

the number of

Locke's works,
a

relative

to others, in

colonial

libraries. That
courses over

scholar

found

"priority

accorded

[Algernon] Sidney's Dis

Locke's

Treatises,"

find fraught
sets of

with

"special

meaning"

priority which that scholar was inclined to (p. 41). Dworetz rightly notices, however,

that this scholar has counted

only separate editions of Locke's Treatises and not Locke's Works, which, of course, contain his political essay. Recal culating with the Works included produces a quite different result: "Locke on
government now corrects

heads the but

list"

(p. 41).

Scholarly

procedures such as scholars

Dworetz
their

here

cannot

give

the impression that the

have

allowed

pet points to prevail over their

dedication to historical
shows

accuracy.

On these
prominent overstated

and other matters

Dworetz

how

weak

the

empirical

base for

the republican thesis is.

Acquaintance
and

with

the texts shows readily enough how

much

Locke was,
the

correspondingly, how
and other of

the historians have

presence of

Cato

the

so-called classical republicans

(p. 44). Dworetz tends, for the most part, to predecessors generously. Either they were Locke to
notice

explain not

the

empirical errors of
acquainted

his

sufficiently

with

the presence of Lockean

ideas
of

when

they

saw

them,

or

they

labored
the first

under a questionable

interpretation

Locke. Dworetz

appears

to find

failing

in Bailyn
crucial

and

the second in Pocock. An ability to recognize

an

Lockean ideas is
ean

because
of

investigator

must

be

able

to

identify

Lock
In

ideas

independently

"objective"

indications like

attributed quotations. attribution

the

eighteenth

place

century our conventions of footnoting and (p. 43). Some eighteenth-century political pamphlets from Locke (or
name or

had little
nothing

consisted of

but

quotations

some other

source) strung together with not one

expressed a

mention of enous

Locke's
much

indication that the ideas

or

source,

less

what that source was.

It takes

had an exog learned eye, then, to

circumstances. political

spot

the

presence of

Locke

any

other source under

those

Historical research, therefore, must most of the historians are. Dworetz believes that he

be better

grounded

in

theory

than

can advance

the question
theory"

precisely because he brings "the interpretive discipline

of political

to it.

70

Interpretation
The interpretive issue
centers on

the meaning of Locke's

of

political philoso

phy.

According
to

to

the "Chicago

Locke,"

is, according

Dworetz, that is, Locke Dworetz, a

not

the proponents
as
"secular,"

the

republican paradigm accept

interpreted

by the

late Leo Strauss. This

who

"bourgeois"

Locke,

"represents

only 'the spirit of correct, he thinks,

capitalism'"

(pp. 115, 173). The republican historians are to find this Locke in the American sources, for the
Locke"

Americans knew nothing of him. Dworetz favors a "Cambridge stead, that is, Locke as interpreted by John Dunn, Peter Laslett,
This Locke is
ments can

in

and others.

a real theist, indeed, is a thinker whose chief political commit limited government, constitutionalism, and the right of resistance be understood only in terms of his theological commitments (pp. 39, 117,

to

123). This Locke

sowed revolution.

was a particular

favorite

of

the New England clergy, who

the political

ideas that

produced an abundant
liberalism"

harvest

at

the time of the to the

This Locke's "theistic

to the Americans

also

had far

more appeal

clergy,

and

republican

in general, than the deistic doctrines of Pocock's theorists like Cato (pp. 135, 148). "The ministers must have felt

more comforted with

Locke,

fellow believer

en route

to the 'eternal

estate'

than on the civic humanist road to political

salvation"

(p. 183). Had the histo

than the

rians known

about would

and

looked for the Cambridge

a

rather

Chicago

Locke, they

have found his

unmistakable presence

By his own admission Dworetz does not do lishing the supremacy of the Cambridge over
Locke, but it is
his
version of nonetheless worth

nearly very adequate job in estab the Chicago interpretation of

one

everywhere.

mentioning a few difficulties. For Strauss's interpretation is nearly a caricature. Strauss

thing,

never said

Locke
a

represented

"only

the 'spirit of

capitalism.'"

Strauss

also

finds in Locke

liberal constitutionalist, as Dworetz does. Moreover, Dworetz's scholarship on this question is remarkably shoddy, ironically reminding a bit of the republi can history he criticizes so effectively. He does not pay attention, for example,
to the specific criticisms raised against the tion to

Cambridge Locke. He

pays no atten

for rejecting the theistic Locke. It's not as though the theistic Locke is not generally accessible: he lies sprawled across the surface of Locke's texts. Strauss thought he perceived clear indications by Locke himself of difficulties with the surface and tried to follow out those indications.
reasons

Strauss's

Dworetz,
Locke's

moreover,

pays

rhetorical strategies

insufficient attention to the many discussions of that have accompanied the Chicago interpretation.

Dworetz waveringly concludes that his interpretation of Locke is only one among several, including Strauss's, which are textually defensible. "The fate of he says, "does not depend upon the proposition that the theistic my
argument,"

Locke is the only Locke

the textual

in the Lockean corpus, or even upon denying Locke" (p. 33). Although he does not always adhere to that tolerant position (cf. pp. 98, 110, 117, 125, 131, 138 151), he invokes it because, he believes, the decisive issue is not
available

legitimacy

of

the

bourgeois

Locke is the

really

which

most

textually

authentic, but rather

which

Locke is

most

likely

to

Book Reviews
have been
Locke
mean

71

appropriated

by

the Americans. It is not merely

a matter of what

but of what he was most likely to have been taken to "really by the population under investigation (p. 9). It was a religious age, there
simple as

meant,"

fore the theistic Locke. As

"I think, therefore I

am."

Dworetz has an important, although not entirely an original point here. He is, however, merely restating without realizing it a point made by Strauss him
self.

Strauss

argued

that Locke's philosophic doctrine

was presented

was not grounded

in

theistic thinking, but that it

that reason
whether

(in part) in that

form,

Locke's doctrine became practically successful. are understood in the manner of Strauss or in the manner of however. If Strauss is correct, then Dworetz is in danger of missing Dworetz,
these facts
what

partly for Much depends on

and

I think

of as

the

"willy-nilly"

positions

only ostensibly
them
where

grounded

factor: by appealing to his audience with in their theistic commitments, does not
which, willy-nilly, may lead them
quite a

Locke

perhaps set

off on paths

way from

they first

thought

they

were going?

Dworetz

involuntarily

testifies to this possibility

when he insists on the one hand that the Lockean liberal society remains, in his judgment, viable and desirable; but on the other that the theistic roots of it he finds in Locke no longer are so. Dworetz con

cedes that under might

and

the aegis of liberalism, modern America has become secular; have something to do with accepting Lockean political, moral, epistemological ideas? He concedes also that liberalism is valuable quite this
not of

independently
Might Locke Dworetz's
paradigm of

not

theism; therefore, there must be an alternate have had such an understanding also?
demise
of

ground

for it.

contribution to the

the recently triumphant republican

important; he unanswerably reinstates the centrality Locke for the revolutionary generation, even disregarding the questionable parts of his discussion of the meaning of Locke. He is not persuasive, however,
substantial and

is

in his

explanation

for the

shortcomings of the republican

historians. First

of

all,

Pocock surely is aware of the Cambridge Locke, being a close intellectual ally of the Cambridge political theorists. Secondly, the difference between Pocock's
liberalism may perhaps be more starkly drawn vis-a-vis the Chicago Locke, but the disagreements persist even with regard to the Cam bridge Locke. The issue has to do with the status of the political; Pocock's
republicanism and
republicans

find the fulfillment Locke

affirms

of

personality in citizenship

and political

life.

No

version of even

that. Pocock's republicans are community ori

purpose"

ented;

Finally, it

Dworetz's Locke is emphatically individualist (cf. pp. 174-79). must be noted, Dworetz altogether fails in his "civic
Locke,"

of

reinvigorating contemporary liberalism by reinstating the Lockean the founding (p. 38). Dworetz's founding Locke is the "theistic "theistic liberalism is Locke has been
not an

character of

but

ideology

for

our

times.

Indeed,

the theistic

(pp. 187, 188). Accordingly, "we have to honorably depart from the theistic Locke in order to make a persuasive case for liberalism
retired"

today."

Contrary

to the premise of the enterprise, Dworetz does not uncover a

72

Interpretation
past"

"usable

correct about
approach

for us, what is

able

to

legitimate
in these
prove

our present.

But if Dworetz is

at all

at stake

debates,
both

might not a more more

open-minded

to a more

secular

Locke

textually

sound and more

appropriable as well?

This is the

question with which

Dworetz's helpful book

leaves

us.

Arne Naess, Ecology, Community and Lifestyle. Translated and edited by David Rothenberg (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), xiii + 223
pp.,
cloth

$49.50,

paper

$17.95.

Charles T. Rubin
Duquesne

Univeristy
has
to be

Over the

past

thirty
this
or

years what

come

mainstream

environmental-

ism has been

characterized

by

a serious ambiguity.

As

often as

it has been

virulent critic of

that particular

result of modern science and

technology,

it has finite

always relied on modern science and

environmental problems are to

"problems"

be

solved.

technology as the means by which Indeed, that very rubric that mere are
definite
"solutions"

in

man's

relationship is
an

with nature with

testifies to the

fact

that environmentalism

is

The

success of

this movement

issue

deeply rooted in hotly contested

by

modernity.

between those

of

more and

less

environmental

But those

most committed

fervor (for today, are not so impressed

we are all environmentalists).

their accomplishments that

stem

they

are

unwilling to
and

entertain

the possibility that their failures

from

not

having

thought through environmental problems in a sufficiently

radical way.

sufficiently progressive to question that we were always in every way brought better living through chemistry. But the cutting edge has moved on.
was

In the 1950s

1960s it

We

are

told now,

by

a movement

that calls itself

ecology,"

"deep
very
this

that to
premises

deal

with environmental problems

it is necessary to

question the

of modernity.

Such

an enterprise will might

hardly
here

shock readers of

journal; in
ecology a for

deed, for many it

serious such

be

prima

facie

evidence

for giving

deep

hearing. The

volume reviewed

provides an excellent occasion

consideration, as it is
of

largely

written

by

the

spiritual and philosophical

father

deep

ecology, the Norwegian

who and

philosopher

Arne Naess.
an editor and a

David Rothenberg,

Ecology, Community
Naess's ship
possible part of
work as a

is something more than Lifestyle, but less than

that provides a "new

translator of
characterizes

coauthor,

"system"

ontology"

for

man's relation

with nature
...

(p. 2). If

understood"

"fully
at

this ontology makes

would mean

it "no longer
an

to injure

nature

wantonly, as this
the same

injuring

integral
result

ourselves"

(p. 2). Yet

time, he

notes

that

"Naess'

is

not a work of philosophical or

logical

argumentation

'It is primarily intu

or philosophical

itions', he

says"

(p. 2). As

result, to have an

"ecosophy"

ecology, is to have "a personal system, a personal Rothenberg introduces three important themes in these

philosophy"

(p. 5). In

remarks.

what

way

interpretation,

Fall 1993, Vol. 21, No. 1

74
is

Interpretation

ecology a philosophically based movement; what does it understand philosophy to be? How is its philosophical character reconciled with its per

deep

sonal, intuitional basis? And how do philosophy harm to nature is, and why it us what
"wanton"

and

intuition be it

combine

to teach

should

avoided?

As

movement,

deep

of philosophical sophistication. over

ecology This
or

prides

itself

on what

sees as a

high degree
an advance

sophistication

is

what makes with

it

the previous

"shallow"

"reform"

environmentalism,

its too ready

in
a part

acceptance of the perspective of modernity.

Deep

ecology is

radical

because it is philosophical; because it claims to hitherto unreached by environmental theorists. What does
ticulated

question whatever

is to

depth

deep

ecology

question about?

Philosophy

is

stressed

because
role

our
ar

environmental problems represent a crisis of values.

world-

Although there is "no

view which endorses mankind's current

[destructive]

in the

ecosphere"

(p.

87)
is

there is

"deeply

grounded

unecological"

production

that

(p. 104). This

ideology of consumption and ideology must be challenged by

Ideally,
these norms

the forceful
are
of

articulation and

defense

of alternative norms.

to be part of a system, an

"ecosophy."

"A

system

is

a structured assemblage

statements,

all provisional and

tentative. An all-encompassing philosophical

system

is

meant

to express all fundamental (or

basic)

premises

for thought

and

action and

to suggest some areas of concrete

application"

(p. 73). The

develop

ment of such a system seems

to be the philosophical task.

It may

seem

odd, then, that throughout the

book,

questions

Naess
or

admits are

important
above

philosophical

issues

are raised

only to be

dropped

deferred. The

provisional and personal character of much of what

is discussed
the

is,

as

in the Eco

quotation,

freely

admitted.

Indeed, Naess
his
and even there
of

withholds

articulation of called

the system

upon which until

this book is based

personal

ecosophy,

sophy T

the

formulation
prise

of an

final chapter, ecosophy is out

he

notes

that the "complete

the

question

(p. 196).

Such modesty could be understood as called for by the philosophical enter itself, and Naess appears genuinely to have his share of that modesty. But

that is

the bulk of the

apparently not always its book is more a

But Naess is
while

source.

A hint

of an alternative purpose
or even

is that have
a

political

handbook,
lest

tract,

then it is a

philosophical text.

concerned

deep

ecology

appear to

rigid ideology. Thus,

Chapter 1

contains an eight-point platform of general

the

deep
tance

ecology movement, it is of "richness and

with

highly
of and

in tone. It
earth, the

speaks of
need

the impor

diversity"

life

on

to

limit human
and the

interference
in

this richness

diversity

as much as

possible,

way

which such

limitation
and

will require

fundamental
(p. 29).

changes

in "basic economic,
so

technological

ideological is

structures"

The book

as a whole

an explication of

this platform, but in the

explaining

one message comes across with perfect clarity: must seek the widest circle of allies possible.

deep

To do

so

ecology movement it must be prepared both

to make them

to confront its

(probable)

enemies

in

ways most

likely

friends

Book Reviews
and also

75
on

be

careful not to alienate those conformity.

inclined to be friends
"method"

by insisting

ideological
ginning

Naess's

philosophical

of "precisation" be

with and

slowly imize
pains

very general formulations such as those in the platform, and only in stages exploring more precise meanings is well designed to
of consent

produce

the maximum level

to
are

deep

ecology's propositions and min

glades.

conflict.

