Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Painting, 1916-17

Foundations of Psychoanalysis 

“The Sacred and Golden Pull of Reasoning”: On Plato’s Laws

Raffaella Colombo

Saturday, November 8, 2025 • 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM

In his last and longest dialogue, Plato deals with the creation of a just system of legislation for the colony the Cretan Clinias must found. The conversation on a hot summer day among Clinias, an unnamed Athenian, and the Spartan Megillus raises crucial questions about the divine or human origins of the laws and their role in the city. We will examine how the dialogue also considers the kind of transference the legislator must establish to create a stable bond among citizens and between each citizen and the legislation itself. 

Suggested readings: Plato: The Laws, in the Benjamin Jowett translation (online in the Gutenberg Library), in particular, books I, IV, IX, X, XII. Strauss, Leo: The Argument and the Action of Plato’s Laws (1973). 

Location: Online via Zoom.

Fee: $50; for students with ID: $20. Registration details to follow.

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Raffaella Colombo was for over fifteen years a researcher at the State University of Milan and is now an independent scholar. Her work focuses on modern and contemporary moral and political philosophy, particularly on Spinoza and Leo Strauss. The author of numerous books and essays on philosophy and the field of human-animal studies, she is co-director of the academic journal Balthazar. Per un’etica dell’inclusione.