Review of Myrthe L. Bartels, Plato's Pragmatic Project: A Reading of Plato's Laws, Stuttgart 2017, in BMCR (2018.04.34). (original) (raw)

This monograph presents the revised version of Myrthe Bartels' dissertation which was defended in June 2014 at Leiden University. In contrast to recent studies1 which pick out single aspects of the dialogue, this study focuses on the complexity of the overall composition of Plato's Laws as well as on the status of the legislative activity carried out by the three interlocutors. As the title suggests, Bartels' aim is to show that the Laws is based on a more 'pragmatic' attitude towards virtue and legislation than that of Plato's earlier works. The labelling of the Laws' approach as 'pragmatic' refers to the absence of a metaphysical foundation of the legislation, revealing the dialogue, according to Bartels, to be "at odds with what we consider the core principles of Platonic philosophy" (14). This strong claim turns the book into a valuable and indispensable challenge for everyone who studies the Laws.