The possibility and desirability of political science in Xenophon's 'Cyropaedia'.

摘要

One of the reasons that Xenophon's Cyropaedia deserves to be regarded as one of the classic and foundational texts of political philosophy is because it thoughtfully examines the extent to which politics and political life are amenable to reason, method, and knowledge. In the Cyropaedia, Xenophon explores the extent to which central problems of politics, including especially the problems of legitimizing authority and preventing revolution, can be mitigated by human reason. By thinking through Cyrus's life, his rule, and the massive Persian Empire that he founded, Xenophon claims to have unearthed a fundamental truth about politics. While his study of history and current events impressed on him that in almost all times and places political life precariously teeters on the brink of chaos, Xenophon saw in Cyrus a potentially wondrous alternative to the comparatively bleak view that political history is destined to be little more than one violent revolution followed by another, ad infinitum. This dissertation provides an analysis of the various facets of Cyrus's knowledge of rule.