Plato's "Laws": The Discovery of Being

Seth Benardete

Feb 2024 · University of Chicago Press

About this ebook

An insightful commentary on Plato’s Laws, his complex final work.

The Laws was Plato’s last work, his longest, and one of his most difficult. In contrast to the Republic, which presents an abstract ideal, the Laws appears to provide practical guidelines for the establishment and maintenance of political order in the real world. Classicist Seth Benardete offers a rich analysis of each of the twelve books of the Laws, which illuminates Plato’s major themes and arguments concerning theology, the soul, justice, and education.

Most importantly, Benardete shows how music in a broad sense, including drama, epic poetry, and even puppetry, mediates between reason and the city in Plato’s philosophy of law. Benardete also uncovers the work’s concealed ontological dimension, explaining why it is hidden and how it can be brought to light. In establishing the coherence and underlying organization of Plato’s last dialogue, Benardete makes a significant contribution to Platonic studies.

About the author

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.