Plato' Change From "Virtue-management" To "Law-management"

As a famous philosopher and politician of ancient Greece, Plato's theory ofpolitical philosophy is focused on his three works--"the Republic", "Politicians"and " Laws ". In this paper, by analyzing the related paragraphs in these three works, the author brings forward that Plato's change in his theory of politics from "the republic" to "laws" is substantively a change from "virtue-management" to"law-management" .The rule of "philosophy-king" put forward by Plato in his "the Republic" is essentially a kind of "virtue-management" . Being different from the moral management and the human management in our commonsense, the"virtue-management "reflects Plato's harmonious theory of justice and also the facts that knowledge rules power in the"philosophy-king". In "Politicians", from defining the politicians, Plato began his self-examination on the effect of laws in polis. Although he still insisted on the rule of "philosophy-king" as the best mode, he also gave a secondary rule, namely "law-way "= In " Laws ", Plato finally accomplished his change from the rule of " virtue-management " to " law-way " to" law-management" and advanced the " law-management" mode in real practices. The core meaning of this mode is the" blend-politics" which as a famous theory in the later history of western politics philosophy.Plato's change in his theory of politics is firstly due to his political experiences, and moreover, it is due to his self-examination and self-criticism on his philosophy. It...