The horizons of the constitution: Politeia, the political regime and the good
The horizons of the constitution: Politeia, the political regime and the good
How do we think about the word politeia when this involves a reaching back to the past? The response, pursued in this paper, is that in the classical understanding of politeia there is a significant connection between the question of the ‘good’ and the constitution; a connection which has become occluded or obscured by modern constitutional thought. In support of this understanding of politeia it must be acknowledged that what is meant, in this paper, by ‘good’ is very different from that conventionally found in contemporary constitutional, legal or political theory. In an effort to disclose how politeia unravels this novel sense of ‘the good’ the paper will closely consider the philosophical work of Hans-Georg Gadamer on Plato. The paper claims that this largely neglected work is of importance to contemporary constitutional philosophy, particularly in so far as it focuses, as in this paper, on classical traditions or origins within constitutional thought.
83-102
Gibbs, Alun
c8a57ffe-7bf9-4ca1-a2d9-523f37647229
April 2016
Gibbs, Alun
c8a57ffe-7bf9-4ca1-a2d9-523f37647229
Gibbs, Alun
(2016)
The horizons of the constitution: Politeia, the political regime and the good.
Law and Critique, 27 (1), .
(doi:10.1007/s10978-015-9166-8).
Abstract
How do we think about the word politeia when this involves a reaching back to the past? The response, pursued in this paper, is that in the classical understanding of politeia there is a significant connection between the question of the ‘good’ and the constitution; a connection which has become occluded or obscured by modern constitutional thought. In support of this understanding of politeia it must be acknowledged that what is meant, in this paper, by ‘good’ is very different from that conventionally found in contemporary constitutional, legal or political theory. In an effort to disclose how politeia unravels this novel sense of ‘the good’ the paper will closely consider the philosophical work of Hans-Georg Gadamer on Plato. The paper claims that this largely neglected work is of importance to contemporary constitutional philosophy, particularly in so far as it focuses, as in this paper, on classical traditions or origins within constitutional thought.
Text
Politeia and the Good Final Version.pdf
- Accepted Manuscript
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e-pub ahead of print date: 14 October 2015
Published date: April 2016
Organisations:
Faculty of Business, Law and Art
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Local EPrints ID: 386793
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/386793
ISSN: 0957-8536
PURE UUID: 25ef3838-a549-4f86-9222-64edf882fdef
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Date deposited: 04 Feb 2016 13:58
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 22:37
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