This article argues for two inter-related theses keyed to Plato’s Gorgias. (I) Callicles does not represent a constitutional form, but political participation itself, characterised by ambition, competition among political candidates, and the psychological and ethical mechanisms entailed in the process of gaining political recognition. (II) According to Socrates’s understanding, the political leader’s mirroring and internalisation of dominant character traits, held amongst those individuals transferring power, is decisive to the approval bestowed upon the political leader in question. This reading supplements that of Ober, who has claimed that the would-be political leader’s conformity with the demos’ ideology is decisive. This article argues that Socrates’ point is that a would-be political leader needs to mirror the character traits of those exercising power in specific civic institutions, implying a more pluralistic and context-determined approach. Moreover, this reading connects Socrates’ notion of recognition with that of moral psychology.

本文主张以柏拉图的戈尔吉亚斯为主题的两个相互关联的论文。（一）卡莱勒斯不是宪法形式，而是政治参与本身，其特点是雄心勃勃，政治候选人之间的竞争以及在获得政治认可的过程中所需要的心理和道德机制。（II）根据苏格拉底的理解，政治领袖对权力转移个人的镜像和内部人格特征的内在化，决定了给予有关政治领导人的认可。这种阅读的补充，奥伯，谁声称想成为政治领袖与整合的演示意识形态是决定性的。本文认为，苏格拉底的观点是，未来的政治领导人需要反映那些在特定的公民机构中行使权力的人的性格特征，这意味着一种更为多元化和由环境决定的方法。此外，这种解读将苏格拉底的认可观念与道德心理学的观念联系在一起。