Subordinating Courage to Justice: Statecraft and Soulcraft in Fourth-Century Athenian Rhetoric and Platonic Political Philosophy

Abstract

Abstract After discussing the relationship of courage to justice in modern and ancient political thought, this paper explores the debate between Athenian democratic orators and Plato on the subject of andreia, or “manly courage.” While the orators set andreia in a particular relation to justice by embedding andreia within a salvific narrative of the city's history, Plato used the figure of Callicles to draw attention to the democrats' self-serving construal of andreia within their own politics. Plato's arguments suggest that statecraft must begin with a deeper “soulcraft” than Athenian politics is capable of.