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Tragedy, philosophy, and political education in Plato's laws
1 online resource (xiv, 425 pages) : illustrations.
"What are the prospects for ambitious political reform in communities of traditional, passionate, and even self-righteous citizens? Can thoughtful legislators create a healthy society for citizens whose judgment is typically unsound? In a searching and provocative analysis, Ryan Balot addresses these timely - though universal - political questions by offering a novel interpretation of Plato's Laws. Turning to the ancient past is essential to reinvigorating our contemporary understanding of these all-important issues. Previous readers have either celebrated the work's idealism or denounced its totalitarianism. Balot, by contrast, refuses to interpret the dialogue as a political blueprint, whether admirable or misguided. He shows instead that it constitutes Plato's greatest philosophical investigation of political life. In this transformative re-appraisal, Balot reveals that Plato's goal was to cultivate a tragic attitude toward our political passions, commitments, and aspirations. The result is a profound political inquiry with far-reaching consequences."--
Introduction : interpreting Plato's laws. The Athenian's ambitions and ambivalence ; Scholarly approaches and methods ; Who Is the Athenian stranger? ; The argument -- The character of Kleinias. The education of Kleinias as a framework for the dialogue ; Kleinias at first sight : cynical, fearful, acquisitive, thumoeidetic ; Down to the foundations : Kleinias' materialism ; The Athenian's teleological reply : souls, goats, symposia, and cities ; Communities of practice : goats, symposia, and cities ; Kleinias' tyrannical ambitions ; Consonance achieved through the advent of a "God" -- The politics and psychology of human history. The archaeology of Kleinias : early human history ; The early history of Lacedaimon and the Dorians ; The regime's goal : a retrospective account ; Ignorance and wisdom : a new interpretation ; Fortifying the law against tyrants ; The self-destructiveness of Persian tyranny ; Reinterpreting democracy in archaic Athens -- A new beginning : founding Magnesia. The "existential" framework ; The true legislator and the young tyrant ; Religion and the new regime ; Rule of law, rule of Nous ; Thrasymachus' challenge and the seven titles to rule ; Conclusion : direct and indirect rule -- Persuasive preambles. Preambles and the two doctors at a glance ; Persuasion versus force : revisiting the case of the young tyrant ; The Athenian's purposes : "tameness" and "savagery" ; Hesiod and the Athenian on the benefits of virtue ; The lawgiver and the poets ; "Caring" legislation : persuasion toward eudaimonism ; Free doctor and slave doctor : persuasion, trust, and nature ; Reason and emotion in the preambles ; Demonstrative preambles : the use of philosophical dialectic ; Conclusion : the legislator's judgment -- The "second-best" regime : human nature, property, and acquisitiveness. Purifying the citizen body ; Magnesia and Callipolis ; The second wave, producers, and private property ; Socrates on curbing acquisitiveness ; Magnesia's private property regime : the ethics and politics of limiting acquisitiveness ; Retreat and compromise-or surprising innovation and aspiration? ; Evaluating the Athenian's success ; The education provided by the general prelude ; Pleasure in the general prelude ; The golden cord's "helpers" : surveillance, informing, and punishment ; Exemplary punishment and deterrence within a religious framework ; Conclusion : political achievements and their limits -- Warriors into citizens : the re-education of Thumos. A brief archaeology of Thumos : Books 1-3 -- Upending the world of war : the "playful" and the "serious" ; Militarizing women, pacifying institutions ; Warfare : a permanent condition, humanized by the Athenian ; Fierce, though gentle, dedication to the city's laws : surveillance and punishment reconsidered ; Holding citizens and magistrates accountable ; The complex judgments required of citizens -- Developing the citizens' Thumos in elections and courts. Citizens as political leaders, citizens as voters ; Honor, class, and justice ; Education for top offices? ; Electoral procedure : practical intelligence and civic courage ; The education of citizen judges ; The ascent to judicial complexity : book 9 ; Revisiting the "free doctor" ; Revisiting the Socratic paradox ; The Socratic paradox and Magnesia's penal code ; Conclusion : citizens and the lawgiver -- The Anthenian's theology, part I. The Athenian's introduction raises unsettling questions ; Persuading Kleinias that Magnesia needs pholosophers ; Assigning a role to Kleinias ; A new "sociology of the impious" ; Recruiting the young atheists ; Conclusion : deists and bribers in book 10 -- The Athenians' theology, part II. The first argument : questions and difficulties ; Allegorical and educational interpretations : the argument's impact on Kleinias ; The progression from materialism to teleology : "first things" and "nature" ; Kleinias and the materialists ; The teleological character of divine soul ; How does Kleinias understand the first argument? ; Socrates, the Athenian, and the sun ; Argument 2 : responding to the "deists" ; Refining our picture of the diests ; The first movement in argument 2 (900c-903b) : persuasion through Logos ; Virtue in the first movement (900d-902b) : justice as a state of soul ; Craftsmanship in the first movement (902b-903b) : the lawgiver's supervisory care ; The second movement of argument 2 (903b-905d) : the justice of the gods in Muthos ; Argument 3 : a place for Kleinias in the cosmos -- The rule of Nous. Reconsidering the controversy ; Looking backward into the text ; Burials, bodies, and souls ; Socrates redivivus ; Philosophers and nonphilosophers in the city ; Tyrants on the Acropolis? ; Tyrants, philosopher-rulers, and forms ; The singular freedom and virtues of philosophers ; Reimagining divinity among the philosophers ; Legislating for the nocturnal council ; Is the nocturnal council a practical ideal? ; Conclusion : the dialogue ends in perplexity ; Appendix : the composition of the nocturnal council -- The "truest tragedy" in Plato's Laws. The conventional interpretation : the legislator as rival of the tragic poets ; Toward a tragic interpretation, part I ; Three perspectives on virtue and happiness ; Toward a tragic interpretation, part II ; The Athenian's role in the truest tragedy ; The "truest tragedy" : an astronomical perspective ; The Athenian's own astronomical views? ; Mathematics : necessity, incommensurability, and shame ; Conclusion : the Athenian, the elderly Dorians, and the Magnesians.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2024]