ABSTRACT
Modern analytical readers are developing an interpretation of John Ruskin on, for example, city life, which accepts that ‘the rhetorical energy of the writings is underpinned by a closer and more informed analysis of the history of urban development than has generally been recognized’. This chapter explores parallels between Plato’s ideas and those of Ruskin. Ruskin’s delight in Plato is known amongst those who have subsequently developed an interest in Ruskin’s writings on political economy. Ruskin makes a simple and complex use of Plato on crafts. It is simple because Ruskin’s images of the complex nature of economic agency are best and most suggestively drawn when dealing with simple production processes. Like Adam Smith, Ruskin is interested in the problem of social harmony but finds both practical and theoretical arguments for under- and inappropriate production, market failure and disharmony.
