Cultivating Virtue: A study into education and the political theories in classical Athens

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with understanding the relevance of education to good leadership within the political writings of fifth and fourth century Athenian thinkers. I ask why education became such a universal component to the works of post-Socratic thinkers. What specifically were the lessons or skills that were seen to be so important to competent ruling and how might a society be designed in order to cultivate those lessons within its leadership? To address these questions, the thesis will assess the works of Xenophon, with particular attention given to the Cyropaedia, Isocrates and Plato’s Republic and Laws.

I propose that as a result of Athenian theatre and the rise of sophist teachings, especially in the fifth century, education came to be acknowledged as important to democracy and leadership. As a result, by the close of the fifth century, Athenian thinkers considered how education could be used to create good and even idealised leadership. I argue that for all our sources, leaders needed actively to learn the needs of their society and how to control their own desires and ambitions in order to rule in the best interests of all. I show that while different thinkers approach this idea from slightly different positions or by using different terminology, they maintain this common notion that education was relevant to leadership. It is within the question of how best to cultivate these lessons in society, that our sources begin to demonstrate more difference. Yet I will demonstrate how all our thinkers design meritocracies based around one’s mastery of moderation and social awareness. They all establish hierarchies, while also attempting to avoid forceful ruling. Ultimately, I will show how they all create societies obsessed with the cultivation of education, so as to ensure future leaders can judge what is for the benefit of all members of society.