The common good as the backbone of Plato's Laws

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35699/2525-8036.2023.45907

Keywords:

Commom, Well, Laws, Plato

Abstract

Plato considered the common good as a unifying instance of community life in the polis and, therefore, as a fundamental objective towards which laws, the State and citizens should converge. The community sense in the search for the common good in Plato’s Laws is decisively opposed to the atomization of contemporary life. The objective of this article is to investigate how Plato mobilizes the common good as the main purpose of the set of laws (nomoi) of the polis. To this end, it begins with a brief introduction to the normative framework in the Dialogue As Leis and its teleological relationship with the common good. It then unravels two mechanisms involved in the construction of the common good: education and state regulation of the distribution of wealth. Afterwards, it seeks to summarize the main aspects of what constitutes the common good for Plato. Finally, it concludes with the need to rescue the notion of common good as a prominent philosophical-political category for the construction of a new society.

Author Biography

  • Gustavo Livio, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

    Promotor de Justiça no Ministério Público do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Ex-Defensor Público do Estado da Bahia. Mestrando na UFRJ, Brasil, com pesquisa em Economia e Direito. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5359-7493. Contato: gustavo.livio@gmail.com.

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Published

2023-10-27

How to Cite

The common good as the backbone of Plato’s Laws. Revista de Ciências do Estado, Belo Horizonte, v. 8, n. 2, p. 1–27, 2023. DOI: 10.35699/2525-8036.2023.45907. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/revice/article/view/e45907. Acesso em: 19 dec. 2024.