The Republic's third wave and the paradox of political philosophy

Review of Metaphysics

Volumn 51, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 633-657

  Howland, Jacob ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TULSA   (United States)

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References (43)

1. Plato, Republic 473c11-e4. Most quotations from the Republic in this essay are drawn from Allan Bloom's The Republic of Plato (New York: Basic Books, 1968); otherwise I offer my own translation of the Greek text of John Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol. 4 (1902; reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982).
2. Plato, Republic 473c11-e4. Most quotations from the Republic in this essay are drawn from Allan Bloom's The Republic of Plato (New York: Basic Books, 1968); otherwise I offer my own translation of the Greek text of John Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol. 4 (1902; reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982).
3. Plato, Republic 473c11-e4. Most quotations from the Republic in this essay are drawn from Allan Bloom's The Republic of Plato (New York: Basic Books, 1968); otherwise I offer my own translation of the Greek text of John Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol. 4 (1902; reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982).
4. Some calculation is involved in determining the length of the Republic, because the numbering of the Stephanus pages is not continuous. Thus, book 1 runs from 327a-354c; book 2, 357a-383c; book 3, 386a-417b; book 4, 419a-445e; book 5, 449a-480a; book 6, 484a-511e; book 7, 514a-541b; book 8, 543a-569c; book 9, 571a-592b; book 10, 595a-621d. If we assign to each of the five subdivisions of the Stephanus page that are designated by the letters a, b, c, d, and e the value of 0.2 pages, book 1 is calculated to be 27.6 Stephanus pages in length; book 2, 26.6; book 3, 31.4; book 4, 27; book 5, 31.2; book 6, 28; book 7, 27.4; book 8, 26.6; book 9, 21.4; book 10, 26.6; and the total length of the Republic is 273.8 Stephanus pages. By this method of reckoning, the midpoint of the dialogue occurs 136.9 pages from the beginning, or at 473b. The third wave breaks, so to speak, at 473c-e. The centrality of the third wave is almost universally overlooked in the secondary literature on the Republic. It is noted in passing in Leon Craig, The War Lover: A Study of Plato's Republic (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994), 11.
5. According to Brann, the center of the Republic - books 5 through 7, in which Plato sets forth "the actual founding of a city in 'deed,' ergon" - coincides with the dialogue's core accomplishment: the education of Glaucon through Socrates' philosophical "music." Eva T. H. Brann, "The Music of the Republic," St. John's Review 39.1 and 2 (1989-90), 1-103: 7-8. My claim that thematic elements in the Republic are arranged in opposition around the third wave (see below) supports Brann's insight that the Republic reflects the "ring" or "geometric" composition that functions as a structural principle in Homer. Cf. Cedric H. Whitman, Homer and the Heroic Tradition (1958; reprint, New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1965).
6. According to Brann, the center of the Republic - books 5 through 7, in which Plato sets forth "the actual founding of a city in 'deed,' ergon" - coincides with the dialogue's core accomplishment: the education of Glaucon through Socrates' philosophical "music." Eva T. H. Brann, "The Music of the Republic," St. John's Review 39.1 and 2 (1989-90), 1-103: 7-8. My claim that thematic elements in the Republic are arranged in opposition around the third wave (see below) supports Brann's insight that the Republic reflects the "ring" or "geometric" composition that functions as a structural principle in Homer. Cf. Cedric H. Whitman, Homer and the Heroic Tradition (1958; reprint, New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1965).
7. The midpoint of the Statesman is 284b. The Stranger's distinction between arithmetical and nonarithmetical measurement is set forth at 283c-285c. At 284b, the Stranger explains that the arts, including the political art, could not exist in the absence of nonarithmetical measurement.
8. The midpoint of the Sophist is 242b, and the Stranger introduces the issue of parricide at 241d.
9. For a discussion of the connection between the central passages of the trilogy Sophist, Statesman, and Theaetetus, see Jacob Rowland, The Paradox of Political Philosophy: Socrates' Philosophic Trial (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1998).
10. See for instance Strauss's The Argument and the Action of Plato's Laws (1975; reprint, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983), 66, 69, 148, 164-5, 175, 182.
