This paper provides a new interpretation of Plato’s account of justice as psychic health in Republic IV. It argues that what has traditionally been considered to be one single analogy is actually a more complex line of reasoning that contains various medical analogies. These medical analogies are not only different in number but also in kind. I discuss each of them separately, while providing a response to various objections.

El propósito de este artículo es ofrecer una reconstrucción de la teoría ética presentada porCalicles en el Gorgias de Platón, con el apoyo de otros textos de la época que contribuyen a explicardicha teoría y a refinarla. El primer paso de esta reconstrucción es mostrar que Calicles ofrece unateoría perspectivista de los juicios morales, de acuerdo a la cual los juicios morales pueden emitirsedesde dos perspectivas radicalmente distintas – la perspectiva contractual, y la natural. El segundo esmostrar que Calicles emplea (...) un peculiar concepto de naturaleza que le permite sostener que ciertosderechos y prerrogativas naturales provenientes de una perspectiva natural, han de imperar por sobrelos que se derivan de la perspectiva contractual. El resultado es una teoría que además de tener un altovalor filosófico, parece no ser vulnerable a varias de las dificultades fundamentales señaladas por lasinterpretaciones dominantes, ni estar tampoco afecta al implausible hedonismo burdo que Platón leatribuye a Calicles en el diálogo. (shrink)

Telle que l’a définie Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, la polis religion est intimement liée à la formation des identités religieuse, civique et culturelle, et elle est davantage concernée par le groupe dominant que par l’individu. Cet article pose la question de savoir si le système religieux laisse de la place à des conceptions qui ne relèvent pas du groupe dominant et dans quelle mesure un tel système peut s’accomoder de la variété. En partant du culte des Tyrannoctones à Athènes, il s’agit de (...) montrer que ce culte offre une version spécifique de la mise à terre du tyran et de l’établissement de la démocratie qui rencontre les besoins de la cité. Cette version n’a pas empêché d’autres de circuler, mais ces traditions alternatives ne pouvaient pas entrer indéfiniment en compétition avec la cité et elles se sont dès lors éteintes. Au total, la polis religion peut inclure des voix multiples, mais les groupes qui les portent doivent sans cesse lutter contre les influences de la version dominante, qui est celle de la cité. (shrink)

The Phoenician Women, Euripides' peculiar retelling and refashioning of the Theban myth, offers a portrait of Antigone before she becomes the actor we mostly know today from Sophocles' play. In this under-studied Greek tragedy, Euripides portrays the political and epistemological dissolution that allows for Antigone 's appearance in public. Whereas Sophocles' Antigone appears on stage ready to confront Creon with her appeal to the universal unwritten laws of the gods and later dissolves into the female lamenting a lost womanhood, Euripides' (...) Antigone experiences the opposite journey, thereby offering insights into the conditions that allow for her exposure in the political arena. A speech by Eteocles at the center of the play questions the existence of absolutes, calls injustice beautiful, and opens the door for Antigone 's entrance into the public sphere. With this speech Eteocles challenges us to consider the conditions of political openness in the modern age. (shrink)

The Phoenician Women, Euripides’ peculiar retelling and refashioning of the Theban myth, offers a portrait of Antigone before she becomes the actor we mostly know today from Sophocles’ play. In this under-studied Greek tragedy, Euripides portrays the political and epistemological dissolution that allows for Antigone’s appearance in public. Whereas Sophocles’ Antigone appears on stage ready to confront Creon with her appeal to the universal unwritten laws of the gods and later dissolves into the female lamenting a lost womanhood, Euripides’ Antigone (...) experiences the opposite journey, thereby offering insights into the conditions that allow for her exposure in the political arena. A speech by Eteocles at the center of the play questions the existence of absolutes, calls injustice beautiful, and opens the door for Antigone’s entrance into the public sphere. With this speech Eteocles challenges us to consider the conditions of political openness in the modern age. (shrink)

This essay initially distinguishes Athenian democracy from what I call ‘hyphenated-democracies’, each of which adds a conceptual framework developed in early modern Europe to the language of democracy: representative-democracy, liberal-democracy, constitutional-democracy, republican-democracy. These hyphenated-democracies emphasize the restraints placed on the power of political authorities. In contrast, Athenian democracy with the people ruling over themselves rested on the fundamental principle of equality rather than the limitations placed on that rule. However, equality as the defining normative principle of democracy raises its own (...) problems, namely: How do we – of limited vision – identify who is equal, and what injustices attend the criteria used to establish who is equal? Consideration of several ancient tragedies illustrates how the Athenian playwrights explored these questions and how they identified the challenges faced by those who understand democracy as grounded on egalitarian principles. (shrink)

Mon but est d’examiner en détail les arguments avancés par Vernant au début des années soixante du siècle dernier, quand il a caractérisé, selon une formule célèbre, la philosophie comme « fille de la Cité » (fille de la polis). Mon argument principal est que le concept d’isonomia, qui n’est central dans le débat politique athénien que depuis les dernières décennies du vie siècle, ne peut être aussi facilement utilisé pour rendre compte de la nouvelle conception de l’espace physique, qui (...) émerge à Milet au début de ce siècle. En tout cas, l’utilisation de modèles politiques dans la science grecque ancienne de la nature est un procédé conscient, comme je tente de le montrer en analysant certains textes célèbres comme le fragment 4 d’Alcméon et le fragment 1 d’Anaximandre. De plus, dans le cas d’Anaximandre on peut se demander si l’explanandum dans l’analogie était l’ordre du monde ou plutôt celui de la polis. (shrink)

Journal Name: Apeiron Issue: Ahead of print.