In Naess's forest there

many

For example, he takes

that "A
person's opin

to show from

an examination of selected passages

ion
she

about

the ecological movement cannot

Bible'"

be derived from the fact that he

presumption

or

'believes in the

(p. 187), the

being

that

such people

learn something from economists, normally considered the hereditary enemy of environmentalists. One might argue in respect to these observations that to a becoming philo
are not

likely

to

be

sympathetic.

Deep

ecologists can even

sophical

modesty Naess has

added a certain
what

both these interpretations doubtful is

necessary prudence. What makes Naess understands philosophy to be

and precisation.

doing

when

it

contributes

to systemization
of

He

presents

his

ecosophy

with

the "main
to

goal"

grated person

work out

his

or

emphasizing "the responsibility of any inte her reaction to contemporary environmental

(p. 163).

problems on the

basis of

view"

a total

Furthermore, he

says of the

final,
many but

philosophical chapter

"a basic

positive attitude
win

to nature is articulated in
offer some of express are

philosophical

form. It is

not

done to

compliance, but to

the

who are at

home in

such a

words"

(p. 164). The

an absolute

platform

philosophy new opportunities to is designed to suggest views that

views

it in

"basic,"

not

"in

sense, but basic among the

that

supporters

have in

common"

(p. 29).
to be less to the questioning
stance a

There

seems

in

principle

taken

by deep
view

ecology than meets the eye. Far

opinions, it
seems

from

being

way
used

of

life that It

questions all

philosophy for Naess is to be

to articulate a total
questions

that is compatible

"reactions."

with pre-existing attitudes or der to find justifications. Far from challenging

in

or

all

the decisive premises of

modernity, Naess's
ment of philosophy.

deep

ecology falls into the The system is a tool of the in his

philosophical

modern

instrumental employ
personalized

political reform program.

Another

reason grounded presents

principle explains

the

highly

way

in

which

Naess

speculations.

The

centerpiece of

Naess's ecosophy turns

out

to be

"Self-realization!"

the exclamation point

indicating the
show or as

existence of a moral

understood narrowly, as an

isolated
the the

imperative. "Self here is certainly not to be ego. The burden of much of the work is to in
all

how Self

must

be

understood

its

manifold connectedness

to

Other,
means

a certain perspective on

knowing
no

that "[t]he

identity
I,

of

totality individual, 'that I

of what

is. Self-realization
am

something', is devel

oped through

interaction
'natural'

with a

completely isolatable
the
of

no

broad manifold, organic and inorganic. There is isolatable social unity. To distance oneself from
oneself

nature and

is to distance

from

a part of

that which the T

is

built up

(p. 164).

76

Interpretation
This
observation suggests

that

what we

become depends

on all

becoming. It
or

in principle at least of all becoming, readily develops into an equality is "the universal right to live and (p. 165). There "unfolding of
life"

the

blossom"

(p. 166). Naess knows full

of

well

that the

blossoming

of some requires the

harm

others, a
so

point we will return connected with of who

to shortly. But if the properly understood

must

Self

is

deeply by

ularized not arise

whole.

in light

philosophy be so partic everything else, why is philosophizing? Presumably because the Self does

virtue of a self

finding

its

place within a
whatever

larger,

perhaps

ordered,

Instead,

the Self

is founded in
of an

"manifold"

it happens to find its

itself in. Despite Naess's denial

particular situation.

isolated
upon

social

self, the Self appears to be

radically isolated in its dependence The best

example

the

contingent circumstances of

is the fact that Naess labels his ecosophy "Ecosophy TvergaRothenberg notes, "The name T is said to represent his mountain hut stein (cross the stones) but it is its personal nature that is most important. It (p. 4). suggests that there might be many other ecosophies (A, B, C,
.
.

T."

Ecosophy
very Self

unfolds

from the

particular circumstances of

Naess's

life,

as

his

unfolds.

Presumably, it is

on

the basis of this unfolding that Naess's

intuitions have developed. Now, it may be expected, and indeed we know it to be true, that at some level, those with differing experiences can come to similar

intuitions, if
son,
attempt must at own

the

level

of

no philosophical system can ever

generality is kept sufficiently high. But for that rea be anything more than personal, as the
the full meaning of those intuitions.
wisdoms,"

is

made to articulate
of

Philosophy
of one's

best become "love

one

but

more

likely

simply love

opinions, as
pass over

endlessly

articulates

their ramifications.

We

the historicism implicit in this stress on particularity in order

to examine how it serves as a that Naess describes

foundation for the

green political arrangements

if

politics

foundations.
Naess

Highly

critical of

properly speaking can be built at all on such the nation state for its centralizing propensities,
positive"

outlines

"certain

properties which are considered

that have been

developed
size,
each

by

"green

communities"

(p. 144). These include

members of

small geographic can

population small enough so

that

the

community

know

democracy, economic self-reliance (with education being pri directed to this end, i.e., education in the arts and trades), small income marily
and wealth

other, direct

directly
clear,

differentials. In addition, "Counteracting antisocial behavior is done with friendliness. There is little direct influence from the outside which
with

interferes
159).

that order

inside"

(p. 144). In

other

words, as

Naess later

makes

orderliness

is

maintained

primarily through intense social pressures (p.

Once again,

a suggestion

that the ancient city had certain virtues will

case of

hardly

shock readers of

this

journal. As in the be
all

deep

ecology's philosophic

pretensions, the

willingness

to consider such a radical political alternative to the more grounds for giving it a serious

modernity

might even

hearing.

Book Reviews

77

Unfortunately, it is

not clear Naess appreciates the extent to which he is revis Aristotle. It may be for that very reason that he is curiously silent about the well-known defects of such communities that arise from the constraints of na

ing

ture

and

human

nature: their

instability,
war and

their tendencies toward

tyranny

and

oppression, their tendencies to

imperialism.

There

are vague

course"

in

respect to such

hints that Naess may be content to "let nature take its ills, that he understands the hard side of the politics
per
evi

he describes. At haps in denced in

one point

need of an

he says, "The world's health organisations are ideology influenced to a greater extent by the health

ing

(p. 194). Since the story of medicine is the story of overcom the health evidenced in nature, this passage may suggest a means by which
global population cut

nature"

the drastic

Naess

recommends

(albeit to take

place over

many, many generations) may be achieved. Or again, we have already spoken of "the
som"

universal right

to live and

blos be

(p. 166). Naess

untenable.

understands that such a

right, in isolation,

would

completely
that human

Harm

and

killing

are necessary.

He tends to focus his be too protective,

the
condem much protection

arguments against

those who fear that any

would suffer afford

such right would

beings

by

it (p. 170). But how

problematic.

right is intended to
nation of animal

is actually

testing

of consumer products

strong (p. 171). But it produces the

relations:

It is

part of a

following

remarkable

statement about

intrahuman

"The

ecological not

viewpoint presupposes acceptance of

the

fact that

big

fish

eat

small, but

(p. 195). Not necessarily? necessarily that large men throttle One reason for this rather half-hearted formulation may be that Naess is against attempting to justify violations of the right to live and blossom on the

small"

basis that

some

beings have
or cuts

greater or

intrinsic

value

than others

either

because

they

are

ensouled,

rational,

self-conscious,

or

higher

on an

scale.

But this

special respect

both ways; for human life.

neither would

these

qualities

be

grounds

evolutionary for a

...

it is

against

valuable'

but

not against

my intuition of unity to say T can kill the intuition to say T will kill

you you

because I
because I

am more am

hungry'.

In short, I find obviously In the latter case, there would be an implicit regret. behaviour with different sorts different sorts of often difficult to justify, right, but
...

of

living

beings. But this does

than
others.

not

imply

that

we

classify

some as

intrinsically

more

valuable

(P. 168).

Such any

passages seem

to suggest Naess's reluctance to see in the unfolding of

life

sort of ordered whole

in

which specific

human

capacities might

find their

big men do not necessarily throttle big men do not want to eat them. But despite such hints at a rather hard world, it seems more likely that Naess believes that such problems can be overcome. A motto of deep ecology is
proper

place,

purpose and

limits. Rather, if
most part

small, it may be because for the

"simple in

means

rich in

ends."

Of this

motto

Naess says, "It is

not

to be

78

Interpretation
be Spartan, austere,
with

self-den

confounded with appeals to

and

(p. 88).

(This

having

tried to link

deep ecology
to call

Aristotelianism, Buddhism, Confu

high degree his
of

cianism

all of which seem will argue

for

austerity

and

self-

denial.) I
point

that despite the hard

conclusions

arguments sometimes

to, Naess human conquest

That there
since the

relies on another of

key

premise of

modernity, a belief in the

nature, to

avoid

them.

should

be any
this

such acceptance

legitimacy

of

premise

is

under attack

is in the highest degree ironic, in deep ecology. "The great

this

Western
unity"

emphasis upon

the subjugation

of nature goes against

insight

of

(p. 194). Or again,

glorification of

This

human beings in

at

the expense

of nature

relevant when

it is

manifest

value priorities.

To the

extent that an

becomes ecosophically it serves to

negative

depreciate,

or

blind

us

to, [n]on-human realms, it has

Middle Ages

obviously

ecological effect.

Towards the

end of the now

[o]ur depreciation
Nature

of the

"physical'

reality continued, as both slave and

expression

in the form

of exploitation.

came to

be interpreted

raw material.

'struggle

nature'

against

Like the slaves, nature could revolt, and the has been in continuous use since then. (Pp.

190-91)
an important quali fication is already suggested. How is it developed? "systemization" As Naess presents the of his personal ecosophy, he dis cusses the proposition that "The higher the level of Self-realisation attained by (p. 197). This anyone, the broader and deeper the identification with when says extent

Yet

Naess

"to the

it

serves to

depreciate,"

others"

hypothesis is
ning
come of

crucial

to

this review, that

view

understanding the proposition summarized at the begin human beings could hardly harm nature when they
themselves. Such
the

to

it

as part of

identification,
of

a product of Selfrelatedness
with

realization, is to
nature

replace calculation as comments

hallmark
see

human
home"

to

(p. 175). Naess

will

that those "who

feel in

at

this

hy

pothesis,

hardly

be

pleased with what

they

nature:

They see a lonely, desperately hungry wolf attacking an elk, wounding it mortally but being incapable of killing it. The elk dies after protracted, severe pains, while the wolf dies slowly of hunger. Impossible not to identify with and somehow feel
the pains of both! But the nature of the conditions of life at least in our time are such that nothing can be done about the fate of both. The general situation
cruel'

elicits sorrow and the search of

for

means to

interfere

with natural processes on

behalf

any

being

in

a state of panic or

desperation,

protracted pains, severe suppression

But this attitude implies that we deplore much that actually goes in nature, that we deplore much that seems essential to life on Earth. In short, the assertion of [the hypothesis that higher Self-realization leads to higher
or abject slavery.

on

identification] reflects an attitude opposed to any unconditional Verherrlichung life, and therefore of nature in general. (Pp. 198-99)

of

Book Reviews
The
sentiment

79

Naess describes

will

remarkable

is

not

the sentiment but

what

surely be familiar to many of us; what is he does with it. When he says that "at
of

least in
there is

our
an

nothing can be done about the situation implication that perhaps there will come a time
seems

time"

the

wolf and

elk,

be done. This inference discuss

not what might

to be confirmed
of

on nature. It may or may be that in speaking of slavery, suppression, and panic Naess is engaging less in identification than in anthropomorphism. But in any case, the "pacifica tion of implied in this passage may be on a level well beyond any
existence"

be done in the way

by improving

something can the fact that he goes on to

when

thing
rather

ever

imagined

by Bacon,
the elk

since

it

extends to the

benefit

of all

beings,

than to the comfortable self-preservation of human beings only.

passage about
and wolf makes clear

This
of a

in

a practical

way the ideal

humanized

nature

that can now

be

made explicit on the

theoretical level.

As Naess recognizes, the human capacity for Self-realization is at least far beyond that of any other being, and it may be unique. While all things might be
to unfold to their specific capacities (p. 166), only human beings seem to have the ability to see in those capacities something that transcends them intimations that are crucial to the prospect for identification (p. 175). Other
able

beings may realize themselves; only humans can speak about Self-realization. While this capacity for a discursive account may at times seem suspect to Naess
(p. 179), the fact of the matter is his project would be evidently self-contradic tory if he did not see its importance. And even if more or less realized Selfrealization seem

turns out to be only a

sentiment of

the oneness of all,

it

would still

it

could

only be

appreciated as a sentiment

by

human beings.

The

uniqueness of

other

living Ecosophy uses

Homo sapiens, its beings, has been used as

special capacities
a premise

among millions of kinds of for domination and mistreatment.

that other species can neither

it

as a premise

for

a universal care

understand nor afford.

(P.

171)
world

Any

way

you

look

at

it, Naess's

turns out to be
of

to our measure

at

least

until some

higher type

being

humanized world, built comes along (cf. pp.

as a whole

169, 192). He likens

tween dogs
and

the desired relationship to nature

who

to that be

the humans

feel very like

close to them.
animal.

But

of

course, the

dog

is commonly

"domesticated"

classified as a appeals

Thus, any
of a

to

what sounds

the ancient

city

come

in the

context

belief in overcoming
the only
"softer"

natural constraints on a scale

ancient political thought.

not

strand of thought
"rights"

But calling for a love of in this part of Naess's

that is entirely alien to nature like the love of pets is

account.

His

recourse

to

the language
and

of

liberalism may be
nature.

an attempt

to reconcile

his

"harder"

teachings about

For, despite

the pretense throughout the

book that liberalism

near

barely

exists as a meaningful political

philosophy,

and

the

dismissal

of

it

as a positive political
recognizes

force, rights

are

important to Naess. rights

of all

We have

seen

how he

that the principle of the equal

80

Interpretation
not a

beings is
since

"practical
must

norm about equal conduct and

towards all life

forms,"

life forms

injure
the

kill

each other

(p. 167). This

the

conflict of

rights

evidently ture. Thus

tions and

recapitulates
when

problem posed

by

natural rights

in the

state of na

Naess

speaks about

working

out

particular accommoda

limits that

need

to be

placed on

killing, is he

not

articulating the

need

for

"civil

society"

that will adjust these conflicting demands? In effect, the

of our current

"international

politics"

relationship

with nature

is to be

replaced

by

"domestic

politics"

that does not end conflict,

all

but

softens and regulates

under

it.

If so, then Naess is asking that

artifice, the
social contract.

beings be included

that great

human

As the rights

of man seem to

be

realized ever more on our attention

the

global political

scene, is it then indeed time to turn

small communities of mined

to the rights of beings?

