The author does not view the study of the philosophy of the city-state as a matter of historical interest; he approaches it as the study of something within which we continue to move and live.

As he himself writes, “the city-state was different from today’s nation-state, but only in the sense that it was a more vital and intense form of the same thing. In it, the individual could more easily and clearly realize himself as a part of the state, because its size allowed for such realization and the system of direct governance encouraged it."

In studying it, we study the ideal of our modern states; we study something that belongs to today as much as to yesterday, as its fundamental elements are eternal. It has been said that all history is contemporary history. When we study history, we attempt to understand ourselves, and in order to achieve this goal, we try to discover our origins. No history is in fact more contemporary than that of the ancient Greeks. To a large extent, we are who we are because they were who they were.” [Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]