According to Aristotle, both urban planning and political philosophy originated in the work of one man, Hippodamus of Miletus. If Aristotle is right, then the study of Hippodamus's work should help us understand their history as interrelated fields. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine with any degree of precision exactly what Hippodamus's contributions were to these two fields when the two fields are studied separately. In urban planning, Hippodamus was traditionally credited with having invented the ''grid pattern'' in which straight (...) streets intersect each other at right angles to form regular city blocks. However, as grid patterned cities have been discovered that were built before Hippodamus's birth, this traditional attribution must be false. In political philosophy, Hippodamus was credited with having written the first utopian ''constitution''. However, Aristotle's account of this constitution is so brief that it is difficult to determine what philosophical position lies behind it and, as that account makes clear, several of the laws governing Hippodamus's ideal city seem contradictory. In this paper, I argue that Hippodamus did significant work in both fields but that his intentions can only be seen clearly if his philosophical and architectural works are read together. This reading not only makes clear the unique contribution that Hippodamus made to both disciplines, but it shows how they were-and perhaps how they should be-related. (shrink)

The present paper addresses Aeschylus, and the way he wanted to be remembered by his fellow Athenians and the other Greeks. Having lived from 525/524 until 456/455 BCE, Aeschylus experienced the quick transition of his polis from a small city-state to a leading political and military force to be reckoned with throughout the Greek world. The inscription on his gravestone at Gela, Italy, commemorates his military achievements against the Persians, but makes no mention on his enormous theatrical renown. His plays (...) were so respected by the Athenians that after his death, his were the only tragedies allowed to be restaged in subsequent competitions. And yet Aeschylus, when time came to describe himself and the work of his lifetime, mentioned exclusively his contribution in the fight against the Persian Empire as an Athenian. Triggered by the poet’s narrative on his most memorable moment of his life, the present paper seeks to shed some light on the Athenian political identity, emerged during and soon after the Persian Wars, which not only derived from the newly-established democratic constitution of the late sixth century, but also supported it. Aeschylus’ epigram as well as some particular plays of his, narrates the confidence, the solidarity and the feeling of equality the Athenian citizens shared in regards to the defence of freedom of their polis as well as of all Greece, which came above anything else in their life, meaning above noble lineage and wealth. The gravestone of the poet stresses, in other words, how it felt like for an Athenian to live during the emergence of the very first Democracy that progressively supported the claim of Athens to become a ruler in the Aegean, by constructing its naval "Empire", ideologically upon the commemoration of the victory of the Athenian Democracy against the tyranny of Persia at Marathon and Salamis. (shrink)

Alcmaeon, a philosopher-cum-doctor from Croton, offers the earliest known definition of health and disease. The aim of this paper is to examine the formulation of his medical theory in terms of political organization, namely the polarity between one-man rule and egalitarianism , by taking into account contemporary philosophical and medical texts, as well as the historical context. The paper is divided into four sections. I first overview the compendium in which this medical theory is reported, trace the doxographical layers, and (...) analyse the terminology employed . I then focus on the key aspects of this medical theory, including the constitution of the body, the interaction of opposites, and the aetiology of disease . I suggest that Alcmaeon's notion of equality can be understood in various ways, and discuss the possible interpretations in the light of early Greek philosophy and medicine. The most likely interpretations are that there exists a kind of equilibrium between pairs .. (shrink)

Abstract The great german Scholar, Eduard Zeller, suggested that the reference to male and female in Parmenides B12.5-6 was probably an allusion to the physical principles of `mortal opinion': Night and Light. This suggestion has been rejected by some scholars because such an association would lead us to admit that, in B12, male was associated with Night and female with Light, a theory which would be at odds with the supposed misogyny of Greek culture. However, Parmenides' account of `mortal opinion' (...) certainly associates male with coldness and density, the attributes of Night, and female with hotness and greater rarity, the attibutes of Light. The aims of this paper are, then, first, to show that the association of female with Light and of male with Night is in fact right; and secondly to investigate the main dualistic features of Parmenides' `mortal opinion' (embryology, sleep, death, knowledge) in relation to this theme. This will lead us, finally, to focus our attention on the Proem, which introduces us to a world full of female divinities, among whom - beyond the gates of the ways of day and night - is the unnamed goddess who will initiate her young male auditor into the two `ways'. (shrink)

