Abstract
In Ancient Greece, the relation between war and peace used to have an ambiguous meaning. War
was considered as a normal state and peace was seen only as an exception or a temporary truce
during a long lasting conflict. But peace and political stability were also valued: the aim of war was
never the total annihilation of the opponent. Besides this opposition, there was a balance between
war and peace during these times and this conception, inherited from the heroic times, lasted until
the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. This event redefined the relation between war and peace.
The meaning of conflict moved from polemos, as codified conflict between cities, to stasis, as civil
war. War was less perceived as something positive and more people valued peace and stability.
Plato’s political thought was developed in this context as a potential answer to this redefinition of
conflict as well as the threat of an excessive and radical conception of war. However, Plato had to
face an exigent challenge. No political regime was able to establish peace anymore, so Plato needed
to create a brand new political system to solve the problems raised by the Peloponnesian War. The
goal of this paper will be to present Plato’s response to these political challenges by showing that his
response is deeply innovative for his time but also profoundly rooted in a traditional conception of
conflict that was already obsolete when he wrote his masterpieces.