11. For an example of the latter see Strauss, Argument and Action, 175. Examples of the former are provided by the other passages cited in the previous note; see also Strauss's remark about Adeimantus in "On Plato's Republic," in The City and Man (1964; reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), 64.
12. For an example of the latter see Strauss, Argument and Action, 175. Examples of the former are provided by the other passages cited in the previous note; see also Strauss's remark about Adeimantus in "On Plato's Republic," in The City and Man (1964; reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), 64.
13. In his Life of Cicero 2.2-3, Plutarch notes that Cicero's being in the middle among his friends was a mark of honor. In De Oratore 2.77.313-14, Cicero observes that a good speech begins and ends with its strongest points and hides its weakest points in the middle.
14. In his Life of Cicero 2.2-3, Plutarch notes that Cicero's being in the middle among his friends was a mark of honor. In De Oratore 2.77.313-14, Cicero observes that a good speech begins and ends with its strongest points and hides its weakest points in the middle.
15. While Alfarabi maintains that "what has to be cared for in the first place is the soul," Strauss notes that "Farabi does not reproduce Plato's statement that one ought to honor one's soul 'next after the gods' (726a6-727a2)." "How Farabi Read Plato's Laws," in What is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies (1959; reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), 148.
16. Strauss's interpretation of Alfarabi's Summary should be read in connection with the general remarks on the extraordinary significance that a "central passage" may assume in esoteric writing offered in "Persecution and the Art of Writing," in Persecution and the Art of Writing (1952; reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), 22-37; see especially pp. 24-5.
17. In A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), W. K. C. Guthrie canvasses the range of views on the question of "whether this [Plato's] state, granted its virtues if it existed, could ever become a reality" (483). Karl Popper famously asserted that the Republic "was meant by its author not so much as a theoretical treatise, but as a topical political manifesto"; The Open Society and its Enemies, 2 vols. (1943, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966), 1:153. According to Nickolas Pappas, the Republic, a "systematic utopia," presents "uncompromising recommendations for political change"; Plato and the Republic (New York: Routledge, 1995), 14, 15. In Philosopher-Kings: The Argument of Plato's Republic (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), C. D. C. Reeve asserts that Plato attempted to show that the Kallipolis, "the good or maximally happy political community" that is ruled by philosopher-kings, is "a real possibility," from which it follows that the just city Socrates lays out prior to the third wave is "a real possibility as well" (170-1). Julia Annas argues that Plato wished only to make the case that his "political ideal" - the just city, the society of good people - is at least "not impossible in principle"; An Introduction to Plato's Republic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 185; emphasis in original.
18. In A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), W. K. C. Guthrie canvasses the range of views on the question of "whether this [Plato's] state, granted its virtues if it existed, could ever become a reality" (483). Karl Popper famously asserted that the Republic "was meant by its author not so much as a theoretical treatise, but as a topical political manifesto"; The Open Society and its Enemies, 2 vols. (1943, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966), 1:153. According to Nickolas Pappas, the Republic, a "systematic utopia," presents "uncompromising recommendations for political change"; Plato and the Republic (New York: Routledge, 1995), 14, 15. In Philosopher-Kings: The Argument of Plato's Republic (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), C. D. C. Reeve asserts that Plato attempted to show that the Kallipolis, "the good or maximally happy political community" that is ruled by philosopher-kings, is "a real possibility," from which it follows that the just city Socrates lays out prior to the third wave is "a real possibility as well" (170-1). Julia Annas argues that Plato wished only to make the case that his "political ideal" - the just city, the society of good people - is at least "not impossible in principle"; An Introduction to Plato's Republic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 185; emphasis in original.
19. In A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), W. K. C. Guthrie canvasses the range of views on the question of "whether this [Plato's] state, granted its virtues if it existed, could ever become a reality" (483). Karl Popper famously asserted that the Republic "was meant by its author not so much as a theoretical treatise, but as a topical political manifesto"; The Open Society and its Enemies, 2 vols. (1943, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966), 1:153. According to Nickolas Pappas, the Republic, a "systematic utopia," presents "uncompromising recommendations for political change"; Plato and the Republic (New York: Routledge, 1995), 14, 15. In Philosopher-Kings: The Argument of Plato's Republic (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), C. D. C. Reeve asserts that Plato attempted to show that the Kallipolis, "the good or maximally happy political community" that is ruled by philosopher-kings, is "a real possibility," from which it follows that the just city Socrates lays out prior to the third wave is "a real possibility as well" (170-1). Julia Annas argues that Plato wished only to make the case that his "political ideal" - the just city, the society of good people - is at least "not impossible in principle"; An Introduction to Plato's Republic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 185; emphasis in original.
