In this thesis I attempt to bring out some interesting implications of Plato’s political thought as it is presented in the Politicus. In particular, I will show how this dialogue provides a new picture of the relation between ruler and ruled; a picture that stresses the importance and responsibility of every citizen, not just of the statesman himself. This is achieved by an analysis of the notion of political craftsmanship envisaged by the main speaker of the dialogue, the Eleatic Stranger. However, before I turn to consider the Politicus itself, I provide a brief presentation of another Platonic craftsman, the demiurge of the Timaeus. As will be clear, the teleological structure, and the accompanying terminology, of his craftsmanship will mirror that of the true statesman and thus help us understand the latter’s political rule. My choice to focus on this aspect of the Politicus is motivated by the text itself. For the question of the kind of craftsmanship involved in political rule is picturesquely, yet effectively, brought to the fore by the myth in the early parts of the dialogue, which distinguishes between two rival conceptions and associates the statesman with one of them. I conclude by reflecting on the significance of my findings for Plato’s political thought as a whole.

This thesis wants to say that Socrates was a teacher of his fellows. He engaged with them through dialogue because he cared for their wellbeing, or as he might have put it: for the state of their souls. He was an intellectual and he had an intellectualist view of people and reality. He felt that right-mindedness was reasonable; and thus he believed that learning and developing understanding brought people closer to being virtuous; to goodness; and so to mental health. Socrates was a philosopher, and he considered this to be the most prudent and exalted approach to life. He taught his fellows how to be philosophers, and he urged them as best he could to take up the philosophical stance. His form of care for others was ‘intellectualist’. He cared ‘for the souls of others’ and for his own with intellectual involvement because he believed that this was the most appropriate way. He had a view of the human soul that produced intellectualist views of what wellbeing is and how it is achieved. He himself was a humble and able thinker, and was fully devoted to being virtuous and to helping his fellows to do the same. This thesis addresses the question of what Socrates did in the agora (his aims) and how he went about doing it (his methodology). Our answer might seem obvious. One might wonder what is new about saying that Socrates was a philosopher, and that he cared for the souls of his fellows and that he urged them to become virtuous. Perhaps nothing of this is new. Nevertheless, we find that making this ‘simple’ statement about Socrates is not that simple at all. We find that in Socratic scholarship there exist a plethora of contrasting voices that make it rather difficult to formulate even such a basic description of what Socrates did. We do not wish to create a novel and different reading of Socrates. We do not think that this is even possible after civilization has been interpreting Socrates for millennia. We do not see innovation for its own sake as desirable. We prefer clear understanding to the eager ‘originality’. Therefore rather, our aim with this work is to defend and clarify a very basic picture of Socrates as an educator. We see this work as clearing away clutter so as to begin our life-long study of Socratic thought and action: by laying a foundation with which we can read Socratic works and discern their meaning.

At present two options are available that can lead to a determination of how moral education may be possible in practice. One takes its formulation from the work of Kant, the other stands in the tradition of Aristotle. Kant emphasizes the importance of duty mid obligation. In contrast, Aristotle attempts to construct a theory of moral life on the practice of virtue. Both theoretical perspectives have debilitating deficiencies. A spectrum of moral experience is presented that represents the wood opportunities available to the agent in life experience. The polarities of this spectrum pull most naturally towards either an Aristotelian or a Kantian perspective, although neither perspective is capable of addressing the requirements of the entire spectrum. The Aristotelian perspective is associated with the life of non-dilemmic virtue, undertaken in community, where relational realities and the contextual contingency of moral life is emphasized. The Kantian perspective is associated with dilemmic situations to be resolved by a process of moral The central problem of the dissertation acknowledges the antithetical nature of these perspectives, and the dichotomous nature of their philosophical roots. The central task of the dissertation is the establishment of a dialogic process that has the potential to reconcile this dichotomy, and to allow these perspectives to mutually inform and reinforce each other. This task is accomplished by providing responses to a central research question that is accompanied by a series of subsidiary questions. From an analysis of various theories of moral education, Kohlberg's theory of structural developmentalism is chosen for reformulation as it is informed by the exploration of the requirements of the dialogic process. To address the research questions, additional Spectra are offered to provide an epistemological and ontological basis for a five-step dialogic treatment that combines, through a developmental climacteric, the Magistral dialogue of Vvgotsky Socratic dialogue of Bakhtin. The five-step model is comprised of a recursive loop through the four steps of the Magistral dialogue prior to an entrance into a Socratic dialogue. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Esta pesquisa vem ao modo de um diálogo ou ponte entre fenomenologia e ciência geográfica. O percurso tem início com o reconhecimento da ontologia comum entre sujeito e mundo, continua com a experiência da percepção com abertura e fechamento das coisas, numa operação constituinte do meio como mundo e lugar, pela atividade humana, diante daquele instituído, passivo, acabado. Das coisas chega-se ao lugar, deste vai-se ao mundo, até que dele se retorna; um ciclo. A ontologia comum estabelecida como ontologia encarnada permite procurar no recuo ao pré-objetivo, outros atributos normalmente desconsiderados dos lugares, os quais serviram de parâmetro à sugestão de avaliação e prognóstico. Para tanto, foram realizados trabalhos de campo como oportunidade de aplicação das noções consideradas. / This research is the way of dialogue or a bridge between phenomenology and geographical science. The route begins with the common ontology between subject and world, continues with the experience of perception with opening and closing of things, a constituent of operation as a means world and place for the activity, given that up, liabilities, finished. Of the things you get to the place, this go to the world, even if it returns, is a cycle. The ontology established as common ontology makes searching in the red throwback to pre-order, the pre-purpose other attributes normally disregarded, the places, thinking on assessment and prognosis of these places. To this end, the field work was conducted as an opportunity for the application of the concepts considered.

Esta pesquisa vem ao modo de um diálogo ou ponte entre fenomenologia e ciência geográfica. O percurso tem início com o reconhecimento da ontologia comum entre sujeito e mundo, continua com a experiência da percepção com abertura e fechamento das coisas, numa operação constituinte do meio como mundo e lugar, pela atividade humana, diante daquele instituído, passivo, acabado. Das coisas chega-se ao lugar, deste vai-se ao mundo, até que dele se retorna; um ciclo. A ontologia comum estabelecida como ontologia encarnada permite procurar no recuo ao pré-objetivo, outros atributos normalmente desconsiderados dos lugares, os quais serviram de parâmetro à sugestão de avaliação e prognóstico. Para tanto, foram realizados trabalhos de campo como oportunidade de aplicação das noções consideradas. / This research is the way of dialogue or a bridge between phenomenology and geographical science. The route begins with the common ontology between subject and world, continues with the experience of perception with opening and closing of things, a constituent of operation as a means world and place for the activity, given that up, liabilities, finished. Of the things you get to the place, this go to the world, even if it returns, is a cycle. The ontology established as common ontology makes searching in the red throwback to pre-order, the pre-purpose other attributes normally disregarded, the places, thinking on assessment and prognosis of these places. To this end, the field work was conducted as an opportunity for the application of the concepts considered.