Historical context
The Statesman (Greek Politikos) belongs to Plato's late period, part of a projected trilogy with the Sophist, and the platform reads it as the crucial bridge between the idealism of the Republic and the practical legislation of the Laws. Where the Republic asks what justice is and constructs the ideal city, the Statesman asks a narrower and more practical question: what is the art of the true ruler, the knowledge that makes someone genuinely fit to govern?
Central argument
The platform reads the dialogue's pursuit of the statesman through its method of division and its central image. The true statesman possesses a special kind of knowledge — the science of ruling human beings — that distinguishes him from all the pretenders. Plato compares the ruler to a weaver, whose art is to bind together the different temperaments of the citizens (the courageous and the moderate) into a single well-woven civic fabric. The platform reads this under statecraft: ruling is a genuine expertise, and the true ruler is the one who possesses it, regardless of whether he holds office or rules by law.
The concession to law
The platform reads the Statesman's most consequential move as its concession about the rule of law. Ideally, Plato argues, the true statesman should rule by his expert knowledge, adjusting to each situation as a doctor adjusts treatment to the patient — and rigid law, which cannot fit every case, would only hamper him. But — and this is the decisive qualification — since such a ruler almost never exists, and since to give unchecked power to one who merely claims the knowledge is the road to tyranny, the rule of law is the necessary and far safer second-best. The platform reads this as Plato's own retreat from the philosopher-king: in the real world, where ideal rulers are not to be found, law must govern.
Significance and influence
The platform reads the Statesman as a key text in Plato's developing political thought and in the long argument over the rule of law versus the rule of the wise. Its classification of constitutions — by the number of rulers and whether they rule with or without law — fed directly into Aristotle's more famous typology, and its concession that law is the second-best in the absence of the ideal ruler is one of the most important admissions in classical political theory. The platform reads it as essential to understanding Plato's mature position, developed in the philosopher king, and as the dialogue that prepares the way for the Laws.