20. In A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), W. K. C. Guthrie canvasses the range of views on the question of "whether this [Plato's] state, granted its virtues if it existed, could ever become a reality" (483). Karl Popper famously asserted that the Republic "was meant by its author not so much as a theoretical treatise, but as a topical political manifesto"; The Open Society and its Enemies, 2 vols. (1943, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966), 1:153. According to Nickolas Pappas, the Republic, a "systematic utopia," presents "uncompromising recommendations for political change"; Plato and the Republic (New York: Routledge, 1995), 14, 15. In Philosopher-Kings: The Argument of Plato's Republic (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), C. D. C. Reeve asserts that Plato attempted to show that the Kallipolis, "the good or maximally happy political community" that is ruled by philosopher-kings, is "a real possibility," from which it follows that the just city Socrates lays out prior to the third wave is "a real possibility as well" (170-1). Julia Annas argues that Plato wished only to make the case that his "political ideal" - the just city, the society of good people - is at least "not impossible in principle"; An Introduction to Plato's Republic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 185; emphasis in original.
21. In A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), W. K. C. Guthrie canvasses the range of views on the question of "whether this [Plato's] state, granted its virtues if it existed, could ever become a reality" (483). Karl Popper famously asserted that the Republic "was meant by its author not so much as a theoretical treatise, but as a topical political manifesto"; The Open Society and its Enemies, 2 vols. (1943, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966), 1:153. According to Nickolas Pappas, the Republic, a "systematic utopia," presents "uncompromising recommendations for political change"; Plato and the Republic (New York: Routledge, 1995), 14, 15. In Philosopher-Kings: The Argument of Plato's Republic (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), C. D. C. Reeve asserts that Plato attempted to show that the Kallipolis, "the good or maximally happy political community" that is ruled by philosopher-kings, is "a real possibility," from which it follows that the just city Socrates lays out prior to the third wave is "a real possibility as well" (170-1). Julia Annas argues that Plato wished only to make the case that his "political ideal" - the just city, the society of good people - is at least "not impossible in principle"; An Introduction to Plato's Republic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 185; emphasis in original.
22. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic"; Allan Bloom, "Interpretive Essay," in Bloom, Republic of Plato, 307-436. Dale Hall defends the majority view against the readings of Strauss and Bloom in "The Republic and the Limits of Politics," Political Theory 5.3 (1977): 293-313. The main lines of Bloom's reading of the Republic are summarized, and in certain respects extended, in "Aristophanes and Socrates: A Response to Hall," now reprinted in Bloom, Giants and Dwarfs: Essays 1960-1990 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990), 162-76.
23. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic"; Allan Bloom, "Interpretive Essay," in Bloom, Republic of Plato, 307-436. Dale Hall defends the majority view against the readings of Strauss and Bloom in "The Republic and the Limits of Politics," Political Theory 5.3 (1977): 293-313. The main lines of Bloom's reading of the Republic are summarized, and in certain respects extended, in "Aristophanes and Socrates: A Response to Hall," now reprinted in Bloom, Giants and Dwarfs: Essays 1960-1990 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990), 162-76.
24. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic"; Allan Bloom, "Interpretive Essay," in Bloom, Republic of Plato, 307-436. Dale Hall defends the majority view against the readings of Strauss and Bloom in "The Republic and the Limits of Politics," Political Theory 5.3 (1977): 293-313. The main lines of Bloom's reading of the Republic are summarized, and in certain respects extended, in "Aristophanes and Socrates: A Response to Hall," now reprinted in Bloom, Giants and Dwarfs: Essays 1960-1990 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990), 162-76.
25. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic"; Allan Bloom, "Interpretive Essay," in Bloom, Republic of Plato, 307-436. Dale Hall defends the majority view against the readings of Strauss and Bloom in "The Republic and the Limits of Politics," Political Theory 5.3 (1977): 293-313. The main lines of Bloom's reading of the Republic are summarized, and in certain respects extended, in "Aristophanes and Socrates: A Response to Hall," now reprinted in Bloom, Giants and Dwarfs: Essays 1960-1990 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990), 162-76.
26. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic"; Allan Bloom, "Interpretive Essay," in Bloom, Republic of Plato, 307-436. Dale Hall defends the majority view against the readings of Strauss and Bloom in "The Republic and the Limits of Politics," Political Theory 5.3 (1977): 293-313. The main lines of Bloom's reading of the Republic are summarized, and in certain respects extended, in "Aristophanes and Socrates: A Response to Hall," now reprinted in Bloom, Giants and Dwarfs: Essays 1960-1990 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990), 162-76.
27. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic," 65; Bloom, "Response to Hall," 167-8. Bloom asserts that by the end of the Republic "Glaucon has moved from the desire to be a ruler to the desire to be a ruler-philosopher to the desire to be a philosopher. The conceit of philosopher-kings was the crucial stage in his conversion"; "Response to Hall," 168.
28. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic," 65; Bloom, "Response to Hall," 167-8. Bloom asserts that by the end of the Republic "Glaucon has moved from the desire to be a ruler to the desire to be a ruler-philosopher to the desire to be a philosopher. The conceit of philosopher-kings was the crucial stage in his conversion"; "Response to Hall," 168.
29. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic," 65; Bloom, "Response to Hall," 167-8. Bloom asserts that by the end of the Republic "Glaucon has moved from the desire to be a ruler to the desire to be a ruler-philosopher to the desire to be a philosopher. The conceit of philosopher-kings was the crucial stage in his conversion"; "Response to Hall," 168.
30. "Socrates constructs his utopia to point up the dangers of what we would call utopianism; as such it is the greatest critique of political idealism ever written"; Bloom, "Interpretive Essay," 410.
31. Strauss observes that "anger is no mean part of the city [in speech]"; "as far as possible, patriotism, dedication to the common good, justice, must take the place of erōs, and patriotism has a closer kinship to spiritedness, eagerness to fight, 'waspishness,' indignation, and anger than to erōs"; "On Plato's Republic," 78, 111. As Strauss notes in the same essay, the City of Pigs "complies to some extent with Adeimantus' character. . . . [b]ut it is wholly unacceptable to his brother"; 95. Cf. Stanley Rosen's careful distinction between Glaucon's spirited and erotic nature and Adeimantus's more austere nature in "The Role of Eros in Plato's Republic," Review of Metaphysics 18 (1965): 452-75; see esp. 463-6.
32. Strauss observes that "anger is no mean part of the city [in speech]"; "as far as possible, patriotism, dedication to the common good, justice, must take the place of erōs, and patriotism has a closer kinship to spiritedness, eagerness to fight, 'waspishness,' indignation, and anger than to erōs"; "On Plato's Republic," 78, 111. As Strauss notes in the same essay, the City of Pigs "complies to some extent with Adeimantus' character. . . . [b]ut it is wholly unacceptable to his brother"; 95. Cf. Stanley Rosen's careful distinction between Glaucon's spirited and erotic nature and Adeimantus's more austere nature in "The Role of Eros in Plato's Republic," Review of Metaphysics 18 (1965): 452-75; see esp. 463-6.
33. Cf. the Eleatic Stranger's employment of the art of weaving as a model for the political technē (Statesman 279a-283a, 305e-311c). One should also consider in this connection the Euthyphro, in which Socrates compares the Athenian model of paideia to the cultivation of plants. I explore this important analogy in ch. 4 of The Paradox of Political Philosophy.
34. An excellent overview of the Spartan regime is provided by Paul A. Rahe, Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1992), 136-62.
35. Put in the terms introduced by David Sachs in "A Fallacy in Plato's Republic" (in Gregory Vlastos, ed., Plato: A Collection of Critical Essays, vol. 2, 1971 [Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1978], 35-56), the Auxiliaries are vulgarly just but Platonically unjust. Cf. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic": "while in one respect the warrior's life is the just life par excellence, in another respect only the philosopher's life is just" (115).
