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Political Philosophy: Steering the Middle Course Essay

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Political philosophy is not a simple set of doctrines or theories; rather it is a way of life. The political philosopher’s life is a constant struggle between the political and the philosophical. He sees the contradictions that exist at all times in both worlds and lives with the questions more so than others. The true political philosopher can never be purely political or purely philosophical. Nevertheless, a political philosophical life is worth living if the proper balance between the political and the philosophical is obtained.
Socrates, founder of political philosophy, believes it necessary to be concerned with the way one should live individually and collectively, but holds it higher to try to understand this way of life. Because …show more content…

When this was reported to Critias, he brought Socrates before him and showed him the law. Leo Strauss, a political philosophy scholar, offers the most related parallel to this event in the prophet Nathan from the Bible. Nathan confronts and rebukes David in private for his injustice, while Socrates neither directly confronts nor rebukes Critias. One can correctly assume that Socrates’s philosophy, then, does not have the certitude found in Biblical text. Again, the account of Socrates and Critias shows that Socratic philosophy is not assertive.
Likewise, the Oeconomicus gives insight to Socrates’s uncertainty about the problem always present; additionally, it shows how Socrates could not leave a set of doctrines because he is aware that not all things are knowable. Socrates recounts to Critobulus his encounter and conversation with Ischomochos, a man heard to be a gentleman. It is safe to assume that Socrates has Ischomochos in mind when discussing the “best friend” with Critobulus in the Memorabilia. Here, in the same way that Critobulus seeks Socrates’s advise on friendship, Socrates seeks Ischomochos’s advise on gentlemanliness. But before his encounter with the gentleman, Socrates first looked to those who were beautiful and then looked for a connection between the “good” and the “fine.” He found no connection between the two

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