The Humanity of Plato's Eleatic Science of Politics

Abstract

In the first section of Plato's Statesman, the Eleatic Stranger uses two methods to try to uncover the science of politics. The first method is that of diairesis — a dialectical method of division and classification. This method ultimately ends in failure and, in turn, the Stranger adopts a second method, which consists of an elaborate myth. In this article, I provide an account of the relationship between the diairesis and the myth and posit that together they teach that a humane account of the whole is required in order to understand the nature of politics.