The City-State of the Soul: Constituting the Self in Plato's Republic

The City-State of the Soul: Self-Constitution in Plato’s Republicexplores Plato’s idea that the moral life consists in the founding of one’s own soul. This insight is central to the long argument of the Republic and, in particular, to the complex relation between the city and the human soul. This fruitful picture of the moral life, however, has not received the attention it deserves.

As Kevin M. Crotty argues, Plato’s distinctive insight is that justice is above all a creative force. Plato ...