Technē and archē in Plato’s Republic Book 1

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Melissa Lane
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Original Definition

Socrates’ refutation of Thrasymachus in Republic Book 1 is usually read as hinging on the nature of technē (often translated as ‘craft’ or ‘skill’; I translate as ‘profession’). This paper argues that it hinges at least as much on a link drawn between technē (or at least between a group of therapeutic technai), and the phenomenon of rule (archē, noun; archein, verb). It is this move by Socrates that ultimately enables him to sublate Thrasymachus’ original definition. Whereas Thrasymachus had offered a claim about the political domination by the strong over the weak, Socrates invokes a general claim about rule as such to argue that the advantage of rulers can lie only in exercising their rule as completely and perfectly as possible. It is the nature of rule and not the nature of crafts or professions alone that generates this result.

The concept of “political design”: content and key approaches

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Mikhail Valer'evich Gorbachev
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Project Approach ◽  
Political Sphere ◽  
Project Activity ◽  
Original Definition ◽  
Technological Assessment ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Political Design

Design is one of the most popular instruments for administration of policy in different fields and spheres. This is reinforced by creation, implementation, and support of numerous political projects of the local, regional, national, and global levels. At the same time, design and fulfillment of various political projects is complicated by the absence of sound understanding of the content and main approaches towards the key concept of project activity — “political design”. The modern social-humanistic scientific literature has formed explicit approaches towards understanding the stages of political design, the actors of project activity in the political sphere, resources of political design, criteria for the effective implementation of political projects, classification of political projects. However, the very concept of “political design” remains polemical. Its content is saturated with different meanings, which subsequently complicates the study of other aspects and vectors of project activity in the political sphere. This article aims to summarize the main approaches towards elucidation of the concept of “political design”, outline its key parameters, and formulate the relevant definition. Methodological framework for this article is comprised of the theoretical principles of the project approach towards interpretation of politics. The author provides the original definition of the concept of “political design”, systematizes the main approaches towards explanation of its structure and content, offers the socio-technological assessment of the key parameters of modern political projects, and develops additional grounds for their classification. The article identifies and compares the procedural, administrative, pragmatic, organizational, sociocultural, historical, and innovative models of project activity in politics, describes their heuristic capabilities and conceptual boundaries. The author also develops the criteria for assessing the quality of project activities in politics, and correlates them with the basic models of modern political design.

The Social Origins and Provenance of the English Bishops during the Reign of Edward II

1959 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 51-79
Author(s):  
K. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Early Career ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Edward Ii ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complete Study ◽  
History Of

During the last twenty or twenty-five years medieval historians have been much interested in the composition of the English episcopate. A number of studies of it have been published on periods ranging from the eleventh to the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. A further paper might well seem superfluous. My reason for offering one is that most previous writers have concentrated on analysing the professional circles from which the bishops were drawn, and suggesting the influences which their early careers as royal clerks, university masters and students, secular or regular clergy, may have had on their later work as bishops. They have shown comparatively little interest in their social background and provenance, except for those bishops who belonged to magnate families. Some years ago, when working on the political activities of Edward II's bishops, it seemed to me that social origins, family connexions and provenance might in a number of cases have had at least as much influence on a bishop's attitude to politics as his early career. I there fore collected information about the origins and provenance of these bishops. I now think that a rather more careful and complete study of this subject might throw further light not only on the political history of the reign, but on other problems connected with the character and work of the English episcopate. There is a general impression that in England in the later middle ages the bishops' ties with their dioceses were becoming less close, and that they were normally spending less time in diocesan work than their predecessors in the thirteenth century.

Democrazy—Dem Go Craze, O: Monitoring the 1999 Nigerian Elections

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-33
Author(s):  
Darren Kew
Keyword(s):  
Transition Program ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Soccer Match ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Military

In many respects, the least important part of the 1999 elections were the elections themselves. From the beginning of General Abdusalam Abubakar’s transition program in mid-1998, most Nigerians who were not part of the wealthy “political class” of elites—which is to say, most Nigerians— adopted their usual politically savvy perspective of siddon look (sit and look). They waited with cautious optimism to see what sort of new arrangement the military would allow the civilian politicians to struggle over, and what in turn the civilians would offer the public. No one had any illusions that anything but high-stakes bargaining within the military and the political class would determine the structures of power in the civilian government. Elections would influence this process to the extent that the crowd influences a soccer match.

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