Rulers and Ruled: An Introduction to Classical Political Theory from Plato to the Federalists

Evan Simpson, a philosophy professor, is Dean of Humanities, McMaster
University and the editor of Anti-foundationalism and Practical
Reasoning: Conversations between Hermeneutics and Analysis.

In addition to Plato and the authors of the Federalist Papers (Alexander
Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison), Rulers and Ruled discusses the
works of Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and
Rousseau. The author’s careful accounts offer general readers reliable
access to each of these classical positions.

Zeitlin’s approach is primarily theoretical rather than historical.
His book’s central question— how to achieve a good society—is
answered in a manner friendly to popular authority, within the
constraints of a constitutional regime and a balance of powers. There
are occasional suggestions that the classical principles are most
cogently synthesized by the founders of the American republic.
Unfortunately, this theme is not rigorously pursued. The drama of the
constitutional convention is underplayed, and the political compromise
represented by the Bill of Rights is not fully described.

Zeitlin’s skilful account of Machiavelli as a philosopher who admired
republicanism more than ruthlessness is particularly welcome. His book
is recommended for new students of political theory.