Polis in Crisis: The Platonic Exegesis of Werner Jaeger and Eric Voegelin

Abstract

The classical Greek heritage of Western thought is widely accepted by scholars and educators, conspicuously present in many expressions of modern social life. Plato’s thoughts is one of the soundest contributions to this legacy, usually applied to philosophical studies, which transcendental approach was bound to political life in IV B.C. Polis is explored in this article through its exegesis made by Werner Jaeger and Eric Voegelin, both classicist thinkers and authors who presented solid works about Plato and his relevance in the current world. Departing from some historical similarities between the Polis crisis 2.500 years ago and the contemporary civilizational turmoil, the article encompasses a summary of Jaeger and Voegelin analysis of Gorgias, The Republic and The Laws, the main works of Plato; the way as this tradition of thinking was accepted, forgotten, or distorted along the centuries, helping to build or shaking the western civilization; and finally, concluding as transcendence would aid in dealing with the existential failure which roots the loss of confidence in democracy and its institutions felt in the main western nations.