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Community Forum: Reflections of a philosophical naturalist

Posted on September 10, 2012 |
By Victor Nuovo



On my 70th birthday, I paused to tell myself that life begins at 70 and then continued on life’s way unperturbed, with the same prospect that I had before of life with no apparent end, full of expectation and the hope of achievement. It has been my good fortune not to be disappointed; the last decade has been the most productive in my life in ways that I could scarcely have imagined or foreseen.

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Plato, slavery and inconsistency

Posted on January 6, 2011 |
By Victor Nuovo



 

Author’s note: This is the last in a second series of essays and reflections about Plato’s Laws. My concern in this essay is about an inconsistency in the Laws of Plato between idea of human freedom and the institution of slavery. I want to understand how Plato fell into it and to see if there is something to be learned from it.

 

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Plato squares religion and justice

Posted on December 16, 2010 |
By Victor Nuovo



 

This is the tenth in a second series of essays and reflections about politics and the moral life. The themes of the essays are drawn from Plato’s Laws, his last and longest philosophical dialogue written shortly before his death in 347 bce. Lawsis a fictional account of a conversation involving three old men with long experience in politics: Cleinias, from the Cretan city of Cnossos, Megillus, from Sparta, and an Athenian stranger who is not named, but who may be Plato himself. They have assumed the role of founders of a new Cretan city, Magnesia.

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Plato considers the equality of boys and girls

Posted on December 2, 2010 |
By Victor Nuovo



 

This is the eighth in a second series of essays and reflections about politics and the moral life. The themes of the essays are drawn from Plato’s ‘Laws.’ his last and longest philosophical dialogue written shortly before his death in 347 bce. Laws is a fictional account of a conversation involving three old men with long experience in politics: Cleinias, from the Cretan city of Cnossos, Megillus, from Sparta, and an Athenian stranger who is not named, but who may be Plato himself. This essay treats the important theme of education.

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Plato: Institutions, offices and powers of government

Posted on November 24, 2010 |
By Victor Nuovo



 

Note: This is the seventh in a second series of essays and reflections about politics and the moral life. The themes of the essays are drawn from Plato’s “Laws,” his last and longest philosophical dialogue written shortly before his death in 347 BCE. “Laws” is a fictional account of a conversation about government involving three old men with long experience in politics: Cleinias, from the Cretan city of Cnossos, Megillus, from Sparta, and an Athenian stranger who is not named, but who may be Plato himself.

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Plato takes a transcendentalist interlude

Posted on November 18, 2010 |
By Victor Nuovo



 

Author’s note: This essay interrupts the sequence of expository essays on Plato’s Laws to answer an objection that questions the validity of the entire series. Transcendentalism is the name of an intellectual movement that flourished in the United States during the 19th century, especially in New England. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are its leading proponents. Their writings range over a wide range of topics, literary, philosophical, religious, and political. The influence of Plato and Platonism is evident throughout them.

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Plato honored the art of lawmaking

Posted on November 4, 2010 |
By Victor Nuovo



This is the fifth in a second series of essays and reflections about politics and the moral life. The themes of the essays are drawn from Plato’s “Laws,” his last and longest philosophical dialogue written shortly before his death in 347 B.C. “Laws” is a fictional account of a conversation involving three old men with long experience in politics: Cleinias, from the Cretan city of Cnossos; Megillus, from Sparta; and an Athenian stranger who is not named, but who may be Plato himself.

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Plato: Land, people and citizens

Posted on October 21, 2010 |
By Victor Nuovo



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Plato: Politicians employ dense, Platonic turn-of-phrase on regular basis

Posted on October 21, 2010 |
By Victor Nuovo



Author’s note: This essay begins a second series of essays and reflections about politics and the moral life. Each essay develops a theme from a work by the philosopher Plato, entitled “Laws,” which he wrote shortly before his death in 347 B.C. “Laws” is written as a dialogue involving three old men with long experience in politics: Cleinias, from the Cretan city of Cnossos; Megillus, from Sparta; and an Athenian stranger who is not named, but who may be Plato himself.

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Fall 2010, Plato part 1: The Laws of Plato and the rule of Law

Posted on October 7, 2010 |
By Victor Nuovo



An Essay by Victor Nuovo, Middlebury College professor emeritus of philosophy

1. The Laws of Plato and the rule of Law

Author’s note: This is the first of a series of essays or reflections about a book written two and a half millennia ago by Plato, the great philosopher. It is titled “Laws” and is his last and longest work. According to a reliable tradition, when Plato died, in 347 BCE, he had finished a draft of the whole work; it was edited and published posthumously by Philip of Opus, Plato’s secretary, a member of Plato’s Academy and a philosopher.

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