The is

the future

green

world,

each of whose character

is deter

by

the

particular circumstances of

its

relatedness

to

its

surroundings

step in liberal self-determination? Is there a third form of the end of history, which is neither the universal and homogeneous state nor the sinking of humanity into natural contingency? It would appear ungrateful to a
this the ultimate

book that
vide

raises such

important

questions to complain

because it does

not pro

definitive

answers.

But has Naess

provided the most

fruitful

context

for

attempting to come to grips with them? Perhaps Naess should be judged by his
that
our

own standards.

He laments the limits

be thinking like. Has he really stretched his own imagination to the limit? A world where humans and animals live peaceably side by side, where nature flourishes under
place on about what a green utopia might
such control

imaginations

that

elks need not

is
of

not

defiled

by

waste, and

fear wolves, nor wolves suffer lack, a world that where the inevitable frictions of life are taken care

less

by

police than

celebrated,
able?

and cultures

As

compared

expectations, a world in which human diversity is live peaceably side by side is this world so unimagin with the Norwegian landscape he so evidently loves, Naess

by

surely recoils from Disney World. But he may Kingdom than he cares to admit.

share more with that

Magic

An index

of

Volumes 1 through 10

appears

in Volume 1 1

Number 3

Index
to Volumes 1 1 through 20

Lucia Boyden Prochnow

AUTHORS

OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN INTERPRETATION

Adler, Eve. "The Invocation

11(1)25

to the

Georgics,"

Bolotin, David.
nism:

"Socrates'

Critique

of

Hedo

Reading

of and

the the

Philebus,"

13(1)1;
of

Alvis, John. "Philosophy

in Paradise
Lost"

as

Noblest

Idolatry

"The Theaetetus False

Opinion,"

Possibility

16(2)263

15(2,3)179; "The Con

to the

Arnhart, Larry. Book Review: The Artist as Thinker: From Shakespeare to Joyce, by George Anastaplo, 13(2)277

cerns of

Odysseus: An Introduction
17(1)41
of

Odyssey,"

Boucher, David. "The Denial

Skinner's
Theory,"

Perennial
of

Problems: The Negative Side

Quentin
and

12(2,3)287 Mod
and

Balch, Stephen H. Review Essay: Main Cur rents of Marxism: Vol. I, The Founders; Vol. II, The Golden Age; Vol. Ill, The Breakdown, by Leszek Kolakowski,
14(1)135

Bradshaw, Leah. "Tyranny: Ancient

ern,"

20(2)187
19(1)61
and

Brubaker, Stanley C. Discussion: "Piety

Temptation,"

Bruell, Christopher. "Xenophon

rates,"

His Soc 13(2)143 in

Barlow, J. Jackson. Discussion: The Constitu tion of 1787: A Commentary, by George Anastaplo, 18(3)475 Barnouw, Jeffrey. "The Pursuit of Happiness
in Jefferson
and
and

16(2)295

Burger, Ronna. "Socratic Burrow, Richard. "Credulity

A Tale of a
Tub,"

Eironeia,"

and

Curiosity

15(2,3)309

Its Background in Bacon

Hobbes,"

11(2)225

Burstein, Harvey. Review Essay: The Consola tions of Philosophy, by Henry M. Rosen
thal, 17(3)449

Barrus, Roger M. "David Hume's Theology of 18(2)251; and Richard Sher lock, "The Problem of Religion in Liberal
Liberation,"

Butterworth, Charles. Book Review: The Mod

ern

Self in

Rousseau's Confessions: A Re
of

20(3)285 Bartky, Elliott. "Marx

the

ism,"

ply to St.
on

Augustine, by Ann Hartle,

Recent Scholar
Philosophy,"

Self-Consciousness,
19(1)3 in Aristotelian

13(3)429; "An Account

City

and the

Gods,"

Berns, Laurence. Discussion: "Spiritedness in

Ethics
and

ship in Medieval Islamic 16(1)87; Translation: The Book of the

Politics: A

Study

Psychology,"

12(2,3)335; "The Relation

Religion,"

Philosophic Life, by al-Razi, 20(3)227; "The Origins of al-RazI's Political Philoso

phy,"

Between 19(1)45

Philosophy

and

20(3)237

Bessette, Joseph M. Book Review: Bureau

crats,

Policy Analysts,
edited

Statesmen: Who

Leads?,

by

Robert A. Goldwin,
and

11(1)129

Canavan, Francis. Book Review: Selected Let ters of Edmund Burke, edited and with an introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr.,
the

Blanchard, Kenneth C, Jr. "Ethnicity

Problem
Equality,"

13(3)434

of

20(3)309
and

Cantor, Paul A. "Hamlet: The Cosmopolitan

Justice:
Prince,"

Blits, Jan H. "Socratic Teaching Plato's Clitophon, 13(3)321 Blitz, Mark. "Response to
12(2,3)381

12(1)15
the

Capaldi, Nicholas. Discussion: "Exploring

Limits
of

Sherover,"

of

Analytic Philosophy: A Critique

Nozick's Philosophical Explanations,

82

Interpretation
Dorter, Kenneth.
Prometheus
"Freedom
and

Capaldi, Nicholas (cont.) 12(1)107; Book Review: Hume's Philoso phy of Common Life, by Donald W. Liv ingston, 13(3)432 Carpino, Joseph J. "On 13(1)91;
Laughter,"

Constraints in

Bound,"

19(2)117

Eden, Robert. "Tocqueville

of

and

the

Problem

Review Essay: "On Eco's The Name of the 14(2,3)389 Christensen, Kit R. "Individuation and Com
Rose,"

Natural

Right,"

17(3)379
and

Emberley, Peter.
ment of

"Rousseau

the

Manage

the

Passions,"

13(2)151; "Rous

monality in Feuerbach's 13(3)335

Man,'" Ethics,"

'Philosophy
and

of

seau versus

the

Savoyard Vicar: The

Considered,"

Profession
Pro

of

Faith

Cladis, Mark S. "Emile Durkheim

vinces of

14(2,3)299

17(2)255

Engeman, Thomas S. "William Dean

American
Character,"

Howells'

Coby, Patrick. Book Review: Socrates in the by C.D.C. Reeve, 19(1)101 Codevilla, Angelo M. Discussion: "De Gaulle
"Apology"

'Poor Real Life': The Royal Road to the 19(1)29

as a

Political Thinker: On Morrisey's Re

on De Gaulle, 13(1)103 Cohler, Anne M. "Montesquieu's Perception

flections
of

Farrenkopf, John. "Nietzsche, Spengler,

the Politics
of

and

Cultural

Despair,"

20(2)165 Progress:

Laws,"

His Audience for the Spirit of the 11(3)317

and

Faulkner, Robert K. "The Empire

Bacon's Improvement Upon 20(1)37
yond

of

Machiavelli,"

Colmo, Christopher A. "Reason

tion in the Thought of Leo

Revela

Strauss,"

Feder-Marcus, Maureen. Book Reviews: Be

Nihilism: Nietzsche
without

18(1)145; Discussion: "Reply

enthal,"

to Low

Masks,

18(2)313
and

Corngold, Stanley,
cussion:
Scholem,"

Michael Jennings. Dis

"Walter Benjamin/Gershom 12(2,3)357

by Ofelia Schutte, 13(2)251; Time, Free dom, and the Common Good: An Essay in Public Philosophy, by Charles Sherover,
18(2)317

Cropsey, Joseph. "The Dramatic End of Plato's 14(2,3)155; "On Plea

Socrates,"

Flaumenhaft, Mera J. "Seeing

Aeschylus'
'Oresteia,'"

Justice Done:

17(1)69

sure and the

lebus,''

Human Good: Plato's Phi

as

16(2)167; "The Whole

Timaeus," Moderns,"

Setting

Fortin, Ernest L. "Gadamer on Strauss: An In 12(1)1; Discussion: "Rational

terview,"

for Man: On Plato's

"On Ancients "Virtue
and
tagoras,"

and

17(2)165; 18(1)31;

Knowledge: On Plato's Pro

Dilemmas,"

Theologians and Irrational Philosophers: A Perspective," Straussian 12(2,3)349; Re view Essay: "Faith and Reason in Contem
porary Perspective Apropos of a Recent 14(2,3)371; "Thomas Aquinas and the Reform of Christian 17(1)3
Book," Education,"

19(2)137

Crosson, Frederick J. "Mill's

16(2)229 Curley, Thomas F., III. "How To Read The Consolation of 14(2,3)211
Philosophy,"

Franck, Matthew J. Discussion: The Tempting

of America: The Political Seduction of the

Law, by Robert H. Bork, 19(1)77 Frisch, Morton J. "Edmund Burke and

American
Constitution,"

the

17(1)59; "Shake

D'Amico, Jack. "The Virtu

avelli's

of

Women: Machi

Mandragola 12(2,3)261
Jew,"

Clizia,"

and

Dannhauser, Werner J. "Leo Strauss

and

as

Citizen

Richard III and the Soul of the 20(3)275 Fuller, Timothy. "Temporal Royalties and Vir tue's Airy Voice in The
speare's
Tyrant," Tempest,"

17(3)433
VIII,"

Davis, Michael. "Politics and Poetry: Aris totle's Politics, Books VII and
19(2)157 den Hartogh, Govert. "Made by Contrivance and the Consent of Men: Abstract Principle
and

11(2)207; Discussion: The Constitution of 1787: A Commentary, by George An

astaplo, 18(3)467

Galston, William A. "Socratic Reason

and

Historic Fact in Locke's Political Phi 17(2)193

losophy,"

Lockean Rights: The Place of the Univer Democracy," sity in a Liberal 16(1)101

Index
Geise, J. P.,
lief
and and

83

Digging

L.A. Lange. "Deliberate Be Holes: Joseph Conrad and

Restraint,"

cal

Freedom,"

15(1)3; "Humanizing Certi

tudes

and

the Problem of

16(2)193
of of

Critique
Mind,"

Impoverishing Doubts: A of The Closing of the American

and

Gildin, Hilail. "The First Crisis

Leo Strauss 20(2)157
ger's
on

Modernity:
Rousseau,"

16(1)111

the

Thought

Jennings, Michael,
cussion:
Scholem,"

Stanley

Corngold. Dis

"Walter Benjamin/Gershom 12(2,3)357

of the

Gillespie, Michael A. Book Review: Heideg

"Being

Time''

and

and the

Possibility

Jensen, Pamela K. Discussion: "The Moral

Foundations
and

of Political

Philosophy, by Mark Blitz,

American
and

Republic,"

11(3)399

15(1)97; "Beggars
18(1)111

Kings: Cowardice

Gillis, Hugh. "Gaston Fessard and the Nature of 16(3)445; Translation: "KoAuthority,"

Courage in Shakespeare's Richard 11,

the Diodotean

19(2)185 Gossman, Lionel. "Antimodernism in Nine teenth-Century Basle: Franz Overbeck's Antitheology and J.J. Bachofen's Antiphilology,"

jeve-Fessard

Documents,"

Johnson, Laurie M. "Rethinking

Argument,"

18(1)53

16(3)359

Gourevich, Victor. "Rousseau's Pure State

Nature,"

of

Kain, Philip J. Book Review: Greek Antiquity

in Schiller's
"Wallenstein,"

16(1)23
the Public the Problem
of

by

Gisela N.

Grasso, Kenneth L. "Pluralism,

Good
and

Self-Govemment

in The
and

Federalist,"

15(2,3)347
Laches,"

Griswold, Charles, Jr. "Philosophy, Education,

Courage in Plato's 14(2,3)177

Berns, 15(1)143 Kelly, Christopher. Book Review: Reading Rousseau in the Nuclear Age, by Grace G. Roosevelt, 20(2)209; and Roger D. Mas
ters, "Rousseau The
on

Reading

'Jean-Jacques':

Dialogues,"

17(2)239
on

Kessler, Sanford. "Tocqueville

rality,"

Sexual Mo

16(3)465

Hamowy, Ronald. "Progress

and

Commerce in
14(1)61

Kleven, Terence. "A Study

1-7
Maimonides'

of

Part I, Chapters

Anglo-American Thought: The Social Phi

of

The Guide of the Per

and

losophy
in the

of

Adam

Ferguson,"

plexed,"

20(1)3

Hemmenway, Scott R. "Philosophical Apology

Theaetetus,"

Koritansky, John C. "Socratic Rhetoric

17(3)323
of

Hennis, Wilhelm. 'Tocqueville's Perspective:

Socratic Wisdom in Plato's 15(1)29; "Civil Religion in Tocqueville's

Phaedrus,"

Democracy

in America in Search
Politics,'"

the

Democracy

in

America,"

17(3)389

'New Science
the

of

16(1)61

Herz, John H. "Looking

Vantage Point
of

at

the

Carl Schmitt from 19(3)307

1990s,"

Hobbes, Thomas. "1608 Appendix

viathan,"

to Le

Krason, Stephen M. Book Review: Principles of Politics: An Introduction, by John J. Schrems, 15(1)145 Kuic, Vukan. "Foreword for "The Politics of
Alain,'

Translated

with an

Introduction

by

Yves R.

Simon,"

13(2)213

George Wright, 18(3)323 Horwitz, Robert. "John Locke's Questions Concerning the Law of Nature: A Com
and

Notes

by

mentary,"

edited

by

Michael Zuckert,

Lange, L. A.,
Belief
and and

and

J. P. Geise. "Deliberate

19(3)251

Digging

Holes: Joseph Conrad

Restraint,"

Howland, Jacob A. "Socrates and Alcibiades: 18(1)63 Eros, Piety, and Hyland, Drew A. "Republic, Book II, and the
Politics,"

the Problem of

16(2)193

Langiulli, Nino. Book Review: Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, by Richard Rorty, 13(1)119; Review Essay: "Affirmative Ac
tion, Liberalism, and Teleology: On Nicholas Capaldi's Out of 14(2,3)415; Book Review: Individuals
Order,''

Origins

of

Political

Philosophy,"

16(2)247;

"Plato's Three Waves

Utopia,"

and

the Question of

18(1)91

and

Jaffa, Harry V. "Equality, Liberty, Wisdom,

Their Rights, by Tibor Machan, 20(1)81 Lawler, Peter A. "Was Tocqueville a Philoso
pher?"

