This article offers a reading of Plato in light of the recent debates concerning the unique ‘ontology’ of International Relations (IR) as an academic discipline. In particular, this article suggests that Plato’s metaphysical account of the integral connection between human individual, the domestic state and world order can offer IR an alternative outlook to the ‘political scientific’ schema of ‘levels of analysis’. This article argues that Plato’s metaphysical conception of world order can not only provide IR theory with a way to re-imagine the relation between the human, the state and world order. Moreover, Plato’s outlook can highlight or even call into question the post-metaphysical presuppositions of contemporary IR theory in its ‘borrowed ontology’ from modern social science, which can in turn facilitate IR’s re-interpretation of its own ‘ontology’ as well as its distinct contributions to the understanding of the various aspects of the social world and human life.

鉴于最近关于国际关系 (IR) 作为一门学科的独特“本体论”的争论，本文提供了对柏拉图的解读。特别是，本文表明柏拉图对人类个体、国内国家和世界秩序之间整体联系的形而上学解释可以为国际关系提供一种替代“分析层次”的“政治科学”模式的观点。本文认为柏拉图的世界秩序形而上学概念不仅可以为国际关系理论提供一种重新想象人类、国家和世界秩序之间关系的方法。此外，柏拉图的观点可以突出甚至质疑当代国际关系理论在其从现代社会科学“借用的本体论”中的后形而上学预设，