Introduction: the legacy of Greek political thought

Goff, B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0598-2843 and Leonard, M. (2016) Introduction: the legacy of Greek political thought. Classical Receptions Journal, 8 (1). pp. 1-10. ISSN 1759-5142 doi: 10.1093/crj/clv012

Abstract/Summary

This Introduction offers context for the individual papers by examining the intersections and productive tensions between political thought and classical reception studies. While Plato and Aristotle have long been privileged interlocutors for political philosophers, classical reception studies has pluralised both this ancient canon and given rise to a more complex understanding of the modern heirs of ancient political thought. Similarly, the insights of studying the history of political texts and ideas across a longer tradition calls into question the fixity of concepts such as democracy, empire and political freedom. Indeed, we query the very notion of tradition by emphasising how the past has been repeatedly constructed and reconstructed in divergent modern political discourses and conversely how modern political theories and realities have been shaped and reshaped by an idea of antiquity. The Introduction closes with a brief survey of the collected papers.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/48001
Identification Number/DOI	10.1093/crj/clv012
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > Modern European Histories and Cultures Arts, Humanities and Social Science > Language Text and Power
Publisher	Oxford Journals Oxford University Press
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