Abstract

Starting from the platonic concept of thumos/thumoeides formulated in the Republic, the paper intends to show (1) the originality of the those concepts for the Plato’s anthropological conception of the individual and the citizen; (2) its coherence with the platonic doctrine of the Principles, delivered by the so called indirect tradition of the Platonism, and, (3) its fecundity for a contemporary reflection about the action of the statesman and about the political action of the philosopher. Key words: Plato, courage, moderation, measure, mixture, indirect tradition.