This essay turns to ancient sources in order to rethink the relationship between political apathy and democracy. If modern democratic theorists place political apathy entirely outside of democracy – either as a destructive limit upon the full realization of a democratic polity, or, more sanguinely, as a pragmatic necessity which tempers democracy so that it may function in a workable yet watered-down form – the ancients conceived of political apathy as a peculiarly democratic phenomenon that was likely to flourish in (...) tandem with the expansion of egalitarian institutional structures and moral ideas. Evidence for the ancient recognition of political apathy as a uniquely democratic kind of affliction centers on, but is not limited to, three main sources. In literature, the Homeric epic, and specifically the story of Achilles, present apathy for politics and commitment to human equality as synonymous forces. In philosophy, one of the main reasons Plato opposes the democratic regime is precisely that it engenders apathy among the citizenry. And in history, Herodotus’ account of the first debate on constitutions as well as the ancient democratic practice of election by lot reveal an ancient egalitarian interest in using democracy to quell, rather than encourage, political behavior. (shrink)

This article expands a traditional pedagogic interpretation of Plato’s reasons for urging trainee rulers to study astronomy. It argues, primarily, that they need to become familiar with astronomy because it teaches them about cosmic harmony. This harmony indeed models a “personal harmony,” which will prevent them from becoming tyrants, and informs them about the analogous social harmony— which it will be their special duty to create and maintain. In Plato’s view, indeed, astronomy shows that social harmony requires obedience on the (...) part of the lower orders and that social goods are best distributed in accordance with a special antidemocratic principle of equality. (shrink)

This essay turns to ancient sources in order to rethink the relationship between political apathy and democracy. If modern democratic theorists place political apathy entirely outside of democracy – either as a destructive limit upon the full realization of a democratic polity, or, more sanguinely, as a pragmatic necessity which tempers democracy so that it may function in a workable yet watered-down form – the ancients conceived of political apathy as a peculiarly democratic phenomenon that was likely to flourish in (...) tandem with the expansion of egalitarian institutional structures and moral ideas. Evidence for the ancient recognition of political apathy as a uniquely democratic kind of affliction centers on, but is not limited to, three main sources. In literature, the Homeric epic, and specifically the story of Achilles, present apathy for politics and commitment to human equality as synonymous forces. In philosophy, one of the main reasons Plato opposes the democratic regime is precisely that it engenders apathy among the citizenry. And in history, Herodotus’ account of the first debate on constitutions as well as the ancient democratic practice of election by lot reveal an ancient egalitarian interest in using democracy to quell, rather than encourage, political behavior. (shrink)

In this article, we discuss Greek and Roman conceptions of liberty. The supposedly ‘neo-Roman’ view of liberty as non-domination is really derived from negative Greek models, we argue, while Roman authors devised an alternative understanding of liberty that rested on the equality of legal rights. In this ‘paleo-Roman’ model, as long as the law was the same for all, you were free; whether or not you participated in making the law was not a constitutive feature of liberty. In essence, this (...) Roman theory was a theory of freedom as the rule of law and the guarantee of equal rights, especially due process rights. For this Roman concept of ‘legal liberty,’ as we call it, political participation was neither necessary nor sufficient. Theorized by Cicero and historicized by Livy, the Roman understanding of freedom flourished in early-modern times, proving important to paradigmatic republican authors such as Machiavelli and Rousseau as well as to Hobbes, whose work we discuss as a helpful point of comparison. (shrink)

The research shows the way to liberate the word from the imperative hierarchical social system to the equality, to the cooperative search for truth. It’s the way from Logos to Dialogos. The article analyzes the development of the social structure of Athens from the Mycenaean Age to the end of the 6th century BC. The author highlights the main stages and principles of this development: dysnomia, eunomia, isonomia. Special attention was paid to the definitions and explication the relationship between these (...) principles. Dysnomia is characterized as wrong order, lawlessness. It was a principle of total political inequality, where the class of urban aristocracy is endowed with full rights, and ordinary people do not have them at all. Eunomia is the conception of good order, the right social system. It was a principle of geometrical equality that left power in the hands of the aristocracy, but expanded the rights of the people. The author shows that Eunomia“s role in the development of the political equality in Athens as a transitional stage to the notion of Isonomia was fundamental. He claims that the emergence of dialogue as a social phenomenon, and partly as a genre, in Athens becomes possible after Cleisthenes“ reforms on the ground of principle of Isonomia. (shrink)

Chornobyl’s place in Ukrainian collective memory is “ghostly” one. Chornobyl’s memory appears deluded between few spaces of sense, isolated one from another. There are the spaces of official memory, fiction, witnesses, “post-Chornobyl” baroque-style Ukrainian literature, so called “Stalker” practices, computer-games, artistic practices inside Zone etc. Narrative incertitude of the Event creates the ideal chance for working through the past with the instruments of art. 2019 appeared the important year for investigation of the Chornobyl’s phenomenon through the extraordinary success of HBO (...) “Chornobyl” television miniseries. The Event of Chornobyl was thrown into the space of interpretation and commemoration practices. In this text author tries to reveal and analyze the context spaces, triggered by the notion of “Chornobyl” in Ukrainian society. Author’s efforts are concentrated around the Media-Art Exhibition “ARTEFACT: Chernobyl 33”, which was presented in Kyiv in October, 2019. (shrink)