Politeia: New Readings in the History of Philosophy

Innovative readings and creative reinterpretations of significant works in the field of ancient philosophy.

In classical Greece, the word politeia in its largest sense meant the citizens' engagement with the shared project that is the lived life of their polis, city, civic society. Ancient philosophers, poets, historians, and orators constantly reflected on what this shared project should be and how citizens could participate in it. The chapters in this collection, inspired by the work of Anthony Preus, examine some of the products of their reflections, both the written works themselves and the variety of comparative contexts into which they can be put, from the Greeks' neighboring Asian polities to contemporary philosophical engagements with similar issues. The essays in Politeia hope to inspire readers to think about their own lives in conversation with the lives of the many communities to which we belong--to not only demonstrate the idea of politeia but to bring to life politeia's connection of the individual to the collective, something that seems to be of central importance in a world of division and to be the beating heart of the discipline of philosophy.