The Liberal Temper in Greek Politics Author:Eric A. Havelock Historians have commonly assumed that the Greek contribution to political theory is to be identified with the principles of citizenship and government contained in the writings of Plato and Aristotle. Mr Havelock challenges this assumption and would end the monopoly exercised by the two masters over the Greek tradition. He offers instead the t... more »hesis that theirs was neither the only nor even the typical Greek position, and that, on the contrary, there had arisen before their day a body of theory designed to support the premises and defend the practices of Periclean democracy. The principles of this important school of thought, he contends, were nonmetaphysical, its methods were historical, and its conclusions were liberal.« less