Antecedents to the Paradigm of Weaving

Having illustrated the use of paradigms with the modest example of their use in learning letters, the Stranger returns to the task of defining statesmanship. What they need to do next, he tells YS, is to bring a paradigm to bear in grasping the nature of “looking after those in the city” (τὴν τῶν κατὰ πόλιν θεραπείαν: 278E9). In this way, that nature will become present to them “in a waking state instead of a dream” (ὕπαρ ἀντ᾿ ὀνείρατος: 278E10) – a clear allusion to the dreamlike state said at 277D1–4 to be remedied by the use of paradigms.

A chronic problem with previous efforts to define statesmanship in the dialogue was an inability to distinguish it from a host of similar skills. At 268C2 there is reference to myriads of skills that lay claim to the title “rearer of the human herd,” several of which are specified at 267E7–8. According to 275B, this problem was one reason for introducing the Myth of Cronus. The reader is encouraged initially to think that the problem has been resolved, under the influence of the myth, by the replacement of herd rearing (ἀγελαιοτροφικός) by herd keeping (ἀγελαιοκομικός) in the definition. Such at least appears to be the sense of the Stranger's remark at 276B7–C2 that statesmanship has better claim than any other skill to providing civic care (ἐπιμέλεια at 276B7, approximate synonym for ἀγελαιοκομικός according to 275E5–6).