The writer, Rhee Byunghoon, is a professor of law who began studying the lives of Confucius and Socrates while researching Chinese and Confucian scriptures. He studied Confucius and Socrates from a political perspective and after much time, shares his thoughts on the political theories of these great men, focusing on the relationship between the state and people.

This book ponders the ideal state and politics through the lives of Confucius and Socrates, who were the originators of Eastern and Western political philosophy. In part one, the writer introduces the theories of Confucius and Socrates as well as the ideal state and politics that they advocated for. In part two, the book provides critical biographies describing the lives and thoughts of the two men, who advocated for a human-centered society.

Lee examines the lives and philosophies of Confucius and Socrates and claims that the politics the two men wanted to realize was one for human life. Although the two philosophers come from different political backgrounds—the monarchy of the East and democracy of the West—they both spoke of the mutual influence of human life and politics. Confucius and Socrates argued that justice and morality were conditions for people to lead just lives. The writer explains that right politics centered on people is the process of completing that justice and morality,and he claims that history is the evolutionary process of such political consciousness.

 Lee then shares his thoughts on today’s reality. How much has our political consciousness evolved into the proper form? Rhee talks about people who suffer due to a politics of lies and hypocrisy, and he stresses that we must not overlook the correct direction of life revealed in the ideas of Confucius and Socrates.