Morality

and

Consent in the Idea

of

Politi

17(3)401

84

Interpretation
'Tacitus'

Leake, James C.
Decline
of

Teaching

and

the

Masugi, Ken. Discussion:

Law,"

Liberty

Rome,"

at

15(1)55,

15(2,3)195

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. "Ernst and Folk, Dialogues for Freemasons, a translation
with notes

"The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the 19(1)85 Mathie, William. "Reason and Rhetoric in

Hobbes's

Leviathan,"

14(2,3)281; Book

by

Chaninah

Maschler,"

14(1)1
to

Levy, David. "S. T. Coleridge Replies

Adam Smith's 'Pernicious Opinion': A

Review: The Rhetoric of "Leviathan": Thomas Hobbes and the Politics of Cul tural Transformation, by David Johnston, 17(1)145

Study

in Hermetic Social

Engineering,"

14(1)89

McGuinness, Celia. "The Fundamental Consti

tutions of Carolina as a
Scholarship,"

Lewis, Mario, Jr., "An Interpretation of Plato's (Introduction; Part I, Sections 1-3), 12(2,3)225, (Part I, Section 4-End), 13(1)33 Lewis, Thomas J. "Refutative Rhetoric as True
Euthyphro,"

Tool for Lockean

on the

17(1)127
Origin

Meier, Heinrich. 'The Discourse

and
Men"

the Foundations of Inequality among

16(2)211

Rhetoric in the
tion,"

Gorgias,"

14(2,3)195

Mindle, Grant B. "Shakespeare's Demonic

Prince,"

Lidov, Joel B. Discussion: "Justice in Transla

12(1,2)83
Philosophy,"

20(3)259
on

Mitias, Michael H. "Hegel

Political
Authority,"

the

Source in

of

Lowenthal, David, "Leo Strauss's Studies in

Platonic Political

12(1)29

13(3)297;
Play,"

Moors, Kent. "Justice

tion,"

and

Philosophy
of a

"Macbeth: Shakespeare
Colmo,"

Mystery

Plato's Republic: The Nature

Defini

16(3)311; Discussion: "Comment

18(1)161

on

12(2,3) 193 Morris, T. F. "The Argument in

tagoras that

the Pro

No One Does What He Be

Bad,"

lieves To Be

17(2)291

MacAdam, Jim.

"Rousseau's Contract With

and Without His Inequality; 12(2,3)275 Maletz, Donald J. "An Introduction to Hegel's to the Philosophy of in 13(1)67; "The Meaning of Hegel's Philosophy of 13(2)195 Marshall, Terence E. Book Review: Political Philosophy, vol. 1, by Luc Ferry, 20(2)217 Martin, Marie A. "Misunderstanding and Un
'Introduction'
Right"

Morrisey, Will. "Reflections on DeGaulle: Re 13(1)113; Discussion: ply to 15(1)129; "Rob "Delimiting ert H. Horwitz, 15(2,3)367;
Codevilla,"

Philosophy,"

1923-87,"

'Will'

Right,"

"How Bloom Did It: Rhetoric and Principle in The Closing of the American
Mind,"

16(1)145; Book Reviews: Plato's 'Phaed

rus'

A Defense of a Philosophic Art of Political Reasoning: A Commen

the
"Rhetoric,"
"Emile"

Writing, by Ronna Burger, 11(3)401; Aris

totle on

derstanding Hume's Moral Philosophy: An Essay on Hume's Place in Moral Philoso phy, by Nicholas Capaldi, 19(2)169
Maschler, Chaninah. "Lessing, Ernst Falk, Dialogues for Freemasons,
lation
Notes,"

tary

on

11(3)402;

or

"On

by Larry Arnhart, by
Education,"

and a

Trans

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, translated with an introduction by Allan Bloom, 11(3)402;

The Reveries of the
Jean-Jacques

with
Nathan,"

14(1)1: "On the Wis

dom

of

15(2,3) 347; Book

Disinterested Spec

Solitary Walker, by
translated
with

Rousseau,
and an

Review: Death
tator:

and the

Inquiry into the Nature of Philos Ann Hartle, 17(1)152; "Some Observations about Plato's
ophy,

An

by

Phaedo"

interpretive essay by Charles E. Butterwoith, 11(3)403; The Po litical Philosophy of the Frankfurt School,
preface, notes,

18(2)177

Masciulli, Joseph. "The Armed Founder

the Catonic Hero: Machiavelli
seau on
and

versus

Rous
and

by George Friedman, 1 1(3)405; After Vir tue, by Alasdair Maclntyre, 12(1)131; Ni hilism: a Philosophical Essay, by Stanley
Rosen, 12(1)131; Plato's "Phaedo": An Interpretation, by Kenneth Dorter, 12(1)137; Averroe's Three Short Commen
taries on

Popular

Leadership,"

14(2,3)265
Mind,"

Masters, Roger D. "Philosophy, Science,

the

Opening of the American 16(1)139; "Evolutionary Biology

17(1)111;
on

Aristotle
"

"Topics,"

"Rhetoric,"

and

Natu

and

'Poetics,

edited and translated

ralism,"

and

"Rousseau

Reading

Christopher Kelly, 'Jean-Jacques': The

by

Dialogues"

17(2)239

Charles E. Butterworth, 12(1)138; Dissidence et philosophie au moyen dge: Dante et ses antecedents, by E. L. Fortin,

Index
12(1)139; Algeny, by Jeremy Rifkin, 12(2,3)387; How Democratic Is the Consti
tution? and How

85

racy:

Capitalistic Is

the

Consti

of Liberal Democ A Straussian Perspective, edited by Kenneth L. Deutsch and Walter Soffer,

15(2,3)373; The Crisis

tution?, edited by Robert A. Goldwin and William A. Schambra, 12(2,3)391; States

manship:

16(3)481.

Understanding

the Political

Spirit: Philosophical Investigations from

S. Churchill, View:

Essays in Honor of Sir Winston edited by Harry V. Jaffa,

Socrates to Nietzsche, edited by Catherine H. Zuckert, 17(2)309; Socrates and the So

phistic

12(2,3) 395; Winston Churchill's World Statesmanship and Power, by Ken neth W. Thompson, 12(2,3)395; Richard
Hooker
gland,

Enlightenment: A

Commentary

on

Plato's Protagoras, by Patrick Coby, 17(2)313; Socrates and the Political Com
munity:

Politics of a Christian En Robert K. Faulkner, 12(2,3)400; Education and Culture in the Political
and the

An Ancient Debate,

by Mary by Leo

P.
Po

by

Nichols, 17(2)317; An Introduction

litical Philosophy: Ten Essays

to

Thought of Aristotle,

by Carnes Lord,
s

Strauss,
and

edited

by

Hilail Gildin, 17(3)465;

12(2,3)401;
Orders: A

Machiavelli'

New Modes

by Harvey
the

of the Discourses on Livy, C. Mansfield, Jr., 12(2,3)404; Rousseau's Social Contract: The Design of

Study

Rebirth of Classical Rationalism: An Intro duction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, edi
ted

by

De Gaulle Story,

Thomas L. Pangle, 17(3)465; The by William Faulkner,

the

Argument, by Hilail Gildin, 12(2,3) 407; Rousseau's State of Nature: An Inter pretation of the Discourse on Inequality, by Marc F. Plattner, 12(2,3)409; Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Her
meneutics, and

17(3)469; Taming

Prince: The Ambiva

lence of Modern Executive Power, by Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., 18(1)163; Win

ston

S. Churchill

on

Empire, by Kirk

Em-

Praxis, by Richard J. Bern

mert, 19(1)95; Questions Concerning the Law of Nature, by John Locke, 19(2)217;

13(2)268; G. W. F. Hegel: An Introduction to the Science of Wisdom, by Stanley Rosen, 13(2)268. Book Notices: Rhetoric and American Statesmanship, ed ited by Glen Thurow and Jeffrey D. Wallin, 13(2)287; Power, State, and Freedom: An
stein,

Liberal

Democracy

and

Political Science,

by James W. Ceaser, 19(3)319; Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jeffer son, by Robert W. Tucker and David C.
Hendrickson, 20(2)205 Muller, James W. Review Essay:
wood's "Colling-

Interpretation of Spinoza's Political Philos ophy, by Douglas J. Den Uyl, 13(2)290;

John Stuart Mill
and the Pursuit of Virtue, Bernard Semmel, 13(2)292; Essays in Political Philosophy, by J. E. Parsons, Jr.,

Embattled

Liberalism,"

Myers, Richard. "Christianity

Montesquieu's Greatness
Romans,"

and

20(1)63 Politics in

and

Decline of

by

the

17'(2)223

Rome: Republic

13(2)294; Review Essay: Shakespeare's and Empire, by Paul A. Cantor; Rome and the Romans According to Shakespeare, by Michael Piatt; The End of the Ancient Republic, by Jan H. Blits, 14(1)1 15; Book Review: The Politics of

Nelson, Allan D. "John Stuart Mill: The Re

former
sophic
Reformed,"

13(3)359
of

Neumann, Harry. "The Closing

Mind: A Review
Mind,"

the Philo

of

The

Closing

of

Moderation: An Interpretation of Plato's Republic, by John F. Wilson, 14(1)147; Jerusalem

tution
versus

the

American

16(1)157

Newell, Waller R. "Zarathustra's Dancing Dia

lectic,"

Athens, by Paul Eidel

the Consti

17(3)415
and

berg, 14(2,3)441; How Does

Goldwin

Nicgorski, Walter. "Leo Strauss

Education,"

Liberal

Secure Rights?, edited by Robert A. and William A. Schambra,

Freedom of Expression,

13(2)233

14(2,3)448;

by

Nichols, Mary Pollingue. "The Good Life, Slavery, and Acquisition: Aristotle's Intro
duction to
Politics,"

Francis Canavan, 14(2,3)455; Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the

11(2)171

Constitution, by Forrest McDonald, 15(1)148; In Defense of Liberal Democ racy, by Walter Berns, 15(1)148; The Fate of the Self, by Stanley Corngold,

Owens, Mackubin Thomas, Jr. "Alexander

Hamilton
on

Natural Rights

Prudence,"

and

14(2,3)331

86

Interpretation
Schaefer, David.
"Libertarianism
of
Utopia,"

Palmer, Michael. "The Citizen Philosopher:

Rousseau's
course on

and

Political

Dedicatory

Letter to the Dis 17(1)19

Philosophy: A Critique

Robert Nozick's
12(2,3)301
and

Inequality"

Anarchy, State,

and

Parsons, J. E., Jr. Book Notices: Eighty Years

of Locke Scholarship: A Bibliographical

Schalow, Frank.

Book Review: Kant

the

Guide, by Roland Hall and Roger Woolhouse, 13(2)285; John Locke's Moral Phi losophy, by John Colman, 13(2)285; Book Review: Locke's Education for Liberty, by Nathan Turcov, 13(3)425 Paterson, Timothy H. "Bacon's Myth of Or
pheus:

Problem of Metaphysics, Heidegger, 19(1)111

by

Martin

Schaub, Diana. Book Review: Natural Right and the American Imagination, by Cath erine H. Zuckert, 19(1)105 Schram, Glenn M. "The Place of Leo Strauss
in
a

Liberal

Education,"

19(2)201

Power

as a

Goal

of

Science in

Of

Sheehan, Colleen A. "Madison's Party Press

Essays,"

the Wisdom of the

Ancients"

16(3)427 Mythological

17(3)355
and

Payne, Thomas,
Mime,"

"The Crito

as a

Sherlock, Richard,
Problem
of

Roger Barrus. "The

Liberalism,"

11(1)1
and

Religion in

Peterman,
Last

Larry. "Dante

Machiavelli: A

20(3)285

Word,"

20(1)17

Sherover, Charles M. Discussion: "The Politi

cal

Piatt, Michael. Discussion: "Souls Without

Longing,"

Implications

of

Heidegger's

Being

and

18(3)415

Time: On Heidegger's
and the

'Being

Time'

and

Possibility
Blitz,"

of Political

Philosophy,

by
Ray, John. "The Education of Cyrus phon's 19(3)225
'Statesman,'"

Mark

12(2,3)367
Alain,"

as

Xeno

trans Simon, Yves R. "The Politics of lated by John M. Dunaway, 13(2)215 Simpson, Peter. "Autonomous Morality and the Idea
of

Richardson, Joan. Book Review: Character Names in Dostoevsky's Fiction, by Charles E. Passage, 12(1)127 Richardson, William D. "Melville's 'Benito Cereno': Civilization, Barbarism and
Race,"

the

Noble,"

14(2,3)353

Smith, A. Anthony. "Ethics and Politics in the Habermas," Work of Jurgen 11(3)333

Smith, Robert F. Book Reviews: Masters

International Thought,

of

11(1)41
of

Roochnik, David. "The Serious Play

Euthydemus,"

Plato's

by Kenneth Thompson, 11(1)134; Morality and For eign Policy, by Kenneth Thompson,
11(1)134 "Rousseau's Socratism:
of

18(2)211
and

Rubin, Leslie G. "Love

Cyropaedia,"

Politics in Xeno
on

Sorenson, Leonard R.
The Political
itation,'

phon's

16(3)391
the Truth of
on

Bearing

'On Theatrical Im

Russell, Greg. "Eric Voegelin

tial
Unrest,"

20(2)135

In-Between Life: A Meditation in Foreign

Affairs,"

Existen

16(3)415; "Jeffersonian Ethics

18(2)273

Stambaugh, Joan. Book Review: Philosophical Apprenticeships, by Hans-Georg Gadamer,

14(2,3)456

Strauss, Leo. "Exoteric edited by Kenneth Hart Green, 14(1)51; "Some Re

marks on

Teaching,"

the Political Science of Mai

Farabi,"

Sacks, Robert. 'The Lion

and

the Ass: A

monides and

translated

Commentary
(Chapters

on

the Book of Genesis

by

Robert

31-34), 11(1)87; (Chapters 3537), 11(2)249; (Chapters 38 & 39), 11(3)353; (Chapters 40-43), 12(1)49; (Chapters 44-50), 12(2,3)141 Salman, Charles. "The Wisdom of Plato's Cos 18(2)233;
Aristophanes," "Phaedrus'

Bartlett, 18(1)3 Sullivan, Robert R. Review Essay: "The Most

Jurgen 14(2,3)431; Book Review: Unterwegs zur Interpretation Hinweise zu einer Theorie der Literatur in Auseinandersetzung mit Recent

Thinking

of

Habermas,"

20(2)99 mology in the Saxonhouse, Arlene W. "An Unspoken Theme in Plato's Gorgias:
Net
of
War,"

Symposium,"

Gadamers "Wahrheit und Methode, by Horst- Jurgen Gerigk, 17(2)305 Sumberg, Theodore A. "Machiavelli's Castruc"

11(2)139; "The
Speech

cio

Castracani,"

Hephaestus:

Aristophanes'

Three

Times,"

in Plato's

Symposium,"

