{"id":624,"date":"2022-08-20T19:02:15","date_gmt":"2022-08-20T23:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/?p=624"},"modified":"2022-08-20T19:03:04","modified_gmt":"2022-08-20T23:03:04","slug":"robert-a-ballingall-on-the-rule-of-law-and-the-imitation-of-god-in-platos-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/2022\/08\/20\/robert-a-ballingall-on-the-rule-of-law-and-the-imitation-of-god-in-platos-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert A. Ballingall on “The Rule of Law and the Imitation of God in Plato\u2019s Laws”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert A. Ballingall, Assistant Professor of Political Science, published “The Rule of Law and the Imitation of God in Plato’s Laws” in Perspectives on Political Science<\/em> online (August 1, 2022).<\/p>\n

ABSTRACT
\nScholars interested in the characterology presupposed by constitutional government have
\noccasionally turned to Plato\u2019s Laws, one of the earliest and most penetrating treatments of
\nthe subject. Even so, interpreters have neglected a vital tension that the Laws presents as
\ncoeval with lawfulness itself. Through a close reading of the dialogue\u2019s opening passages, I
\nargue that the rule of law for Plato is implicated in a certain paradox: it both prohibits and
\nrequires the imitation of god. Law cannot safely originate with human beings; yet human
\nbeings must involve themselves nonetheless in laying law down. Trustworthy lawgivers must revere the gods while at the same time emulating them, must somehow make law themselves while regarding that very task as beyond their ken. Although the political psychology of lawfulness would therefore seem incoherent, I conclude by surveying reasons for thinking this inference unwarranted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Robert A. Ballingall (2022): The Rule of Law and the Imitation of God in Plato\u2019s
\nLaws, Perspectives on Political Science<\/em>, DOI: 10.1080\/10457097.2022.2105586.<\/p>\n

To link to this article: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/10457097.2022.2105586\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert A. Ballingall, Assistant Professor of Political Science, published “The Rule of Law and the Imitation of God in Plato’s Laws” in Perspectives on Political Science online (August 1, 2022). ABSTRACT Scholars interested in the characterology presupposed by constitutional government have occasionally turned to Plato\u2019s Laws, one of the earliest and most penetrating treatments of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1692,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[64,62,61,63],"class_list":["post-624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publications","tag-god","tag-law","tag-plato","tag-robert-a-ballingall"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":60,"label":"Publications"}],"post_tag":[{"value":64,"label":"God"},{"value":62,"label":"Law"},{"value":61,"label":"Plato"},{"value":63,"label":"Robert A. Ballingall"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"dmichaud","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/author\/dmichaud\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":60,"name":"Publications","slug":"publications","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":60,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":60,"category_count":2,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Publications","category_nicename":"publications","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":64,"name":"God","slug":"god","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":64,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":62,"name":"Law","slug":"law","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":62,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":61,"name":"Plato","slug":"plato","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":61,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":63,"name":"Robert A. Ballingall","slug":"robert-a-ballingall","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":63,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1692"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":627,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions\/627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/religious-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}