{"id":164,"date":"2010-03-28T08:09:46","date_gmt":"2010-03-28T15:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/03-2\/wheat-from-the-chaff-reading-wolin-part-2-plato-and-politics"},"modified":"2011-07-13T21:20:28","modified_gmt":"2011-07-14T04:20:28","slug":"wheat-from-the-chaff-reading-wolin-part-2-plato-and-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/164","title":{"rendered":"Reading Wolin, Part 2: Plato and Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:30px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/164\" send=\"false\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"recommend\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div id=\"content\">\n<div class=\"blog\"><!-- back and forward --><\/p>\n<div class=\"blogbody\">\n<p><span>What is \u201cpolitics\u201d? According to Chp. 2 of Sheldon Wolin\u2019s <em>Politics and Vision*<\/em>, it\u2019s certainly <em>not<\/em> an intellectual conception he shares with Plato.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">Plato\u2019s vision of politics is of the Good: the right and just principles that are common to all rational beings, and that ought to govern their political community. It is a philosophical conception, in the sense that his vision is derived from reason, yet practical because it reflects a serious attempt to imagine a real and tangible Good Society. But Plato\u2019s quest for a <em>tabula rasa<\/em>, on which society is to be reconstructed with the help of a philosopher king (as in <em>The Republic<\/em>) or a philosopher-legislator (as in <em>The Laws<\/em>), always points to the same conclusion: \u201cabsolute power yoked to absolute knowledge\u201d (p. 45). To be sure, Plato does not aim for a totalitarian solution. Far from it. Plato is repeatedly concerned with the excesses of power. His solution is a search for the Forms, eternal verities which transcend time, place and historical convention. With knowledge of the Forms, and the leadership of Rational people suffused with a \u201cdeep longing of the purified soul\u201d (p. 52), Plato argues that the corruption of power will be overcome. In Wolin&#8217;s words, it is the assuring logic of all Rationalists: \u201cwhen political power is joined to knowledge it loses its compulsive element\u201d (ibid). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">Wolin disputes this vision of politics. According to Wolin, politics is defined as the activity of citizens within a given geographical area who work (or struggle) to resolve common problems under the condition of scarcity (of resources, status and authority). It is fundamentally a vision of conflict (p. 11). From this perspective, there is no real sense of politics in Plato\u2019s writings, precisely because Wolin&#8217;s politics is a communal activity that does not aim at Truth. Plato contributes little to issues like political participation, because such concerns imply a need for consent and conventionality that have little time for the Universal Good. Against Plato, Wolin argues that any political \u201cagreement that issues from participation is not intended as a symbol of truth but as a tangible expression of that sense of belonging which forms a vital dike against the forces of <em>anomie<\/em>\u201d (p. 58). And beyond legitimization, politics \u201cinvolves a judgment concerning claims, all of which possess a certain validity\u201d (ibid). In other words, it is a balance of competing \u201copinions\u201d that leads to \u201ctentative stabilities within a situation of conflict\u201d (p. 60). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">Wolin rebukes others, like Leo Strauss, who laments that \u201cagreement may produce peace but it cannot produce truth\u201d (quoted in Wolin, p. 57). Plato, Strauss and others have refused to see politics for what it is: an activity that is necessary in and of itself, and which can\u2019t be transcended. Arguing otherwise, says Wolin, is simply \u201cfatuous\u201d (ibid). As such, political philosophy cannot ignore judgments of conciliation and compromise. It must be <em>about <\/em>conciliation and compromise, and the communal nature that frames these \u201ctentative stabilities\u201d. A \u201cpolitical judgment, in other words, is \u2018true\u2019 when it is public, not public when it accords to some standard external to politics\u201d (p. 58). Moreover, any idea of transcendence leads to a \u201chollowing out of political content\u201d, and makes the issues of political obligation, political community and the existence of competing interests \u201cdangerously irrelevant\u201d (p. 48). Dissent and contrary political views, from Plato\u2019s logic, can only be seen as untruth, and untruth is mere steps away from a totalitarian solution. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">I find myself very sympathetic to Wolin\u2019s critique of Plato. It certainly mirrors my own reading of Plato (particularly <em>The Republic<\/em>), and reflects the shock I had when I first read Plato\u2019s prescriptions for a new and better world. Two concerns do surface, however. First, Wolin never satisfactorily explains the irreducibly pluralistic nature of politics. It\u2019s posited with a few examples, but there is no systematic discussion to buttress his point of view. Perhaps we shall see more about this later. Similarly, I am somewhat disenchanted with Wolin\u2019s conception of power. So far, it seems very simple and clear-cut; power is explicit decision making on behalf of particular interests over others. It seems much like the first level in Steven Lukes\u2019 three levels of power. Maybe later we will see a greater concern with non-decision making and the covert shaping of desire\u2026 and discourses of truth.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">_____________ <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;\">* Wolin, Sheldon. <em>Politics and Vision, Expanded Edition<\/em> (Princeton University Press, Princeton), 2004. <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posted\">Posted by <a href=\"mailto:cwelch@lexiconic.net\">Colin Welch<\/a> at 7:20 PM<br \/>\n<em>Edited on: Sunday, May 23, 2010 5:24 PM<\/em><br \/>\nCategories: <a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff2\/archives\/cat_books.html\">Books<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff2\/archives\/cat_inaphilosophicalmood.html\">In a Philosophical Mood<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff2\/archives\/cat_language.html\">Language<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff2\/archives\/cat_sheldonwolin.html\">Sheldon Wolin<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is \u201cpolitics\u201d? According to Chp. 2 of Sheldon Wolin\u2019s Politics and Vision*, it\u2019s certainly not an intellectual conception he shares with Plato. Plato\u2019s vision of politics is of the Good: the right and just principles that are common to all rational beings, and that ought to govern their political community. It is a philosophical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":701,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions\/701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}