Sign-In
Cart
Plato's Laws (Books I & II): The Puppet, the Lawgiver, and the War Within
Paperback
Fiction AnthologiesTeaching Instruction
ISBN13: 9781968044688
Publisher: Recursive Publishing
Published: Jun 27 2025
Pages: 118
Weight: 0.48
Height: 0.25 Width: 7.00 Depth: 10.00
Language: English
In this conceptually faithful and dramatically structured translation of Plato's Laws, Books I and II are revealed not as a dry legal treatise, but as an urgent philosophical walk toward the foundations of law, education, and internal self-rule. Three elderly men-an Athenian stranger, a Spartan, and a Cretan-walk across the sunlit fields of Crete while discussing the war within the soul, the education of desire, and the nature of divine and human law.
Rather than translating only the content, this edition rebuilds the structure of Plato's thinking. Every metaphor is preserved and elevated. Key concepts are capitalized and rhythmically organized: Golden-Cord, Fear-Potion, Self-Superior, Model-Of-Virtue, Puppet-Of-The-Gods, Lawgiver, and Drinking-Festival. The result is a translation that can be read aloud like a philosophical play-anchored in conceptual precision and poetic cadence.
Key themes explored in this edition:
Human beings as Puppets of the Gods, torn between pleasure, pain, and reason
The Lawgiver as physician, tasked with ordering citizens from youth to death through rhythm, reward, and reflection
The dangers of legislating only for courage while ignoring temperance, wisdom, and pleasure's power
The importance of drinking festivals and Dionysian testing to reveal a city's inner balance
Education as orientation: how children must be trained through play, rhythm, and symbolic imitation to become self-governing souls
This is Plato for those who teach, create, legislate, or imagine. Whether you're a political philosopher, educator, poet, or student of spiritual psychology, this edition provides a living dialogue-inviting you to walk beside Plato's characters as they invent law from the ground up.
Designed for clarity without compromise, this translation avoids archaism and avoids dumbing-down. It is part of the Poetic Philosophy Presents series, which restores ancient texts as living dramatic structures-each one a metaphysical offering in rhythm and thought.
If Republic is the dream of justice, Laws is its reckoning. This is where Plato begins to write law not just for a city-but for a soul at war with itself.
Also from
Kassel, Jason
Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil: An Overture to a New Philosophy
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
Paperback
Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra - A Mountain Overture (Translated as Dynamite): A Poetic Rendering of Nietzsche's Vision with Symbolic Guide
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
Paperback
American History in the Age of Slavery: Presidents Washington and Adams (1793-1801)
Kassel, Jason
Paperback
Machiavelli's The Prince: A Renaissance Narrative of Fortuna and Virtue
Machiavelli, Niccolò
Paperback
American History in the Age of Slavery: Continental Congress through the Election of 1792
Kassel, Jason
Paperback
Also in
Fiction Anthologies
On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Unpublished and Selected Writings
Pirsig, Wendy K.
Pirsig, Robert M.
Hardcover
James Weldon Johnson: Writings (Loa #145): The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man / Along This Way / Essays and Editorials / Selected Poems
Johnson, James Weldon
Hardcover
Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stoker, Bram
Shelley, Mary
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Paperback
Sez I to Myself: The Collected Essays of Frank and Malachy McCourt
McCourt, Frank
McCourt, Malachy
Hardcover
Here in New England: Unforgettable Stories of People, Places, and Memories That Connect Us All.
Allen, Mel
Paperback
The Greek Tragedies: Seventeen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Paperback
Learn Russian with Beginner Stories: Interlinear Russian to English
Hyplern, Bermuda Word
Gettys, Serafima
Van Den End, Kees
Paperback
Obvious Adams -- The Story of a Successful Businessman: New Business Edition
Updegraff, Robert R.
Paperback
The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings: Poems, Tales, Essays, and Reviews
Poe, Edgar Allan
Hardcover
Bookin' in the Big House: What I Learned Leading a Women's Prison Book Club
Devoto, Pat Cunningham
Paperback
Japanese Folktales for Language Learners: Bilingual Legends and Fables in Japanese and English (Free Online Audio Recording)
Sato, Eriko
Sato, Anna
Paperback
The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, volume 1
Cubas, Cristina Fernández
Pedraza, Pilar
Fager, Anders
Paperback
The Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio (Facsimile Reprint)
Randall, E. O.
Randall, Emilius Oviatt
Paperback