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Can I read Philosophy and politics in Julian’s Letter to Themistius on EtoBox?
Philosophy and politics in Julian’s Letter to Themistius by Daniel Wolt is a Arts and Humanities article available to read on EtoBox.
What is Philosophy and politics in Julian’s Letter to Themistius about?
Julian's Letter to Themistius is one of our most valuable sources for understanding Julian's political thought. More specifically, it is perhaps our most valuable source for investigating the extent to which Julian's approach to governance was or was not influenced by his philosophical commitments.Here I focus on this question and argue that, understood in its proper intellectual context, the Letter provides us with good reason for thinking that Julian's political philosophy (and the programme that he implemented as emperor) was profoundly influenced by the Platonist tradition. While Julian does distance himself both from the philosopher-king of the Republic and the lawgiver of the Laws, this should not be taken as a wholesale rejection of the possibility of an applied Platonist political philosophy. A standard Platonist doctrine by Julian's time distinguished between not two but three levels of political reform: the divine ideal of the Republic, the second-best state of the Laws, and a third state, arising from reform. A careful reading of the Letter provides support for the idea that Julian aimed at the latter.
Who reads Philosophy and politics in Julian’s Letter to Themistius?
It is typically read by researchers, students, and practitioners in Arts and Humanities.
- Author
- Daniel Wolt
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2023
- Language
- EN
- Field
- Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)