Plato’s Politeia in Political Theory

Plato’s Politeia is one of the most fundamental texts for political philosophy, and modern political theory still struggles with it. Hence, interpretations abound: On the one hand, Plato has been and is criticized for being a totalitarian thinker or for being anti-democratic because politics in his view should be ruled by philosophy. On the other hand, others still defended his thesis that politics must strive to establish a just order. The seminar will therefore have two parts: We will read Plato himself, before turning to interpretations from Popper to Badiou.