Painting the laws in Plato's Laws
When
Title: Painting the laws in Plato’s Laws
Abstract: In this talk, I argue that, in Plato’s Laws, neither laws, nor humans, nor divine beings are the single source of political normativity. The city’s order depends on a tripartite and dynamic system formed by laws, humans, and divine beings. In this system, divine beings are the only non-derivative source of political normativity. However, divine beings do not impose laws by themselves on humans. Legislators use divine beings as models for their laws within the constraints of what is humanly possible. Plato finds a creative way of synthesizing this tripartite and dynamic system into a single metaphor—the painting metaphor.
Those unable to attend in person can join us over Zoom: https://arizona.zoom.us/j/82156464500.
There's still a few spots left for dinner with Mariana on Friday. If you're interested, please reach out to Houston. Houston will also be leading a group to go hiking with Mariana on Saturday morning (Catalina State Park), so hit him up if you'd like to join.