Persuasion, Falsehood, and Motivating Reason in Plato’s Laws
History of Philosophy Quarterly 33 (2) (2016)
Abstract
In Plato’s Laws, the Athenian Stranger maintains that law should consist of both persuasion (πειθώ) and compulsion (βία) (IV.711c, IV.718b-d, and IV.722b). Persuasion can be achieved by prefacing the laws with preludes (προοίμια), which make the citizens more eager to obey the laws. Although scholars disagree on how to interpret the preludes’ persuasion, they agree that the preludes instill true beliefs and give citizens good reasons for obeying the laws. In this paper I refine this account of the preludes by arguing that the primary purpose of the preludes is to motivate correct action, and that for citizens who lack rational-governance this is achieved via useful false beliefs. That is to say, in many cases, the prelude functions as a “noble lie” (γενναῖον ψεῦδος).Author's Profile
My notes
Similar books and articles
Persuasion, Compulsion and Freedom in Plato's Laws.Christopher Bobonich - 1991 - Classical Quarterly 41 (2):365-388.
The Politics of Virtue in Plato's "Laws".John Melvin Armstrong - 1998 - Dissertation, The University of Arizona
Revisiting the Controversial Nature of Persuasion in Plato’s Laws.Eva Buccioni - 2007 - Polis 24 (2):262-283.
Platonic myths and Straussian lies: The logic of persuasion.Kenneth Royce Moore - 2009 - Polis 26 (1):89-115.
Plato on the sovereignty of law.Zena Hitz - 2009 - In Ryan Balot (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 367-381.
Plato's doctrine of freedom.R. F. Stalley - 1998 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 98 (2):145–158.
Persuasion and the writing of the law: The literary interpretation of Plato's Laws.F. Trabattoni - 2001 - Rivista di Storia Della Filosofia 56 (3):357-371.
Metaphysics as Rhetoric: Alfarabi's Summary of Plato's "Laws".Joshua Parens - 1995 - State University of New York Press.
The Law Most Beautiful and Best: Medical Argument and Magical Rhetoric in Plato's Laws.Randall Baldwin Clark - 2003 - Lexington Books.
Civil Religion in Plato's "Laws": Choristry and Preludes.William Anthony Welton - 1993 - Dissertation, Duquesne University
Slaves in Plato's laws.Amir Meital & Joseph Agassi - 2007 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 37 (3):315-347.
Plato's noble lie: from Kallipolis to Magnesia.David Williams - 2013 - History of Political Thought 34 (3):363-392.
Analytics
Added to PP
2015-11-17
Downloads
204 (#62,777)
6 months
24 (#48,664)
2015-11-17
Downloads
204 (#62,777)
6 months
24 (#48,664)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Justice in the Laws, a Restatement: Why Plato Endorses Public Reason.Samuel Director - 2018 - Journal of the American Philosophical Association 4 (2):184-203.
References found in this work
The Open Society and its Enemies.Karl R. Popper - 1952 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 142:629-634.
Plato's Philosophers: The Coherence of the Dialogues.Catherine H. Zuckert - 2009 - University of Chicago Press.
The Open Society and Its Enemies.Karl R. Popper - 1955 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 6 (22):164-169.