Ryan K. Balot is Professor of Political Science and Classics at the University of Toronto and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the author of Greed and Injustice in Classical Athens and Courage in the Democratic Polis: Ideology and Critique in Classical Athens. He edited A Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought and is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Thucydides.

• Chapter 1: Introduction: Interpreting Plato's Laws


• Chapter 2: The Character of Kleinias


• Chapter 3: The Politics and Psychology of Human History


• Chapter 4: A New Beginning: Founding Magnesia


• Chapter 5: Persuasive Preambles


• Chapter 6: The "Second-Best" Regime: Human Nature, Property, and Acquisitiveness


• Chapter 7: Warriors into Citizens: The Re-education of Thumos


• Chapter 8: Developing the Citizens' Thumos in Elections and Courts


• Chapter 9: The Athenian's Theology, Part I


• Chapter 10: The Athenian's Theology, Part II


• Chapter 11: The Rule of Nous


• Chapter 12: The "Truest Tragedy" in Plato's Laws

Previous scholars and writers have either celebrated the idealism in Plato's Laws or denounced its totalitarianism. Ryan K. Balot, by contrast, refuses to interpret the dialogue as a political blueprint, whether admirable or misguided. Instead, he shows that it constitutes Plato's greatest philosophical investigation of political life. In this transformative re-appraisal, Balot reveals that Plato's goal was to cultivate a tragic attitude toward our political passions, commitments, and aspirations.