36. Put in the terms introduced by David Sachs in "A Fallacy in Plato's Republic" (in Gregory Vlastos, ed., Plato: A Collection of Critical Essays, vol. 2, 1971 [Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1978], 35-56), the Auxiliaries are vulgarly just but Platonically unjust. Cf. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic": "while in one respect the warrior's life is the just life par excellence, in another respect only the philosopher's life is just" (115).
37. Cf. Strauss, who maintains that "the Republic repeats, in order to overcome it, the error of the sophists regarding the power of speech"; "On Plato's Republic," 127; see also 124-5.
38. Yet these lessons are taken to heart by perhaps the most dedicated students of the political philosophy of the Republic, the medieval Muslim and Jewish philosophers. Alfarabi's influential description of the philosophical ruler and his appraisal of the usefulness of noble lies (and specifically religious myth) in ruling the nonphilosophical many are clearly laid out in the passages from The Political Regime, The Attainment of Happiness, and Plato's Laws excerpted in Medieval Political Philosophy (hereafter, "MPP"), ed. Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1978), 31-94. With regard to the question of the political responsibility of the philosopher, Averroes remarks in his commentary on the Republic that "Just as it is only the physician who prescribes a drug, so it is the king who lies to the multitude concerning affairs of the realm. That is because untrue stories are necessary for the teaching of the citizens. No bringer of a nomos is to be found who does not make use of invented stories, for this is something necessary for the multitude to reach their happiness"; Averroes on Plato's Republic, trans. Ralph Lemer (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974), 24. See also Alfarabi's explicit defense of Plato's esotericism in Plato's Laws, MPP, 84-5, as well as the distinction between the demonstrative, dialectical, and rhetorical classes drawn by Averroes in The Decisive Treatise, MPP, 163-86 (see esp. 181) and the remarks pertaining to Plato set forth by Isaac Israeli in his Book on the Elements, excerpted in Isaac Israeli: A Neoplatonic Philosopher of the Early Tenth Century, ed. A. Altmann and S. Stern (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), 134-41.
39. Yet these lessons are taken to heart by perhaps the most dedicated students of the political philosophy of the Republic, the medieval Muslim and Jewish philosophers. Alfarabi's influential description of the philosophical ruler and his appraisal of the usefulness of noble lies (and specifically religious myth) in ruling the nonphilosophical many are clearly laid out in the passages from The Political Regime, The Attainment of Happiness, and Plato's Laws excerpted in Medieval Political Philosophy (hereafter, "MPP"), ed. Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1978), 31-94. With regard to the question of the political responsibility of the philosopher, Averroes remarks in his commentary on the Republic that "Just as it is only the physician who prescribes a drug, so it is the king who lies to the multitude concerning affairs of the realm. That is because untrue stories are necessary for the teaching of the citizens. No bringer of a nomos is to be found who does not make use of invented stories, for this is something necessary for the multitude to reach their happiness"; Averroes on Plato's Republic, trans. Ralph Lemer (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974), 24. See also Alfarabi's explicit defense of Plato's esotericism in Plato's Laws, MPP, 84-5, as well as the distinction between the demonstrative, dialectical, and rhetorical classes drawn by Averroes in The Decisive Treatise, MPP, 163-86 (see esp. 181) and the remarks pertaining to Plato set forth by Isaac Israeli in his Book on the Elements, excerpted in Isaac Israeli: A Neoplatonic Philosopher of the Early Tenth Century, ed. A. Altmann and S. Stern (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), 134-41.
