ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book makes an earnest attempt to apply the discipline of the philosophy, and certain important texts in the history of the philosophy, to the systematic study of the leadership. It focuses on Plato’s Republic, which recounts a conversation about justice where Socrates is the leading player. The book then provides a brief recounting of the story of Dion of Syracuse, a great friend of Plato who attempted – unsuccessfully, as the history goes – to bring philosophic learning to bear on the governance of his native city. It also focuses on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and interprets Aristotle’s thoughts on how the deliberate development of moral virtue, through habituation toward virtuous means, is the cornerstone of an individual’s character formation. The book details Niccolo Machiavelli’s ideas in The Prince.
