Plato's "Laws"

Seth Benardete (1930–2001) was professor of classics at New York University and the author of many books, including The Argument of the Action and The Rhetoric and Morality of Philosophy, as well as the translator of Plato’s Symposium and other works, all published by the University of Chicago Press.

Seth BenardetePlato’s Laws “Plato’s Laws is, in proportion to its size, the most neglected of his works. It is dauntingly massive and complex, but it must contain Plato’s final views on a large range of issues, political social, ethical, metaphysical, and especially religious. Benardete brought to the task the skills of a classicist, a synoptic vision of Plato’s goals and methodology, and a lifetime of writing challenging books on many of the other dialogues. Of the remarkably original ideas in his work, we may note at the start Benardete’s attention to the word “nomoi,” meaning both “laws” and “songs”; he shows that Plato plays with ambiguity, making music a pathway to the understanding of the legal structure of the state. Book ten of the Laws is often called ‘Plato’s Theology,’ and it deserves that title, but Benardete shows how all twelve books of the dialogue are permeated with Plato’s theological understanding of being and the state.”--Religious Studies Review

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsI. The Eidetic and the Genetic1. War and Peace2. Courage and Moderation3. Drunkenness4. The Puppet MastersII. Education and Imitation1. The Beautiful2. Kinds of Pleasure3. The Just4. The Chorus of DionysusIII. History1. Homer2. The Dorians3. Persia and AthensIV. Law and Prelude1. People and Place2. Regimes and Law3. Double Law and PreludeV. Prescriptions1. Knowledge and Ignorance2. The Real and the ImaginaryVI. On Getting Started1. Beginnings and Magistrates2. Succession3. MarriageVII. Education1. Unwritten Law2. Consecration3. The Laws4. Imitation5. False Impressions6. HuntingVIII. The First End of the Laws1. War Games2. Eros3. Agricultural and Commercial LawIX. Criminal Law1. Hard Cases2. The Beautiful, the Just, and the Good3. Socratic Ignorance4. ViolenceX. Theology1. Atheism2. Soul and Body3. ProvidenceXI. Private Law1. Making Good2. Estrangements3. ComedyXII. Public Law1. Heroic Virtue2. Reviewers and Observers3. The Nocturnal CouncilEpilogueIndexText Problems in Laws