Performing citizenship in Plato's laws / Lucia Prauscello.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Prauscello, L. (Lucia), author.

Series:

Cambridge classical studies.

Cambridge classical studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plato. Laws.

Plato.

Citizenship--Moral and ethical aspects.

Citizenship.

Citizenship--Political aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 272 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the Laws, Plato theorizes citizenship as simultaneously a political, ethical, and aesthetic practice. His reflection on citizenship finds its roots in a descriptive psychology of human experience, with sentience and, above all, volition seen as the primary targets of a lifelong training in the values of citizenship. In the city of Magnesia described in the Laws erôs for civic virtue is presented as a motivational resource not only within the reach of the 'ordinary' citizen, but also factored by default into its educational system. Supporting a vision of 'perfect citizenship' based on an internalized obedience to the laws, and persuading the entire polity to consent willingly to it, requires an ideology that must be rhetorically all-inclusive. In this city 'ordinary' citizenship itself will be troped as a performative action: Magnesia's choral performances become a fundamental channel for shaping, feeling and communicating a strong sense of civic identity and unity.

Contents:

Introduction

Preliminaries

Part I. Performing Ordinary Virtue in Plato's Utopias. Citizenship in Callipolis; Citizenship in Magnesia

Part II. Citizenship and Performance in the Laws. Choral performances, persuasion and pleasure; Patterns of chorality in Magnesia; Comedy and comic discourse in Magnesia; Epilogue: on law, agency and motivation.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

1-316-08323-3

1-316-05723-2

1-316-05486-1

1-316-08087-0

1-316-07614-8

1-316-07851-5

1-316-07377-7

1-322-88204-5

1-316-07141-3

1-139-68088-9