13(1)15

16(2)285; "Reading Vico 17(3)347; "Belfagor: Ma

Story,"

chiavelli's

Short

19(3)243

Index
Tessitore, Aristide. "Aristotle's Political Pre
sentation of

87

Wagar, W. Warren. Book Review: Arnold

on and the Crisis of the West, by Marvin Perry, 14(1)150 Webking, Robert. "Virtue and Individual

Socrates in the Nicomachean

Toynbee

Ethics
the

16(1)3; Book Review: Aristotle Human Good, by Richard Kraut,

19(3)315

Rights in John

Adams'

Defence,"

13(2)177

Teti, Dennis. Book Review: American Conser vatism and the American Founding, by
V. Jaffa, 13(3)435 Thiele, Leslie Paul. "Nietzsche's 17(2)275

West, Thomas G. "Marx

Discussion:

Lenin,"

and

11(1)73;
De

"Defending
11(3)383

Socrates

and

Harry

Politics,"

fending

Politics: A Response to Stewart

to Thomas to
Leviathan"

Umphrey,"

Tovey, Barbara. "Shakespeare's Apology for

Imitative Poetry: The Tempest
public,"

Wright, George. Introduction Hobbes, "1668 Appendix

18(3)323

and

The Re
and

11(3)275

Tress, Daryl McGowan, "Feminist Theory

Its
Discontents,"

18(2)293
of

Yeager, K. L. "Man
Enslave Plato's
Phaedo,'

and

Nature in Plato's

Turner, Jeffrey S. "The Images

ment and
Mew,"

15(2,3)157

Incommensurability in

20(2)1 17

Zuckert, Catherine. "Aristotle

and

on

the Limits

Satisfactions

of

Political

Life,"

Umphrey, Stewart. Book Review: The Being

of the Beautiful: Plato's
"Sophist,"
"Theaetetus,"

11(2)185

Zuckert, Michael P. "Appropriation

translated

and

Un

"Statesman,"

and
with a

commentary 14(1)145

by

Seth Benardete,

derstanding in the History of Political Phi losophy: Quentin Skinner's

Method,"

13(3)403; Editor: Robert Horwitz, "John Locke's Questions Concerning the Law of Nature: A 19(3)251; Book
Commentary,"

Velkley, Richard, Book Review: Dialogue

Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies

and

Reviews: Alexis de Tocqueville: Selected Letters

on

on

Politics

and

Society,

edited

by

Plato, by Hans-Georg Gadamer,

with an

translated

introduction

by

P. Christopher

Roger Boesche, 16(3)487; Alexis de Toc queville and the New Science of Politics,

Smith, 13(2)261

by

John C. Koritansky, 16(3)487

TITLES

OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN INTERPRETATION

Recent

"An Account
eval

of

Scholarship

in Medi
But-

tory

of

Political Philosophy: Quentin Skin Michael P. Zuckert,

Philosophy,"

Islamic

Charles E.

Method,"

ner's

terworth, 16(1)87 "Antimodemism in Nineteenth-Century Basle: Franz Overbeck's Antitheology and J. J.

Antiphilology,"

13(3)403

"The Argument in the Protagoras that No One T. F. Does What He Believes To Be

Bad,"

Bachofen's
man, 16(3)359

Lionel

Goss-

Morris, 17(2)291
"Aristotle
on

the Limits and Satisfactions of

"Aristotle's Political Presentation

Ethics"

of

Socrates

Political

Life,"

Catherine Zuckert,
versus the
on

in the Nicomachean
sitore, 16(1)3 "Alexander Hamilton
Prudence,"

Aristide Tes

11(2)185
"The Armed Founder

Catonic Hero:
Popular

on

Natural Rights

and

Machiavelli

and

Rousseau

Mackubin Thomas Owens,

Jr.,

14(2,3)331 "Appropriation
and

Joseph Masciulli, 14(2,3)265 "Autonomous Morality and the Idea of the No

ble,"

Leadership,"

Understanding in

the His

Peter Simpson, 14(2,3)353

88

Interpretation
of

"Bacon's Myth
of

Orpheus: Power

as a

Goal

"The Denial
tive

of
of

Perennial Problems: The Nega Quentin Skinner's

Theory,"

Science in
and

cients"

Of the Wisdom of the An Timothy H. Paterson, 16(3)427

Kings: Cowardice
and

Side

"Beggars

Courage

"The Discourse

David Boucher, 12(2,3)287 on the Origin and Foundations

of Inequality among 16(2)211
Men"

in Shakespeare's Richard

II,"

Pamela K.
The

Heinrich

Meier,
Jo

Jensen, 18(1)111
"Belfagor: Machiavelli's Short
odore
Story,"

"The Dramatic End

seph

of

Plato's

Socrates,"

A Sumberg, 19(3)243 The Book of the Philosophic Life, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-RazI, trans lated by Charles E. Butterworth, 20(3)227

Cropsey,

14(2,3)155

"Christianity

and

Politics in Montesquieu's
Romans,"

and the American Constitu Morton J. Frisch, 17(1)59 "The Education of Cyrus as Xenophon's
tion,"

"Edmund Burke

Greatness

Decline of the Richard Myers, 17(2)223

and

'Statesman,'"

"Emile Durkheim
Inequality,''

John Ray, 19(3)225 and Provinces of

Ethics,"

"The Citizen Philosopher: Rousseau's Dedica

tory Letter

to the Discourse

on

'The Empire
ment

Mark S. Cladis, 17(2)255 of Progress: Bacon's Improve Upon

Machiavelli,"

Michael Palmer, 17(1)19 "Civil Religion in Tocqueville's Democracy in John C. Koritansky, 17(3)389
America"

Robert K. Faulk
and

ner,

20(1)37
of

"Equality, Liberty, Wisdom, Morality

Consent in the Idea
Political
of

'The

Closing

of

the Philosophic Mind: A Re

Freedom,"

view of
Mind,"

The Closing of the American Harry Neumann, 16(1)157

Liberalism"

Harry

"Eric Voegelin

V. Jaffa, 15(1)3 on the Truth

on

In-Between
Unrest,"

"Collingwood's Embattled
view
Colmo"

(Re

Life: A Meditation

Existential

Essay), James W. Muller, 20(1)63 "Comment on (Discussion), David Lowenthal, 18(1)161

"The Concerns
to the
of

Greg Russell, 16(3)415 "Ernst and Falk, Dialogues for Freemasons:

Gotthold Ephriam Lessing, A translation with notes by Chaninah 14(1)1 "Ethics and Politics in the Work of Jurgen A. Anthony Smith, 11(3)333
Maschler," Habermas,"

Odysseus: An Introduction

David Bolotin, 17(1)41 "The Constitution of 1787: A Commentary, by

Odyssey"

George Anastaplo (Discussion), Timothy Fuller, 18(3)467; J. Jackson Barlow,

18(3)475

"Ethnicity
neth

and

the Problem of

Equality,"

Ken Roger

C.

Blanchard, Jr., 20(3)309

Naturalism,"

"Evolutionary Biology
Tub,"

and

"Credulity Curiosity in A Tale of a Richard Burrow, 15(2,3)309

and

D.

Masters, 17(1)111
Teaching,"

"Exoteric

Leo Strauss, 14(1)51

"The Crito

as a

Mythological

Mime,"

Thomas

"Exploring

the Limits of Analytic Philosophy:

of

Payne, 11(1)1

A Critique

Nozick's Philosophical Ex
Capa-

planations"

(Discussion), Nicholas

ldi, 12(1)107
"Dante
and

Machiavelli: A Last

Word,"

Larry

Peterman, 20(1)17
"David Hume's

Theology

Liberation,"

of

Roger M. Barrus, 18(2)251 "Defending Socrates and Defending Politics: A

"Feminist

Response to Stewart
sion), Thomas

Umphrey"

(Discus
Mor-

West, 1 1(3)383
Gaulle"

"De Gaulle

as a

Political Thinker: On

(Discus risey's Reflections on De sion), Angelo M. Codevilla, 13(1)103

"Deliberate Belief
and

Daryl McGowan Tress, 18(2)293 "The First Crisis of Modernity: Leo Strauss on Rousseau," the Thought of Hilail Gildin, 20(2)157 "Foreword for 'The Politics of by Yves
and
Alain'

Theory

Its

Discontents,"

Digging

Holes: Joseph
Restraint,"

Conrad

and

the Problem of

J.

P. Geise

and

Philosophy"

"Delimiting

L. A. Lange, 16(2)193 (Discussion), Will

Morrisey, 15(1)129

Vukan Kuic, 13(2)213 Constraints in Prometheus Kenneth Dorter, 19(2)117 "The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina as a Tool for Lockean Celia McGuinness, 17(1)127
"Freedom
and
Bound"

R.

Simon,"

Scholarship,"

Index
"Gadamer
on

89

Strauss: An
and

Interview,"

Ernest

L.

Fortin, 12(1)1
the
Authority,"

"Leo Strauss as Citizen and (Discussion), Werner J. Dannhauser, 17(3)433

"Leo Strauss
on

Jew"

"Gaston Fessard

Nature of Hugh Gillis, 16(3)445 "The Good Life, Slavery, and Acquisition: Ar istotle's Introduction to Mary Pollingue Nichols, 11(2)171
Politics,"

Liberal

Education,"

Walter

Nicgorski, 13(2)233
"Leo Strauss's Studies in Platonic Political

David Lowenthal, 13(3)297 "Libertarianism and Political Philosophy: A Critique of Robert Nozick's Anarchy,

Philosophy,"

State,
"Hamlet: The Cosmopolitan
Prince,"

Utopia"

and

David Schaefer,

Paul A.

12(2,3)301
"The Lion
and

Cantor, 12(1)15
"Hegel
on the

the Ass: A

Commentary

on

the

Source

of

Political
and

Authority,"

Book

Michael H. Mitias, 12(1)29

"How Bloom Did It: Rhetoric

Principle in

Robert Sacks, (Chapters 31-34) 11(1)87; (Chapters 35-37) 11(2)249; (Chapters 38 & 39) 11(3)353;
of 44-

Genesis,"

Will of the American Morrisey, 16(1)145 "How To Read the Consolation of Philoso

The

Closing

Mind"

(Chapters 40-43) 12(1)49; (Chapters 50) 12(2,3)141

"Looking
Point
"Love

at

Carl Schmitt from the Vantage

1990s,"

Thomas F. Curley, III, 14(2,3)211 "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of The Closing of the
American
Mind,"

phy"

of the

John H.

Herz,

19(3)307
and

Politics in Xenophon's

Cy

ropaedia"

Harry

V. Jaffa, 16(1)111

Leslie G. Rubin, 16(3)391

"The Images

of

Enslavement

and

Incommen

"Macbeth: Shakespeare

Mystery

Play,"

David

surability in Plato's Turner, 20(2)117 "Individuation bach's

and

Meno"

Jeffrey
in

S.

Lowenthal, 16(3)311
"Machiavelli's Castruccio
Castracani,"

The
of

Commonality 'Philosophy of

Feuer-

odore

A.

Sumberg, 16(2)285
and

Man,'"

Kit R.

"Made

by

Contrivance

the Consent
and

Christensen, 13(3)335 "An Interpretation of Plato's

Euthyphro,"

Man: Abstract Principle in Locke's Political den Hartogh, 17(2)193 "Madison's Party Press

Historical Fact Govert

Philosophy,"

Mario Lewis, Jr. (Introduction; Part I, Sec tions 1-3) 12(2,3)225; (Part I, Section 4end) 13(1)33

Essays,"

Colleen A. K. L.

Sheehan, 17(3)355
'Introduction'

"An Introduction to Hegel's

the

to

"Man

and

Nature in Plato's

Phaedo,"

Philosophy of Maletz, 13(1)67

11(1)25

Right"

Donald J.
Eve Adler,

"The Invocation to the

Georgics"

Yeager, 15(2,3)157 Lenin," "Marx and Thomas G. West, 11(1)73 "Marx on Self-Consciousness, the City and the
Gods,"

"The
Affairs,"

Meaning
Right,"

Elliott Bartky, 19(1)3 of in Hegel's

'Will'

Philosophy

"Jeffersonian Ethics in Foreign

Greg
Law

Russell, 18(2)273
"John Locke's Questions
Nature,"

Donald J. Maletz, 13(2)195 of "Melville's 'Benito Cereno': Civilization, Bar William D. Richardson, barism and
Race,"

Concerning

the

11(1)43
"Mill's
Dilemmas,"

Robert Horwitz, 19(3)251 of "John Stuart Mill: The Reformer "Justice

Frederick J. Crosson,

Reformed,"

16(2)229

Allan D. Nelson, 13(3)359 and Philosophy in Plato's Republic: Kent Moors, the Nature of a
Definition,"

"Misunderstanding
Place in

Moral Philosophy: An
Capaldi,"

Understanding Hume's Essay on Hume's Moral Philosophy, by Nicholas

and

12(2,3)193 "Justice in
Translation"

Marie A.

Martin, 19(2)169
of

(Discussion), Joel B.

"Montesquieu's Perception for the Spirit of the Cohler, 11(3)317

public"

His Audience
Anne M.

Laws"

Lidov,

12(1)83

"The Moral Foundations

of

the American

Re

"Kojeve-Fessard
Hugh

Documents,"

translated

by
15(1)97

(Discussion), Pamela K. Jensen,

Gillis, 19(2)185

90

Interpretation
of

"The Net

Hephaestus:

Aristophanes'

in Plato's

Symposium,"

Speech Arlene W. Saxon

"Progress

and

Commerce in Anglo-American

Thought: The Social

Ferguson,"

Philosophy

of

Adam

house, 13(1)15 "Nietzsche, Spengler,

tural
Despair,"

and

the Politics of Cul

Ronald Hamowy, 14(1)61 "The Pursuit of Happiness in Jefferson, and Its Background in Bacon
Hobbes,"

"Nietzsche's 17(2)275

Politics,"

John Farrenkopf, 20(2)165 Leslie Paul Thiele,

and

Jeffrey

Barnouw, 11(2)225

"Rational Theologians

and

Irrational Philoso Ernest L.

"On Ancients 18(1)31 "On

Moderns,"

and

Joseph Cropsey,

phers:

A Straussian
Vico Three

Perspective,"

Fortin, 12(2,3)349
Times,"

Laughter,"

Joseph J.

Carpino, 13(1)91

"Reading
"Reason

Theodore A.

