The (Utopian) City in Greek Political Thought

Why was the polis so very good to think with? What if anything distinguishes the political thought that it inspired? The usual answer points to its utopianism. Greek political thought seems especially preoccupied with the lofty ends implied by ordinary politics, especially as these culminate in the virtues. Yet this characterization, although true perhaps in the abstract, misses more basic—and in some ways more illuminating—features of Greek political thinking. I focus in particular on the emergence of the nomos/phusis distinction and how the visibility in the polis of political conventions as conventions inspired uniquely critical forms of public discourse, ranging from sophistic debunking to Socratic inquiry. I suggest that the preoccupation with politeia or “political regime” is best understood in this light. In both theory and practice, the Greeks were exceptionally aware of the profound stakes bound up in the question of who rules and in accordance with what spirit. I conclude by likewise considering the remarkable plasticity with which Greek thinkers handled questions of piety and the nature of the gods.