Political Counsel in Plato’s Letters

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the political counsel present across Plato's Letters. It acknowledges the strange treatment of Socrates in Letters, especially since Plato acknowledged that Socrates was the hero of the Platonic dialogues. The unifying theme of Letters revolves around Plato's fame as a political philosopher that includes the responsibility of being a political counsel to famous and powerful men across the Greek world of his day. The chapter then discusses the interrelation between Plato's view of freedom and Dion's view of philosophy. It also considers Plato's concern for the reputation of philosophy and Plato's proposal of oligarchy and its subsequent issue of foundings.