"On Pleasure
Philebus,''

and

the Human Good: Plato's

Sumberg, 17(3)347
and
Strauss,"

Joseph
of

Cropsey, 16(2)167
Chaninah

"On the Wisdom "The Origins

Nathan,"

Maschler, 15(2,3)347
of al-Razi's

"Reason

and

Revelation in the Thought of Leo Christopher A. Colmo, 18(1)145 Rhetoric in Hobbes's

Leviathan,"

Political Philoso

phy,"

Charles E. Butterworth, 20(3)237

"Reflections

William Mathie, 14(2,3)281 on De Gaulle: Reply to

villa,"

Code-

Will Morrisey, 13(1)113 "Refutative Rhetoric as True Rhetoric in the

"Phaedrus'

Cosmology

in the

Symposium,"

Gorgias"

Charles Salman, 20(2)99 "Philosophical Apology in the

Scott R.

"The Relation Between

Theaetetus,"
gion,"

Thomas J. Lewis, 14(2,3)195 Philosophy and Reli

Laurence

Berns, 19(1)43
Christopher A. Colmo, Origins
of

"Philosophy
Lost,"

Hemmenway, 17(3)323 as Noblest Idolatry in Paradise

Lowenthal,"

"Reply

to

18(2)313

John Alvis, 16(2)263 "Philosophy, Education, and Courage in Plato's Laches Charles Griswold, Jr.
14(2,3)177

"Republic, Book II,

Philosophy,"

and the

Politi

cal
,

Drew A. Hyland,

16(2)247 "Response to
Sherover"

(Discussion), Mark
Argument,"

"Philosophy, Science,
American
Mind,"

and

the

Opening

of

the

Blitz,

12(2,3)381
the Diodotean

Roger D. Masters,

"Rethinking

Laurie

16(1)139

"Piety

Temptation"

and

(Discussion), Stanley
a

M. Johnson, 18(1)53 "Robert H. Horwitz:

1923-1987,"

Will Mor

C. Brubaker, 19(1)61 "The Place of Leo Strauss in

tion,"

risey,
Liberal Educa
of

15(2,3)367
and

"Rousseau

the Management of the Pas

Glenn N. Schram, 19(2)201 "Plato's Three Waves and the Question

Utopia,"

Peter Emberley, 13(2)151 "Rousseau on Reading 'Jean-Jacques': The Di

alogues,"

sions,"

Drew A. Hyland, 18(1)91 "Pluralism, the Public Good and the Problem of Self-Government in The Kenneth L. Grasso, 15(2,3)323
Federalist,"

Christopher
the

Kelly

and

Roger D.

Masters, 17(2)239
"Rousseau
versus of

Savoyard Vicar: The

Considered,"

Profession

Faith

Peter

Em-

"The Political Implications

of

Heidegger's Be

berly, 14(2,3)299
"Rousseau's Contract With
Inequality,"

ing

and

Time: On Heidegger's

'Being

and

and

Without His

Time'

and the

Possibility
Blitz"

of Political Phi

losophy, by Mark

(Discussion),

Jim MacAdam, 12(2,3)275 Nature," "Rousseau's Pure State of Victor

Charles M. Sherover, 12(2,3)367 "Politics and Poetry: Aristotle's Politics, Books VII 19(2)157
"The Politics
VIII,"

Gourevich, 16(1)23
"Rousseau's Socratism: The Political
of

Bearing

and

Michael Davis,

'On Theatrical

Imitation,'"

Leonard R.

Sorenson, 20(2)135
Alain,"

Yves R. Simon, trans lated by John M. Dunaway, 13(2)215 "The Problem of Religion in
of
Liberalism,"

"S. T. Coleridge Replies to Adam Smith's

Richard Sherlock 20(3)285

and

Roger Barrus,

'Pernicious Opinion': A Social

Engineering,"

Study

in Hermetic

David Levy, 14(1)89

Index
"Seeing Justice Done: Mera J. Flaumenhaft, 17(1)69
"The Serious David
Aeschylus'
Oresteia,"

'

91

"The Theaetetus
Opinion,"

and

the

Possibility

of

False

Play

of

Plato's

Euthydemus,"

Roochnik, 18(2)211

David Bolotin, 15(2,3)179 "Thomas Aquinas and the Reform of Christian Ernest L. Fortin, 17(1)3
Education,"

Shakespeare's

Apology
and

for Imitative Poetry:

Republic"

"Tocqueville
Right,"

and the

Problem

of

Natural

The Tempest

The

Barbara

Tovey, 11(3)275
"Shakespeare's Demonic
Prince,"

Robert Eden, 17(3)379 Sanford 'Tocqueville on Sexual

Morality,"

Grant B. Soul
of

Kessler, 16(3)465
"Tocqueville's Perspective:

Mindle, 20(3)259
Shakespeare's Richard III
Tyrant,"

Democracy

in

and the

the

America in Search
Politics,'"

of

the 'New Science of

Morton J. Frisch, 20(3)275 "1668 Appendix to Thomas

Leviathan,"

"Tyranny: Ancient
and

Wilhelm Hennis, 16(1)61 Leah and

Modern,"

Hobbes,
notes

translated

with an

introduction
and

Bradshaw, 20(2)187

George Wright, 18(3)323 "Socrates and Alcibiades: Eros, Piety,

by

Pol
"An Unspoken Theme in Plato's Gorgias: Arlene W. Saxonhouse, 11(2)139
War,"

itics,"

"Socrates'

Jacob A. Howland, 18(1)63 Critique of Hedonism: A Reading

Philebus,"

of the

"Socratic Place

Eironeia"

David Bolotin, 13(1)1 Ronna Burger, 13(2)143 Lockean Rights: The in

a

"Socratic Reason
of

and

the

University

Liberal De

"The Virtu dragola "Virtue

"Virtue

of

Women: Machiavelli's Man

Clizia"

William A. Galston, 16(1)101 "Socratic Rhetoric and Socratic Wisdom in

Plato's "Socratic
Phaedrus,"

mocracy,"

and

Jack D'Amico,
Adams'

12(2,3)261
and
Defence,"

John C. Koritansky, Justice: Plato's

Cli-

15(1)29

Individual Rights in John Robert Webking, 13(2)177 Knowledge: On Plato's Pro Joseph Cropsey, 19(2)137

Teaching

and

and

tagoras"

Jan H. Blits, 13(3)321 "Some Observations About Plato's "Some Remarks Maimonides
translated

tophon,"

Phaedo"

Chaninah Maschler, 18(2)177 on the Political Science

Farabi,"

of

"Walter Benjamin/Gershom
sion),

Scholem"

(Discus

and

by

Leo Strauss, Robert Bartlett, 18(1)3 Michael Piatt Politics: A

Stanley

Corngold

and

Michael Jen Peter A.

nings, 12(2,3)357

"Souls Without 18(3)415

Longing,"

"Was Tocqueville

Philosopher?"

"Spiritedness in Ethics Aristotelian 12(2,3)335 "A

and

Study

in

Psychology"

(Discussion),
of

Lawler, 17(3)401 "The Whole as Setting for Man: On Plato's Joseph Cropsey, 17(2)165 'Poor Real Life': The "William Dean
Timaeus" Howells'

Study
ence

of

Part

I, Chapters 1-7

Maim

onides'

The Guide of the

Perplexed,"

Ter

Royal Road to the American Thomas S. Engeman, 19(1)29

Character,"

Kleven, 20(1)3

"The Wisdom

of

Plato's

Aristophanes,"

Charles Salman, 18(2)233

'Tacitus'

Teaching

and the

Decline

of

Liberty
"Xenophon
and

Rome,"

at

James C. Leake, 15(1)55,

and

15(2,3)195 "Temporal Royalties

in The
Tempest,"

His

Socrates,"

Christopher

Virtue's

Airy

Voice

Bruell, 16(2)295

Timothy Fuller, 11(2)207

"Zarathustra's
Dialectic,"

"The

Tempting of America: The Political Se duction of the (Discussion), Matthew J. Franck, 19(1)77; Ken Masugi, 19(1)85
Law"

Dancing

Waller R.

Newell, 17(3)415

92

Interpretation
TOPICS

Achilles, 11(1)1

Acquistion, 11(2)171 Action, 11(3)340, 20(1)64 Administration, 15(2,3)206

Agathon, 18(2)233 Agriculture, 11(1)25 Alcibiades, 18(1)63 Al-Farabi, Abu Nasr, 18(1)3 Ambition, 20(3)259 Amour-propre, 13(2)160 Analysis, 13(3)368 Anamnesis, 20(2)129 Anarchy, 12(2,3)301 Ancients, 18(1)31,20(1)17 Antimodemism, 16(3)359 Apology, philosophical, 17(3)323 Aporia, 20(2)129 Appropriation, 13(3)403 Aquinas, Thomas, 19(3)256 Arete, 18(2)212, 20(2)129 Aristophanes, 13(1)15, 18(2)233 Aristotle, 18(2)253, 20(3)309 Assembly of Estates, 12(1)42 Atheism, 18(1)145, 19(2)185 Athens, 11(1)1, 18(1)53 Augustus, 11(1)25 Authority, 12(1)29, 16(3)445 Autobiography, 17(2)239

City, 18(1)91, 19(1)3, 19(2)157, 20(2)192 Civilization, 11(1)43, 20(2)165 Cleon, 18(1)53 Clerisy, 14(1)107 Commerce, 14(1)61 Commonality, 13(3)335 Communism, 11(1)73, 19(2)185 Community, political, 17(2)263, 18(1)91 Conquest, 17(1)139 Consciousness, 16(3)415 Consensus, 19(3)279 Consent, 15(1)3, 17(2)193 Constitution: mixed, 15(1)91; U.S., 17(1)59, 18(3)467, 475, 19(1)61 Constraints, 19(2)117 Contradiction, principle of, 18(1)149 Contrivance, 17(2)193 Convention, social, 17(2)193 Cosmology, 20(2)99 Cosmos, 17(2)169, 20(2)101 Courage, 14(2,3)177, 16(1)5 Credulity, 15(2,3)309 Curiosity, 15(2,3)309 Customs, 20(1)50 Cyropaedia, 19(3)225 Cyrus, 16(3)391, 19(3)225

Babo, 11(1)43 Bacon, Francis, 20(3)289 Bad, 17(2)291 Barbarism, 11(1)43 Basle, 16(3)359 Beggars, 18(1)111 Behavior, 17(1)111 Belief, 16(2)193 Bible, 11(1)87, 11(2)249, 11(3)353, 12(1)49, 12(2,3)141, 13(3)323, 20(1)4 Biology, 17(1)111

Death, 18(2)177 Definition, 12(2,3)193 Delano, Captain Amasa, 11(1)43 Democracy, 13(2)246, 16(1)61, 17(2)269, 17(3)389, 20(2)200 Despair, 13(3)379, 20(2)165 Despotism, 11(3)321 Development: economic, 20(1)45;
spontaneous, 14(1)76

Caesar, Julius, 20(3)275 Castracani, Castruccio, 16(2)285 Cause, 16(2)176 Cereno, Benito, 11(1)43 Character, American, 17(3)389, 19(1)29 Christianity, 14(1)1, 16(3)311, 17(1)3, 17(2)223, 19(2)185, 20(1)17, 20(3)285
Citizen perspective, 11(1)43 Citizenship, 17(1)19, 19(2)157

Dialectic, 17(3)415 Dialogue, 14(2,3)155, 222, 17(2)239, 18(2)257,20(2)99, 117 Diodotus, 18(1)53 Diotima, 20(2)101 Diplomacy, 18(2)273 Disobedience, 16(2)280 Dogmatism, 17(1)117 Drama, 11(2)207, 11(3)275, 12(1)15, 14(1)115, 14(2,3)155, 16(3)311, 17(1)69,

19(2)117,20(3)259,
Dreams, 11(2)207

275

Eclecticism, 14(2,3)211 Economics, 14(1)89, 17(3)355 Education, 13(2)233, 14(1)51, 14(2,3)177,

Index
299, 16(1)101, 111, 139, 145, 157, 17(1)3, 18(1)91, 19(2)157, 201, 19(3)225,
20(2)117

93

Eironeia, 13(2)143

Enquiry, 15(2,3)309 Enslavement, 20(2)117 Epicurus, 19(1)3 Equality, 15(1)3, 16(1)73, 17(3)389, 18(1)92, 20(2)136, 20(3)309 Eros, 13(1)15, 16(3)391, 18(1)63, 18(2)233,
20(2)102

Esotericism, 20(1)3 Ethics, 11(3)335, 17(1)115, 17(2)255, 18(2)273, 20(1)69 Ethnicity, 20(3)309 Evil, 16(3)311 Evolution, 17(1)111 Exotericism, 14(1)51

Hamilton, Alexander, 17(3)355 Happiness, 17(3)406: pursuit of, 11(2)225 Hedonism, 13(1)1, 20(2)157 Hegel, G.W.F., 19(1)6, 19(2)195 Heidegger, Martin, 17(3)415 Heresy, 18(3)368 Hermetism, 14(1)89 Hero, 14(2,3)273 Historicism, 20(2)168 Historicity, 12(2,3)288 Historiography, 13(3)403 History, 17(2)199, 17(3)347, 20(1)70,
20(2)165

Hobbes, Thomas, 18(2)254, 20(2)157,

20(3)286

Holiness, 13(1)33 Honor-seeking, 20(2)188

Hope, 13(3)382 Humanitarianism, 20(1)41

Faith, 14(2,3)299, 371, 17(1)3, 18(3)349 Fear, 13(2)167, 15(2,3)208 Federalism, 17(3)355 Feelings, 13(3)361 Feminism, 18(2)293 Finite, 16(2)174
Foreign affairs, 18(2)273 Forms, 18(2)177

Fortune, 19(3)246 Founders, American, 14(2,3)269, 20(3)299 France, 13(1)103, 113 Freedom, 13(2)197, 15(1)3, 16(1)71, 17(3)389, 19(2)117,20(2)136 Freemasonry, 14(1)1

Idolatry, 16(2)263 Imitation, 20(2)135 Immortality, 18(2)177, 19(3)287 Inclination, natural, 19(3)251 Incommensurability, 20(2)117 Incontinence, 16(1)18 Individualism, 17(2)269, 275, 19(1)29 Individuation, 13(3)335 Inequality, 16(2)211, 20(3)309 Infinite, 16(2)173 Institutions, growth of, 14(1)76 Interaction, 16(1)82 Intersubjectivism, 19(2)172 Irony, 16(1)11
"Is-Ought,"