40. Yet these lessons are taken to heart by perhaps the most dedicated students of the political philosophy of the Republic, the medieval Muslim and Jewish philosophers. Alfarabi's influential description of the philosophical ruler and his appraisal of the usefulness of noble lies (and specifically religious myth) in ruling the nonphilosophical many are clearly laid out in the passages from The Political Regime, The Attainment of Happiness, and Plato's Laws excerpted in Medieval Political Philosophy (hereafter, "MPP"), ed. Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1978), 31-94. With regard to the question of the political responsibility of the philosopher, Averroes remarks in his commentary on the Republic that "Just as it is only the physician who prescribes a drug, so it is the king who lies to the multitude concerning affairs of the realm. That is because untrue stories are necessary for the teaching of the citizens. No bringer of a nomos is to be found who does not make use of invented stories, for this is something necessary for the multitude to reach their happiness"; Averroes on Plato's Republic, trans. Ralph Lemer (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974), 24. See also Alfarabi's explicit defense of Plato's esotericism in Plato's Laws, MPP, 84-5, as well as the distinction between the demonstrative, dialectical, and rhetorical classes drawn by Averroes in The Decisive Treatise, MPP, 163-86 (see esp. 181) and the remarks pertaining to Plato set forth by Isaac Israeli in his Book on the Elements, excerpted in Isaac Israeli: A Neoplatonic Philosopher of the Early Tenth Century, ed. A. Altmann and S. Stern (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), 134-41.
41. Yet these lessons are taken to heart by perhaps the most dedicated students of the political philosophy of the Republic, the medieval Muslim and Jewish philosophers. Alfarabi's influential description of the philosophical ruler and his appraisal of the usefulness of noble lies (and specifically religious myth) in ruling the nonphilosophical many are clearly laid out in the passages from The Political Regime, The Attainment of Happiness, and Plato's Laws excerpted in Medieval Political Philosophy (hereafter, "MPP"), ed. Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1978), 31-94. With regard to the question of the political responsibility of the philosopher, Averroes remarks in his commentary on the Republic that "Just as it is only the physician who prescribes a drug, so it is the king who lies to the multitude concerning affairs of the realm. That is because untrue stories are necessary for the teaching of the citizens. No bringer of a nomos is to be found who does not make use of invented stories, for this is something necessary for the multitude to reach their happiness"; Averroes on Plato's Republic, trans. Ralph Lemer (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974), 24. See also Alfarabi's explicit defense of Plato's esotericism in Plato's Laws, MPP, 84-5, as well as the distinction between the demonstrative, dialectical, and rhetorical classes drawn by Averroes in The Decisive Treatise, MPP, 163-86 (see esp. 181) and the remarks pertaining to Plato set forth by Isaac Israeli in his Book on the Elements, excerpted in Isaac Israeli: A Neoplatonic Philosopher of the Early Tenth Century, ed. A. Altmann and S. Stern (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), 134-41.
42. Yet these lessons are taken to heart by perhaps the most dedicated students of the political philosophy of the Republic, the medieval Muslim and Jewish philosophers. Alfarabi's influential description of the philosophical ruler and his appraisal of the usefulness of noble lies (and specifically religious myth) in ruling the nonphilosophical many are clearly laid out in the passages from The Political Regime, The Attainment of Happiness, and Plato's Laws excerpted in Medieval Political Philosophy (hereafter, "MPP"), ed. Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1978), 31-94. With regard to the question of the political responsibility of the philosopher, Averroes remarks in his commentary on the Republic that "Just as it is only the physician who prescribes a drug, so it is the king who lies to the multitude concerning affairs of the realm. That is because untrue stories are necessary for the teaching of the citizens. No bringer of a nomos is to be found who does not make use of invented stories, for this is something necessary for the multitude to reach their happiness"; Averroes on Plato's Republic, trans. Ralph Lemer (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974), 24. See also Alfarabi's explicit defense of Plato's esotericism in Plato's Laws, MPP, 84-5, as well as the distinction between the demonstrative, dialectical, and rhetorical classes drawn by Averroes in The Decisive Treatise, MPP, 163-86 (see esp. 181) and the remarks pertaining to Plato set forth by Isaac Israeli in his Book on the Elements, excerpted in Isaac Israeli: A Neoplatonic Philosopher of the Early Tenth Century, ed. A. Altmann and S. Stern (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), 134-41.
43. I wish to thank the Philosophy Department at Baylor University and the Philosophy Faculty at the University of Bucharest for the opportunity to present earlier versions of this essay. A Liberty Fund conference organized by Joseph Cropsey provided the seeds for my ideas about the third wave. I am especially indebted to Jeffrey Macy of the Hebrew University, whose many helpful suggestions have greatly improved the present article.