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Plato on Self-Motion in Laws X

  • Rareș Ilie Marinescu EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: September 16, 2021
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Abstract

In this paper, I argue that Plato conceives self-motion as non-spatial in Laws X. I demonstrate this by focusing on the textual evidence and by refuting interpretations according to which self-motion either is a specific type of spatial motion (e. g. circular motion) or is said to require space as a necessary condition for its occurrence. Moreover, I show that this non-spatial understanding differs from the identification of the soul’s motion with locomotion in the Timaeus. Consequently, I provide an explanation for this difference between the Timaeus and Laws X by considering developmentalist and contextualist viewpoints.

Keywords: Plato; Laws; Soul; Motion; Space

Article note

My research was made possible by the generous funding of the Cusanuswerk and the Faculty of Classics, Cambridge. I am grateful to Myrto Hatzimichali for most helpful discussions and suggestions. I thank David Sedley, Gábor Betegh, Frisbee Sheffield, Kasra Abdavi Azar, Christopher Poetsch, and the anonymous referee of Rhizomata for their insightful and learned comments from which this paper has greatly benefited. I am solely responsible for all remaining flaws.


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Published Online: 2021-09-16
Published in Print: 2021-09-13

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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