1. Introduction

Tocqueville to Louis de Kergorlay (12 Nov. 1836), Œuvres, Papiers et Correspondances, 13:418. The others were Pascal and Montesquieu.

Williams’ understanding of Plato and Platonism is presented in a few brief pages, which can be summarized as follows. Plato believed in metaphysical dualism, that is, a sharp distinction between body or material, on the one hand, and the immortal soul and immaterial ideas perceptible only through the intellect, on the other. Immaterial substances are beyond artifice and contingency. Although indeterminate, they are knowable under certain circumstances. The immaterial ideas should guide us in the conduct of our lives, and they lead to specific recommendations about political institutions and laws. Rousseau’s Platonic Enlightenment, xix–xxiv. Although Williams sometimes distinguishes Plato from Platonists, for example, ibid., xxiii (faith in God), he asserts that they and Rousseau agreed about one central point: “the commitment to transcendent ideas as the ultimate authority for moral and political arguments” (ibid., xxvii) (italics in original).