ZAŠTO BI FILOZOFI TREBALI BITI UPRAVITELJI DRŽAVE
WHY PHILOSOPHERS SHOULD BE STATESMEN?

Summary/Abstract: When we talk about the state, the key emphasis is put on its order and whether the best order is democracy, socialism or some other form of government. People tend to forget that the persons who rule are more important than the systems in which they work. Having seen this problem, Plato offered a solution that is, according to him, ideal. Namely, he believes that the state should be governed by philosophers. Of course, word philosopher is understood in its primary meaning – it refers to the people who love wisdom, people who strive for the elevated good. The paper discusses questions of societal order and the choice of the ruler, mostly through Plato's paradigms of political philosophy. Emphasis is put on the part about a philosopher's characteristics as a ruler and the reasons why a philosopher should be a ruler. The concept philosopher in this context refers not only to the people who are professionally involved with philosophy, but to all those who in their work exibit four basic virtues: wisdom, bravery, modesty and justice. In order to avoid a one-way discussion, the paper exposes also two theories that criticize the idea about philosophers as rulers. It is Kant's and Popper's notion of this problem. Based on these confronted attitudes, we conclude that there is no real rulership without an aretheistic approach to politics.

• Details
• Contents