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lopments in Western social and political theory of institutions, he is
very akin to the leading concerns of the Athenian philosopher, a
fact that explains his avowed sympathy with Plato, since both shared
a missionary zeal for social intelligence and reconstruction. 19
His writings reveal not only Plato's immense scope of interest and
richness of concern but also his unflagging spirit of dedication to
the problems of men. In his article “From Absolutism to experimentalism"
(1930) in explaining how and why he drifted away from
Hegelianism, he takes sides with the movement “Back to Plato",
back to the dramatic, restless, co-operative inquiring Plato of the
Dialogues, trying one mode of attack after another to see what it
might yield; back to Plato whose highest flight of metaphysics
always terminated with a social and practical turn, and not the artificial
Plato constructed by unimaginative commentators who treat
him as the original university professor". 20 As Anton points out, 21
Dewey has more positive things to say in the article “Philosophy"
than he does about Aristotle. He approves strongly of the Socratic
Plato and pays no mean tribute to his ethical and social interests.
His intellectual and moral aspiration was to reform and preserve the
city state. He adds, 22 “No one has exceeded Plato in awareness of
present ills. But since they are due to ignorance and opinion, they
are remediable… by adequate knowledge; Philosophy should terminate
in art of social control."
(d) John Anton attended John H. Randall's exciting and inspiring
lectures on the general history of Philosophy at Columbia
(1949—50). He vividly remembers when Randall moved from in
his lecture from the sophistic movement to Plato. Anton recalls
Randall saying: “Plato has no closed system, no definitive doctrine.
He has no passion for literal truth. What concerns him most is not
the mere understanding of facts but their imaginative ideal possibilities
and implications for the life of theoria. Plato brings forth the
fruits of philosophy rather than systematic reflection of philosophy
itself." Randall was doing, as Anton puts it, what he found best in
Plato. Better, Randall is closer to the Platonic quest for excellence,
the pursuit of aretÊ, than he is to that part of Plato he calls “how to
create a world", that is, the creation myth of the Timaeus, which became
central in the religious “metaphysics" of the Middle Ages.
19 John Anton, American Naturalism and Greek Philosophy, op. cit., p. 132.
20 Cf. Contemporary American Philosophy, ed. George P. Adams and William
P. Montague, New York: Macmillan, 1930, vol. 2, pp. 20—21. Cf. also Experience
and Nature, pp. 126—27.
21 Op. cit., p.143.
22 Experience and nature, pp. 126—27.
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