Performing Citizenship in Plato's Laws

By Lucia Prauscello

Book Overview

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 er s 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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1107421160
• ISBN13: 9781107421165
• Release Date: October 2017
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"