Plato Today

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29052, 14 November 1959, Page 3

Plato Today

Plato Today. By R. H. S. Crossman, M.P. Revised Edition. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. In 1937, young Mr Crossman, then a don at New College, wrote this book with the intention of testing Plato’s political ideas against the problems of the time. In the introduction to the present edition he tells us that he has sometimes thought of bringing the original work up to date, an idea which he has rejected because it would involve the writing of a completely new book, and because his scholarship is no longer as good as it then was. So we are presented with much the same book, with minor changes and deletions. For those who wish to read It, n 6 ‘ prdVlbug knowledge of Plato is necessary, for in the earlier chapters we are given the historical background of Plato’s world and an account of the life ofshis master, Socrates, who was put to death by the Athenian democracy which he ruthlessly criticised. Plato, the aristocrat, had no respect for democracy, and conceived it to be his duty to provide an answer to the questions which Socrates had asked. The result was a The Republic,” Plato’s positive political theory and constitution based on what he considered justice to be. By inclination he was a speculative philosopher with a distaste for practical politics; as Socrates’ pupil he found he could not renounce political life, and founded his Academy for political research and the training of young men destined to play a prominent part in public life. Having-- introduced us to the man, his background and his purpose, Mr Crossman brings Plato to Europe in the 1930’5, where the philosopher has a searching look at British democracy, British education, the family, communism and fascism. The first two are of particular, relevance in New Zealand in 1959. From here the author goes to discuss why Plato failed when an attempt was made to put his political ideas into practice in the Greek world of his time. To the critic who objects that he has shown Plato’s counter-proposals to Athenian democracy to be ineffective, and that he has poured cold water on his positive philosophy, Mr Crossman replies that Fascism is rejected and democracy defended on quite inadequate grounds; and that he has tried to restate “The Republic” irt modern terms because our greatest danger is not the easy acceptance but the easy rejection of totalitarian philosophy. From this he goes on to state his own positive democratic faith. . , Those who consider the study of political principles an essential preliminary to the criticism of political programmes will find much to interest them in this book, which is still very readable, though over 20 years have passed since its- original publication