Plato’s statesman: Defending phronesis from coding

The chapter explores the nature of phronesis, the conditions that sustain it, and the threat to it from democracy and the law. Practical wisdom or phronesis is the basis of the virtuous conduct that is necessary to good order. It is ultimately a form of virtue that is rooted in correct habits, character formation and a proper emotional disposition, rather than a formula that can be taken on or imposed. It is composed of ‘expertise’ in identifying and articulating elements of social reality, a sense of proportion, a ‘capacity for direction’ in weaving the different aspects of the self into a proper balance, and heartfelt ‘care’ for their charges as well as their charges consent to the legitimacy of their authority. Sociologically, it is a non-liminal form of power that can be added as an addition to Weber’s typology of forms of legitimate domination, which in an anthropological oversight from him, are all inherently liminal. The phronesis of the Statesman is threatened by democracy through its proliferation of sophists who create non-being and destroy the ability to recognise virtue. At the same time, law and codified instructions increasingly take up the ground where the disposition and practice necessary for developing phronesis could be developed.