19(2)175

General will, 12(1)29 Geneva, 17(1)19

Isolation, 16(1)78

Germany, 19(3)307 God, 13(3)297, 18(1)145, 18(2)315, 18(3)323, 20(3)229, 243 Gods, 11(1)25, 13(1)15, 33, 48, 17(1)41, 19(1)3, 20(2)99 Golden Age, 11(1)25 Good, 16(3)311, 17(2)293, 20(2)187: human, 16(2)167; public, 15(2,3)323 Good Life, 11(2)171 Goodness, 17(2)291 Government, 11(3)317, 17(1)59, 127, 17(3)355, 18(1)3, 18(2)253, 18(3)467, 475, 19(3)225, 243 Greece, 17(2)232 Groups, occupational, 17(2)259 Guilt, 11(3)384

"Jean-Jacques,"

17(2)239

Jefferson, Thomas, 20(3)299, 309 Jovian Age, 11(1)25 Judaism, 20(1)3 Justice, 12(1)83, 12(2,3)193, 225, 13(1)48, 13(3)321, 16(2)247, 17(1)41,69,
19(3)243

Kings, 18(1)111,20(3)259,275 Knowledge, 17(3)323, 19(2)137

Labor, division of, 16(2)255 Language, 16(1)50, 20(1)17

94

Interpretation
19(3)251:

Laughter, 13(1)91 Law, 19(3)307: constitutional, 19(1)61; divine,

natural,

human, 17(1)120; State 16(1)23, 16(2)218, 254, 17(2)194

of,

15(2,3)222, 18(1)11; moral, 15(2,3)222; 15(2,3)222, 16(2)264, 18(2)282,

19(3)251

Laws, 11(1)6 Leadership, 14(2,3)265 Learning, 20(2)117 Legislator, 14(2,3)277 Legitimacy, 17(2)203 Leninism, 11(1)73 Liberalism, 16(2)193, 20(1)63, 20(3)285 Liberation, 18(2)251 Libertarianism, 12(2,3)301 Liberty, 15(1)3, 55, 15(2,3)195, 16(2)229, 17(3)406, 20(2)135 Life: good, 11(2)171; philosophic, 16(2)272, 20(3)227, 237; political, 11(2)185 Limits, 20(3)232, 247 Literature, 16(2)193 Locke, John, 20(3)286 Love, 13(1)15, 16(3)391, 19(2)128, 19(3)245 Luther, Martin, 18(3)323

Creed, 18(3)349 Nietzsche, Friedrich, 18(3)433 Nihilism, 16(1)157, 17(1)115 Noble, 14(2,3)353
Nicene

Objectivity, 17(1)119 Obligation, 19(2)175 Odysseus, 17(1)41 Oedipus, 18(1)65 One, 16(2)174 Opinion, 15(2,3)179: Christian, 11(3)320 Oratory, 15(2,3)272 Oresteia, 17(1)69 Orpheus, 16(3)427

Machiavelli, Niccolo, 20(3)259, 280, 287 Madison, James, 20(3)299 Madness, 18(1)67 Maimonides, Moses, 18(1)3 Man, 15(2,3)157, 16(1)23, 16(2)211, 17(2)165 Many, 16(2)173 Marxism, 11(1)73, 14(1)135 Mathematics, 20(2)117 Matter, 17(2)175 Media, 19(3)225 Meditation, 16(3)415 Methodology, 15(1)77 Metaxy, 16(3)415 Mime, 11(1)1 Mind, American, 16(1)111 Moderation, 15(2,3)222 Modernism, 16(3)370 Modernity, 11(3)392, 20(2)157, 20(3)285 Moderns, 18(1)31, 20(1)17
Moral
sentiment

Paganism, 20(1)27 Parents, 18(3)416 Parties, political, 17(3)383 Partisanship, 18(2)253 Pascal, Blaise, 17(3)407 Passions, 13(2)151 Peloponnesian War, 18(1)53 Perception, 15(2,3)184 Perfectibility, 13(2)153 Persia, 19(3)225 Phaedrus, 20(2)99 Philosopher-king, 11(3)310, 18(1)100 Philosophers, 12(2,3)349, 17(3)401, 18(2)177,
211,20(2)145

theory, 19(2)169

Morality, 14(2,3)353, 15(1)3, 15(2,3)222, 16(1)111, 16(3)465, 17(1)117, 17(2)255,

19(1)29: sexual, 16(3)465

Music, 19(2)157 Mythology, 11(1)1, 13(3)405 Mytilenean Debate, 18(1)53

Naturalism, 17(1)111 Nature, 13(3)387, 15(2,3)157, 16(1)23,

Philosophy, 14(2,3)177, 15(2,3)175, 272, 16(1)157, 16(2)263, 16(3)427, 17(1)3, 17(3)402, 18(1)145, 18(2)211, 19(1)43, 20(2)135, 157: analytic, 12(1)107; ancient, 19(1)44; Islamic, 20(3)277; medieval, 16(1)87, 19(1)46; modem, 19(1)46; moral, 19(2)169; 13(3)335; political, 11(3)392, 12(2,3)301, 13(3)297,403, 16(2)247, 17(2)193, 17(3)379, 18(2)251, 20(2)157, 165, 187; social, 14(1)61, 89 Piety, 12(2,3)225, 13(1)48, 18(1)63 Plato, 11(1)1, 11(3)275, 18(3)431, 19(1)6 Pleasure, 13(1)1, 16(2)167, 17(2)291 Pluralism, 15(2,3)323 Poetry, 11(3)275, 19(2)157, 20(2)143, 187 Polis, 17(2)165 Politics, 11(3)335, 383, 16(1)61, 16(2)196, 16(3)391, 17(2)223, 275, 18(1)63, 18(2)251, 19(1)5, 19(2)157, 19(3)309, 20(1)66, 20(2)165 Power, 11(3)340, 16(3)427, 19(3)309,
"new,"

20(2)187, 20(3)275

Index
Prejudice, 20(3)309 Principate, 15(2,3)195 Problems, 12(2,3)287 Progress, 14(1)61 Prometheus, 19(2)117 Property, 17(1)136 Prophecy, 18(1)12 Protagoras, 19(2)137 Protreptic, 18(2)212
Provinces
of

'

95

ethics, 17(2)255

Prudence, 14(2,3)311, 16(1)13 Psychology, Aristotelian, 12(2,3)335 Pursuit, happiness of, 11(2)235

Race, 11(1)43,20(3)309 Realism, 14(2,3)354 Reason, 13(2)157, 14(2,3)281, 371, 16(1)101, 16(2)270, 17(1)119, 17(3)406, 18(1)145, 18(3)323, 19(3)251 Rebellion, 11(1)43 Recognition, 20(2)188 Recollection, 15(2,3)165, 18(2)185 Reform, 13(3)359: educational 17(1)3 Regime, best, 19(2)157 Relativism, 16(1)101, 111, 17(1)115 Religion, 14(1), 14(2,3)299, 17(1)3, 129, 17(3)347, 389, 18(1)145, 18(2) 251, 18(3)323, 19(1)3, 43, 19(2)185, 19(3)253,
20(3)285

Sense, 19(3)272 Sickness, 18(1)67 Slavery, 11(2)171, 17(1)139, 20(3)309 Society, 16(2)196, 17(1)19 Socrates, 11(3)383, 13(1)1, 14(2,3)155, 16(1)3, 16(2)277, 295, 17(2)105, 17(3)323, 18(1)63, 18(2)177, 211, 19(2)137, 20(2)99, 20(3)227, 237 Solon, 17(2)166 Sophistry, 18(2)211 Sophists, 18(2)211 Soul, 15(2,3)157, 17(2)275, 18(2)177, 18(3)323, 19(3)287, 20(2)192 Spiritedness, 12(2,3)335 State, 12(1)29, 12(2,3)301, 13(1)67, 17(2)275, 19(3)307, 20(1)53, 20(3)285
Statesman perspective, 11(1)43 Statesmanship, 14(2,3)265 Status, 17(1)136

Strauss, Leo, 17(3)379, 433, 19(1)43,

20(2)187

Students, 18(3)415 Subjectivism, 19(2)172 Supremacy, judicial, 19(1)61 Supreme Court, 19(1)61 System, Rousseauian, 17(2)239

Republics, 11(3)321, 14(1)115, 15(1)80,

17(3)355

Teachers, 18(3)415 Teaching, 13(3)321, 14(1)51, 15(1)55,

18(3)415

Restraint, 16(2)193 Revelation, 18(1)145, 19(3)261 Revenge, 17(1)69 Rhetoric, 14(2,3)195, 281, 15(1)29, 75 Richard II, 18(1)111 Richard III, 20(3)259, 275 Right, 13(1)67, 16(1)101: natural, 14(2,3)331, 17(3)379, 19(3)254, 20(2)157 Rights, individual, 13(2)177 Rome, 11(1)25, 14(1)115, 15(1)55, 15(2,3)195, 17(2)223 Ruling, 19(3)225, 20(2)187 Russia, 11(1)73

Satire, 14(2,3)243, 15(2,3)309 Science, 16(3)427, 17(1)111, 17(3)347,

20(2)159: political, 16(1)61, 18(1)4 Self-consciousness, 19(1)3 Self-government, 15(2,3)323 Self-interest, 13(2,3)277, 17(3)393 Self-justification, 20(3)234, 250 Self-realization, 12(2,3)283

Techne, 18(2)219 Textism, 13(3)405 Theaetetus, 17(3)323 Theologians, 12(2,3)349 Theology, 16(3)359, 17(1)9, 18(2)251, 18(3)323, 19(2)185 Theory, 13(3)413, 18(2)293 Tiberius, 15(2,3)196 Tocqueville, Alexis de, 20(3)302 Torah, 18(1)8 Tradition, 16(1)118, 16(2)229, 19(3)264 Tragedy, 17(1)69 Transcendence, 19(1)7 Treason, 11(3)325 Trials, 17(1)86 Tyranny, 14(2,3)265, 15(1)55, 15(2,3)245, 19(2)117, 20(2)187, 20(3)259, 275

Understanding, 13(3)403, 19(1)85 Unity, 16(2)169 University, 16(1)101, 18(3)415 Unrest, 16(3)415

96

Interpretation
Weber, Max, 11(3)339 Whole, 17(2)166 Will, 13(2)195: general, 12(1)29, 17(3)391 Wisdom, 15(1)3, 29, 15(2,3)347, 17(1)41,
18(2)211

Usury, 11(3)325 Utopia, 12(2,3)301, 18(1)91

Vina, 12(2,3)263 Virtue, 11(2)207, 13(2)177, 15(2,3)230, 19(2)137, 20(2)136

Women, 12(2,3)262, 18(2)293 Work, 16(2)198

War, 11(2)139, 18(1)53 Waves, three, 18(1)91

Zarathustra, 17(3)415 Zeus, 19(2)117

AUTHORS OR WORKS

INTERPRETED IN ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN INTERPRETATION

Adams, John, 13(2)177 Adams, John Quincy, 18(2)273 Aeschylus, 17(1)69, 19(2)117 Alain (Emile Chartier), 13(2)213 Alcibiades II, 18(1)63 Al-Farabi, Abu Nasr, 16(1)87, 18(1)3 Al-Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya, 20(3)227, 237 Aquinas, Thomas, 17(1)3 Aristotle, 11(2)171, 185, 12(2,3)335, 16(1)3,
19(2)157

Federalist, The, 15(2,3)323 Ferguson, Adam, 14(1)61 Fessard, Gaston, 16(3)445, 19(2)185 Feuerbach, Ludwig, 13(3)335

Gadamer, Hans-Georg, 12(1)1 Genesis, 11(1)87, 11(2)249, 11(3)353, 12(1)49, 12(2,3)141

Averroes, 16(1)87

Bachofen, J. J., 16(3)359 Bacon, Francis, 16(3)427, 20(1)37 Benjamin, Walter, 12(2,3)357 Bloom, Allan, 16(1)101, 111, 139, 145, 157,
18(3)415

Bork, Robert H., 19(1)61 Burke, Edmund, 17(1)59

Habermas, Jurgen, 11(3)333 Hamilton, Alexander, 14(2,3)331 Hegel, G. W. F., 11(3)337, 12(1)29, 113, 13(1)67, 13(2)195 Heidegger, Martin, 12(2,3)367 Hobbes, Thomas, 14(2,3)281, 18(3)323 Homer, 11(1)1, 17(1)41 Horwitz, Robert H., 15(2,3)367, 19(3)25 Howells, William Dean, 19(1)29 Hume, David, 18(2)251, 19(2)169

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 14(1)89 Collingwood, R. G., 20(1)63 Conrad, Joseph, 16(2)193
Consolation of Philosophy, 14(2,3)211 Constitution of 1787 (U.S.), 18(3)467, 475

Jefferson, Thomas, 11(2)225, 18(2)273

Kojeve, Alexandre, 19(2)185

Dante, 20(1)17 De Gaulle, Charles, 13(1)103, 113 Drury, Shadia B., 19(2)201 Durkheim, Emile, 17(2)255

Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, 11(1)73 Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, 14(1)1

15(2,3)347

Locke, John, 17(1)127, 17(2)193, 19(3)251

Index
Machiavelli, Niccolo, 12(2,3)261, 14(2,3)265, 16(2)285, 19(3)243, 20(1)17, 37, 20(2)187 Madison, James, 17(3)355 Maimonides, Moses, 18(1)3, 20(1)3 Marx, Karl, 11(1)73, 19(1)3 Melville, Herman, 11(1)45 Mill, John Stuart, 13(3)359, 16(2)229 Milton, John, 16(2)263 Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat, 11(3)317, 17(2)223

97

Schmitt, Carl, 19(3)307 Shakespeare, William, 11(2)207, 11(3)275, 12(1)15, 14(1)115, 16(3)311, 18(1)111, 20(3)259, 275 Skinner, Quentin, 12(2,3)287, 13(3)403 Smith, Adam, 14(1)89 Socrates, 11(1)1, 13(2)143. See also Plato. Spengler, Oswald, 20(2)165 Strauss, Leo, 12(1)1, 13(2)233, 13(3)297, 17(3)433, 18(1)145, 161, 19(1)43, 19(2)201, 20(2)157, 187 Swift, Jonathan, 15(2,3)309

Nietzsche, Friedrich, 17(2)275, 17(3)415,

20(2)165
Nozick Robert, 12(2,3)301

Overbeck, Franz, 16(3)359

Tacitus, 15(1)55, 15(2,3)195 Thucydides, 18(1)53 Tocqueville, Alexis de, 16(1)61, 16(3)465, 17(3)379, 389, 401

Plato, 11(1)1, 11(2)139, 11(3)275, 12(1)83, 12(2,3)193, 225, 13(1)1, 15, 33, 13(3)321, 14(2,3)155, 177, 195, 15(1)29, 15(2,3)157, 179, 16(2)167, 247, 17(2)165, 291, 17(3)323, 18(1)63, 91, 18(2)177, 211,233, 19(2)137,20(2)99, 117

Umphrey, Stewart, 11(3)383

Vergil, 11(1)25 Vico, Giambattista, 17(3)347 Voegelin, Eric, 16(3)415

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 12(2,3)275, 13(2)151, 14(2,3)265, 299, 16(1)23, 16(2) 211, 17(1)19, 17(2)239, 20(2) 135, 157

Xenophon, 16(2)295, 16(3)391, 19(3)225

BOOKS

REVIEWED IN INTERPRETATION
A1-'

Alawi, Jamal
New

al-DIn.

