A Study Of The Transformations Of Plato's Political Thought

Plato is one of the most famous politicians and philosophers in Greece even in the whole world,as one of Big Three Greek Philosophers,his political philosophy has impact on the development of European political thought for nearly two thousand years.Plato`s political thought has experienced four stages and three transformations from youth to death,and his political thought in each phase mainly can be found in the Seventh Letter,the Republic,Politicusand Laws.In this article,I will discusses Plato`s political thought in each phase and each transformation between two phases by analyzing his books.In the Seventh Letter,Platoexplains the reason why he supports democracy and abandons it latter in his early time;in the Republic,Plato summarizesthe illness of all regimeexisted firstly,and then he founds an ideal polis ruled by philosopher and featured withjustice as the basic principle and target.Plato's political thought has realized the first transformation at that time.Thesecondtransformationis embodied inPoliticus.By defining the Politician,Plato builds an ideal regime without law to reiterate the rule of philosopher-kingis the best;later time,on the basis of admitting law has disadvantages but in reality is still the optimal selection,herealisesthe rule of law is thesecond best one.But in Laws,Plato's political thoughthas another transformation.On the one hand,he inherits the rule of law is the second best one,on the other hand,he knows law is not the only thing needed to achieve justice,so he separates authority into three parts making a Mixed regime.There are two main reasonscan explain the transformations of Plato's political thought,one is his real political experience,whichmakes himdisappointed at realpolitik but still aspiring to establish a just polis through transformingregime.The other is self-reflection on Philosophy,which makes him get out offSocratic purePhilosophy and begin to consider realisticpolitics.Otherwise,all thetransformations of Plato's political thought are focused on the power and the law,but no transformationhas gotten out of the principle of justice.And as a famous politicians,every transformation of his political thought has a huge influence on the development of politics.