The medieval traditionis the proverbial child and protégé of the classical tradition, which is the mother tradition. The ‘classicals’ have a contemplative or philosophic worldview of political life, while the ‘medievals’ have a religious worldview, seeking a common ground between faith and reason. (Some medievals include Al-Farabi, Maimonides, St. Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas.). The human soul and its catharsis is at the core of these two worldviews. Both traditions taken together can be called the ancient tradition or the “ancients”. The arrow-heads of the ancient tradition are Plato and Aristotle. But since Aristotle is Platonic in a way, one may understand the classical tradition from the perspective of Plato alone. Hence, the classical tradition is simply the ancient tradition.In the ‘Republic’, Plato or Socrates or Plato’s Socrates gives an account of the just city, state or nation. In principle, the nature of the just city can be conceived. In practice, its realization is almost entirely impossible. Socrates or Plato’s Socrates knows this much, which is why he confines his discussion to the construction of an ideal city, the kallipolis, an abstract political association removed from the realities of political life. Socrates’ just city can only come about in reality when there are just or good citizens. But only few citizens know what the good or the just is; they are the philosophers or those who are constantly thinking about the meaning and essence of life. Plato then suggests that it is only when philosophers become rulers or statesmen, and vice versa, that the just society may arise.
But this is impossible, though not improbable. The tension between the philosopher and the city, or the city’s treatment of the philosopher, as demonstrated in the cave allegory, demonstrates that the philosopher does not desire to become a ruler. Abhorred, despised, and rejected due to his/her/their quest for truth or true knowledge, the philosopher or contemplative-rational person is forced to participate in the affairs of the city only as a “gadfly”, a thundering voice that bemoans the city’s vice. He exhorts his fellow citizens with regards to how they ought to live.
The whole of Platonic or ancient or classical political philosophy is concerned with how one ought to live, i.e., the nature of the good life. This tradition takes as its premise that the good life essentially constitutes political life. For the ancients, the seat of the good or just and the rational or contemplative is the soul. Thus, all citizens, particularly those involve in the political affairs of the state, can and must be oriented towards the good by purification of their souls. Thus, for the classical tradition, statecraft is ultimately soul-craft.
Abraham M. Keita 