Al-Matn

al-Rushdt:

Madkhal li-Qird'ah Jadidah

(Averroes'

Corpus:
Ara'

Pref
al-

ace to a

Reading) (Casablanca: Editions Toubkal, 1986), 16(1)87

Al-Farabi
on the

Al-Farabi, Abu Nasr.

Perfect State: Abu Nasr

Mabddi'

al-FardbTs

AM

Madina al-Fddilah, a revised text with introduction, translation, and commentary by Richard Walzer (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985), 16(1)87 trans Al-Farabi's Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristotle's "De lated with an introduction and notes by F. W. Zimmerman, The British Academy Classical and Medieval Logic Texts (London: Oxford University Press, 1981), 16(1)87
Interpretatione,"
.

Anastaplo, George. The Artist Press, 1983), 13(2)277

.The

as

Thinker: From Shakespeare to Joyce

(Athens, OH: Swallow

Constitution of 1787: A
on

Commentary

(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins

University Press,
(DeKalb:

1989), 18(3) 467, 475 Arnhart, Larry. Aristotle

Northern Illinois

Political Reasoning: A

Commentary

on

the

"Rhetoric"

University Press, 1981), 11(3)402

98

Interpretation
of the Beautiful: Plato's Chicago Press, 1984), 14(1)145
"Theaetetus,"
"Sophist,"

Benardete, Seth. The Being

(Chicago:

"Statesman"

and

University

of

Benjamin, Walter. Briefwechsel 1933-1940, edited by Gershom Scholem (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1980), 12(2,3)357 Berns, Gisela N. Greek Antiquity in Schiller's University of North Carolina Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures, vol. 104 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), 15(1)143 Berns, Walter, In Defense of Liberal Democracy (Chicago: Gateway Editions, 1984), 15(1)148 Bernstein, Richard J. Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and Praxis (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983), 13(2)268 Blits, Jan H. The End of the Ancient Republic: Essays on Julius Caesar (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 1982), 14(1)115 and the Possibility of Political Philosophy (Ithaca, Blitz, Mark. Heidegger's "Being and NY: Cornell University Press, 1982), 11(3)399, 12(2,3)367 Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987), 16(1)101 111, 139, 145, 157, 18(3)415 Boesche, Roger, editor. Alexis de Tocqueville: Selected Letters on Politics and Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 16(3)487 Bork, Robert H. The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law (New York: Free Press, 1990), 19(1)61,74, 85 : A Defense of a Philosophic Art of Writing (University: Uni Burger, Ronna. Plato's of 11(3)401 Alabama Press, 1980), versity Burke, Edmund. Selected Letters of Edmund Burke edited and with an introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), 13(3)434 Three Short Commentaries on Aristotle's Butterworth, Charles E., editor and translator. and (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1977),
"Wallenstein"
Time"

"Phaedrus"

Averroes'

"Topics,"

"Rhetoric,''

"Poetics"

12(1)138

Canavan, Francis. Freedom of Expression: Purpose

Carolina Academic Press
cal

as

Limit (Durham, NC,

and

Claremont, CA:
and

and

The Claremont Institute for the

Study of Statesmanship

Politi

Philosophy, 1984), 14(2,3)455

Shakespeare'

s Rome: Republic and Empire (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Cantor, Paul A. University Press, 1976), 14(1)115 Capaldi, Nicholas. Hume's Place in Moral Philosophy (New York: Peter Lang, 1989), 19(2)169
.Out

of Order: Affirmative Action

and the

Crisis of Doctrinaire Liberalism (Buffalo: Prom

etheus

Books, 1985), 14(2,3)415

Ceaser, James W. Liberal Democracy and Political Science (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), 19(3)319 Coby, Patrick. Socrates and the Sophistic Enlightenment: A Commentary on Plato's Protagoras (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1987), 17(2)313 Collingwood, R. G. Essays in Political Philosophy, edited by David Boucher (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), 20(1)63 Colman, John. John Locke's Moral Philosophy (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1983),
13(2)285

Corngold, Stanley, The Fate of the Self: German Writers and French Theory (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986), 15(2,3)373

Den Uyl, Douglas J. Power, State, and Freedom: An Interpretation of Spinoza's Political Philoso phy (Assen, Neth.: Van Gorcum, 1983), 13(2)290 Deutsch, Kenneth L., and Walter Soffer, editors. The Crisis of Liberal Democracy: A Straussian
Perspective (Albany: State

University
:

of

New York

Press, 1988), 16(3)481

Dorter, Kenneth. Plato's 1982), 12(1)137

"Phaedo"

An Interpretation (Toronto:

University

of

Toronto Press

Index

'

99

Eco, Umberto. The Name of the Rose (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983), 14(2,3)389 Eidelberg, Paul. Jerusalem versus Athens: In Quest of a General Theory of Existence (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1983), 14(2,3)441 Emmert, Kirk. Winston S. Churchill on Empire (Durham, NC, and Claremont, CA: Carolina Aca
demic Press
phy,
and

The Claremont Institute for the

Study

of

Statesmanship

and

Political Philoso

1989), 19(1)95

Faulkner, Robert K. Richard Hooker and the Politics of a Christian England (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981), 12(2,3)400 Faulkner, William. The De Gaulle Story, vol. 3 of Faulkner: A Comprehensive Guide to the Brodsky Collection, edited by Daniel Brodsky and Robert W. Hamblin (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1984), 17(3)469 Ferry, Luc. Political Philosophy, vol. 1, Rights The New Quarrel Between the Ancients and the Moderns, translated by Franklin Philip (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 20(2)217 Fortin, Ernest L. Dissidence et philosophie au moyen age: Dante et ses antecedents (Montreal: Bellarmin, and Paris: J. Vrin, 1981), 12(1)139 Friedman, George. The Political Philosophy of the Frankfurt School (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univer sity Press, 1981), 11(3)405

Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Dialogue

with an

and

Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies

on

Plato,

translated

introduction

by

P. Christopher Smith (New Haven: Yale

University Press, 1980),

13(2)261
Philosophical Apprenticeships, translated by Robert R. Sullivan (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1985), 14(2,3)456 Gerigk, Horst-Jiirgen. Unterwegs zur Interpretation Hinweise zu einer Theorie der Literatur in

Auseinandersetzung

mit

Gadamers "Wahrheit

Methode"

und

(Hurtgenwald: Guido Pressler

Verlag, 1989), 17(2)305 Gildin, Hilail. Rousseau's Social Contract: The Design of the Argument (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), 12(2,3)407 Goldwin, Robert A., editor. Bureaucrats, Policy Analysts, Statesmen: Who Leads? (Washington: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1980), 11(1)129 and William A. Schambra, editors. How Capitalistic Is the Constitution? (Washington: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1982), 12(2,3)391
.

lic

How Democratic Is the Constitution? (Washington: American Enterprise Institute for Pub Policy Research, 1980), 12(2,3)391 How Does the Constitution Secure Rights? (Washington: American Enterprise Institute for
.
.

Public

Policy Research, 1985),

14(2,3)448

Habermas, Jurgen. Der philosophisches Diskurs der Moderne (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1985),
14(2,3)431
.

Die

neue and

Unubersichtlichkeit (Frankfurt:

Suhrkamp Verlag, 1985),

14(2,3)431

Years of Locke Scholarship: A Bibliographical Guide (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1983), 13(2)285 Hartle, Ann. Death and the Disinterested Spectator: An Inquiry into the Nature of Philosophy (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986), 17(1)152

Hall, Roland,

Roger Woolhouse.

Eighty

The Modern Self in Rousseau's Confession: A Reply to St. Augustine (Notre Dame, IN; of Notre Dame Press, 1984), 13(3)429 Heidegger, Martin. Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics, 4th edition (enlarged), translated by Richard Taft (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990), 19(1)111 Horwitz, Robert H., editor. The Moral Foundations of the American Republic, 3rd edition (Char
.

University

lottesville:

University

Press

of

Virginia, 1986), 15(1)97

100

Interpretation
and

Jaffa, Harry V. American Conservatism demic Press, 1984), 13(3)435

.

the American

Founding (Durham,

NC: Carolina Aca

editor. Statesmanship: Essays in Honor of Winston S. Churchill (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 1981), 12(2,3)395 Johnston, David. The Rhetoric of "Leviathan": Thomas Hobbes and the Politics of Cultural Trans

formation (Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1986),

17(1)145

Kogan, Barry S. Averroes and the Metaphysics of Causation (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985), 16(1)87 Kolakowski, Leszek. Main Currents of Marxism: vol. 1, The Founders; vol. 2, The Golden Age; vol. 3, The Breakdown, translated from the Polish by P. S. Falla (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), 14(1)135 Koritansky, John C. Alexis de Tocqueville and the New Science of Politics (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 1986), 16(3)487 Kraut, Richard. Aristotle on the Human Good (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989),
19(3)315

Leaman, Oliver. An Introduction to Medieval Islamic Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge Univer sity Press, 1985), 16(1)87 Livingston, Donald W. Hume's Philosophy of Common Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), 13(3)432 Locke, John. Questions concerning the Law of Nature, edited by Robert H. Horwitz, Jenny Strauss Clay, and Diskin Clay (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990), 19(2)217 Lord, Carnes. Education and Culture in the Political Thought of Aristotle (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982), 12(2,3)401

Machan, Tibor. Individuals and Their Rights (LaSalle, IL: Open Court, 1989), 20(1)81 Maclntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981),
12(1)131

Mansfield, Harvey C, Jr. Machiavelli's New Modes and Orders: A Study of the Discourses (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1979), 12(2,3)404
.

on

Livy

Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power (New York: Free Press, 1989), 18(1)163 McDonald, Forrest. Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1985), 15(1)148 Morrisey, Will. Reflections on De Gaulle: Political Founding in Modernity (Washington: Univer sity Press of America, 1983), 13(1)103

Nichols, Mary P. Socrates and the Political Community: An Ancient Debate (Albany: State Univer sity of New York Press, 1987), 17(2)317 Nozick, Robert. Anarchy, State, and Utopia (New York: Basic Books, 1974), 12(2,3)301

Parsons, J. E., Jr. Essays in Political Philosophy (Washington: University Press of America 1982), 13(2)294 Passage, Charles E. Character Names in Dostoevsky's Fiction (Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis 1982)
12(1)127

Perry, Marvin. Arnold Toynbee and the Crisis of the West (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1982), 14(1)150 Piatt, Michael. Rome and the Romans According to Shakespeare, revised edition (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1983), 14(1)115

Index
Plattner, Marc F. Rousseau's State
(DeKalb: Northern Illinois
of Nature: An Interpretation of the Discourse
on

101

Inequality

University Press, 1979),

12(2,3)409

Reeve, C. D. C. Socrates in the "Apology": An Essay on Plato's "Apology of (Indi anapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1989), 19(1)101 Rifkin, Jeremy, in collaboration with Nicanor Perlas. Algeny (New York: Viking, 1983),
Socrates"

12(2,3)387

Roosevelt, Grace G. Reading Rousseau in the Nuclear Age (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990), 20(2)209 Rorty, Richard. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979), 13(1)119 Rosen, Stanley. G. W. F. Hegel: An Introduction to the Science of Wisdom (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974), 13(2)268 The Limits of Analysis (New York: Basic Books, 1980), 15(1)129 Nihilism: A Philosophical Essay (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969), 12(1)131 Rosenthal, Henry M. The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes's Secret; Spinoza's Way (Phila delphia: Temple University Press, 1989), 17(3)449 or "On Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. translated with an introduction and notes by Allan Bloom (New York: Basic Books, 1979), 11(3)402
.
.

"Emile"

Education,"

The Reveries of the Solitary Walker, translated with preface, notes, and an interpretive essay by Charles E. Butterworth (New York: New York University Press, 1979, cloth; New York: Harper and Row, 1982, paper), 11(3)403
.

John J. Principles of Politics: An Introduction (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986), 15(1)145 Schutte, Ofelia. Beyond Nihilism: Nietzsche without Masks (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), 13(2)251 Semmel, Bernard. John Stuart Mill and the Pursuit of Virtue (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), 13(2)292 Sherover, Charles. Time, Freedom, and the Common Good: An Essay in Public Philosophy (Al bany: State University of New York Press, 1989), 18(2)317

Schrems,

Sokolowski, Robert. The God of Faith and Reason: The Foundations of Christian Theology (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), 14(2,3)371 Strauss, Leo. An Introduction to Political Philosophy: Ten Essays by Leo Strauss, edited by Hilail Gildin (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1989), 17(3)465
.

edited

The Rebirth of Classical Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, by Thomas L. Pangle (Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1989), 17(3)465

Tarcov, Nathan. Locke's Education for Liberty (Chicago: University

13(3)425

of

Chicago Press, 1984),

Thompson, Kenneth W. Masters of International Thought (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univer sity Press, 1980), 11(1)134 Morality and Foreign Policy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1980),
.

11(1)134 Winston Churchill's World View: Statesmanship and Power (Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 1983), 12(2,3)395 Thurow, Glen, and Jeffrey D. Wallin, editors. Rhetoric and American Statesmanship (Durham, NC, and Claremont, CA: Carolina Academic Press and The Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, 1984), 13(2)287

State

Tucker, Robert W.,

and

Jefferson (New York: Oxford

David C. Hendrickson. Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas University Press, 1990), 20(2)205

102

Interpretation

Williams, Bernard. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), 15(1)129 Wilson, John F. The Politics of Moderation: An Interpretation of Plato's Republic (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984), 14(1)147

Zuckert, Catherine H. Natural Right and the American Imagination: Political Philosophy in Novel Form (Savage, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1990), 19(1)105
,

editor.

Understanding

the Political Spirit: Philosophical Investigations

from Socrates to

Nietzsche (New Haven: Yale

University Press, 1988),

17(2)309

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