Defining the statesman by division (259d7-268d4)

FABIAN MIE

Plato's Statesman: A Philosophical Debate

Oxford University Press

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2021; p. 52 - 70

There have been two main reasons for considering the initial division of the Statesman faulty: formal failures having to do mainly with the limitations of dichotomy and the insufficient distinction of the statesman from his competitors. As a consequence of this, interpreters tend to think of the initial division as mostly superseded in the next sections of the dialogue. I will here discuss this negative assessment by considering the initial division in detail. I will propose that the method of division is kept throughout the whole dialogue as a useful procedure and, further, that its practice in the initial division shows that the core of this diairesis provides us with essential features of the kind sought. So I will try to exonerate division and the core of the initial diairesis from these charges, and will rather hold the model of rearing humans - which Plato aims to overcome due to its inadequacy - responsible for important shortcomings.