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28On the Economy of Specialization and Division of Labour in Plato’s RepublicPolis 26 (1): 52-72. 2009.This essay takes issue with a common interpretation of Book II of Plato’s Republic as anticipating the modern theory of division of labour, first promoted by Adam Smith. It is argued that, far from anticipating Adam Smith, Plato developed original reflections which, though naturally shaped by the economic reality of his time, reveal a concern for fundamental issues of economic thought: the value of labour, the nature of economic interdependence in a political association, the relation between ec…Read more
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Cognitive Instability, Unpersuadability of the Knower, and the Deceptiveness of the World: A Study in Plato's EpistemologyDissertation, University of Pittsburgh. 1992.Ever since Aristotle, tradition has it that Plato postulated a static world--different and separate from the physical world--to be the proper object of knowledge, on the grounds that objects in the physical world are unstable. But why should the proper object of knowledge be unchanging? The answer depends on Plato's view of what it is to have knowledge rather than his view of what knowledge is: to have knowledge entails being immoveable by persuasion. ;The roots of this view are found in Plato's…Read more
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80Plato’s Cyclical Argument for the Immortality of the SoulArchiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 78 (3): 225-252. 1996.
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29'Having one's own' and distributive justice in Plato's RepublicHistory of Political Thought 32 (2): 185-214. 2011.Although Plato did not explicitly propose any principle of distributive justice, he indicated that justice involves both the doing and the having of one's own. On the interpretation I am proposing: (i) 'having one's own' refers directly to the compensation one receives for doing one's own; (ii) the principle of distribution of benefits that is actually operative in Plato's system is that any form of compensation must be such that the worker (whether ruler, soldier or producer) has his needs sati…Read more
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9On the Economy of Specialization and Division of Labour in Plato’s RepublicPolis 26 (1): 52-72. 2009.This essay takes issue with a common interpretation of Book II of Plato's Republic as anticipating the modern theory of division of labour, first promoted by Adam Smith. It is argued that, far from anticipating Adam Smith, Plato developed original reflections which, though naturally shaped by the economic reality of his time, reveal a concern for fundamental issues of economic thought: the value of labour, the nature of economic interdependence in a political association, the relation between ec…Read more
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Social and Political Philosophy |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Meta-Ethics |
Normative Ethics |