The Statesman is among the most widely ranging of Plato's dialogues, bringing together in a single discourse disparate subjects such as politics, mathematics, ontology, dialectic, and myth. The essays in this collection consider these subjects and others, focusing in particular on the dramatic form of the dialogue. They take into account not only what is said but also how it is said, by whom and to whom it is said, and when and where it is said. In this way, the contributors approach the text in a manner that responds to the dialogue itself rather than bringing preconceived questions and scholarly debates to bear on it. The essays are especially attuned to the comedic elements that run through much of the dialogue and that are played out in a way that reveals the subject of the comedy. In the Statesman, these comedies reach their climax when the statesman becomes a participant in a comedy of animals and thereby is revealed in his true nature.

Acknowledgments Introduction John Sallis 1. Beginnings¿ John Sallis 2. From Spontaneity to Automaticity: Polar (Opposite) Reversal at Statesman 269c¿274d Michael Naas 3. Autochthony, Sexual Reproduction, and Political Life in the Statesman Myth Sara Brill 4. Where Have All the Shepherds Gone? Socratic Withdrawal in Plato's Statesman S. Montgomery Ewegen 5. The Politics of Time: On the Relationship between Life and Law in Plato's Statesman Walter A. Brogan 6. A Little Move toward Greek Philosophy: Reassessing the Statesman Myth Nickolas Pappas 7. Noêsis and Logos in the Eleatic Trilogy, with a Focus on the Visitor's Jokes at Statesman 266a-d Mitchell Miller 8. Finding the Right Concepts: On Dialectics in Plato's Statesman Günter Figal 9. Paradigm and Dialectical Inquiry in Plato's Statesman Eric Sanday 10. The Art of the Example in Plato's Statesman James Risser 11. Reconsidering the Relations between the Statesman, the Philosopher, and the Sophist Noburu Notomi 12. Syngrammatology in Plato's Statesman Robert Metcalf 13. Stranger than the Stranger: Axiothea Drew A. Hyland 14. On Law and the Science of Politics in Plato's Statesman 237 Robert C. Bartlett 15. Adrift on the Boundless Sea of Unlikeness: Sophistry and Law in the Statesman Ryan Drake 16. The Philosophers in Plato's Trilogy Burt C. Hopkins 17. Transformations: Platonic Mythos and Plotinian Logos Gary M. Gurtler, S.J. Bibliography Contributors English Index Greek Index