"... Platons zunehmend realistischere Einschätzung der Natur des Menschen" — Manuel Knoll
[See previous posts on Laws.III and checks & balances: 1, 2]. In this third post on 'my' sources for Laws.III I briefly present a number of papers written by modern scholars, most of which are available online. Needless to say, most books that deal with the political institutions of classical Sparta also mention Laws.III. In that regard, Paul Rahe's The Spartan Regime. Its Character, Origin, and Grand Strategy (Yale University Press, 2016 [VIDEO]) is pretty useful—especially in what pertains to the selection of ephors. So far I am leaving aside other books on Laws that do not specifically treat the mixed constitution and checks and balances. And I am still waiting to receive Alois Riklin's Machtteilung: Geschichte der Mischverfassung (Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, 2006) [see].
[See previous posts on Laws.III and checks & balances: 1, 2]. In this third post on 'my' sources for Laws.III I briefly present a number of papers written by modern scholars, most of which are available online. Needless to say, most books that deal with the political institutions of classical Sparta also mention Laws.III. In that regard, Paul Rahe's The Spartan Regime. Its Character, Origin, and Grand Strategy (Yale University Press, 2016 [VIDEO]) is pretty useful—especially in what pertains to the selection of ephors. So far I am leaving aside other books on Laws that do not specifically treat the mixed constitution and checks and balances. And I am still waiting to receive Alois Riklin's Machtteilung: Geschichte der Mischverfassung (Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, 2006) [see].
- Manuel Knoll (*). The paper starts by briefly reviewing the literature, paying special attention to Wilfried Nippel and Alois Riklin. Before setting out to analyze Plato's 'Cretan city', Dr. Knoll discusses "Sparta als historischer Vorbild für Platons Mischverfassung" (29-33). Bridging the gap between Book III and Plato's draft constitution, he sketches the philosopher's influential views on the rule of law and human nature. Very useful material indeed! Manuel Knoll concludes his paper with two major points: (a) Laws contains not one, but five different perspectives on the mixed constitution; (b) the aristocratic element dominates in Plato's proposed constitution for the Cretan city.
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- Ephraim David (*). Just like David Hahm's paper (which he quotes), Ephraim David discusses the mixed constitution from the writings of Thucydides, Plato (Laws), Aristotle and Polybius. With Plato he concentrates on Book III; he thus eschews the debate about the Cretan city. Four points caught my attention: (1) the presentation of Plato as "the founding father of the mixed-constitution theory" (bravo!); (2) the notion of the mixed regime as a "second-best" solution to the problem of the ideal political regime; (3) the biographical remark: "Plato lived to witness both the zenith of Sparta's power and the first stages of her rapid decline" (note 29, p. 31); (4) the footnote about the 1981 Rahe-Rhodes controversy on the selection of ephors at Sparta (note 23, p. 29). We'll come back to all of these points!
(*) Ephraim David: "Sparta and the Mixed Constitution", in Renata Tatomir (ed.) East-West Dialogue. Individual and Society Through Ages. Bucharest, 2018.
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- Guiseppe Cambiano (*). Like Manuel Knoll's paper, this chapter is entirely devoted to Plato and the mixed constitution, rendered governo misto in Italian. (The same happens in French and Spanish, where the emphasis is on 'government' rather than on 'constitution'). Before tackling Laws.III, Mr. Cambiano discusses both Republic and Politicus. Using a metaphor derived from football, he declares the mixed constitution offside in these two works: "strutturalmente fuori gioco" (p. 9). Everything changes with Laws.III, where a system of checks and balances is implicitely proposed: "L'Ateniense non dice che un re serve da freno o bilanciamento all'altro, ma possiamo inferirlo [...] Ciò che è centrale è l'idea di poteri che frenano e bilanciano altri poteri, in modo d'evitare un'eccessiva concentrazione di potere in una sola componente" (pp. 15-16).
(*) Guiseppe Cambiano: "Platone e il governo misto", in Domenico Felice (ed). Governo misto. Ricostruzione di una idea. Napoli: Liguori Editore, 2011.
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[TO BE CONTINUED...]
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