Francesca Alesse, “Socrates’ double notion of nomos in Plato’s Crito”

My presentation focuses on the meaning of ‘law’ that can be drawn from the Crito. I shall attempt to show that from the dialogue between Socrates and Crito and from the dialogue between Socrates and the Laws two meanings of nomos can be obtained, one more explicit and evident, the other less visible but just as important. My purpose is to derive from the Crito, at least to a certain extent, the opinion of the historical Socrates about legal authority and, at the same time, some elements of reflection that prepare the way for the Platonic critique of the written law. In its more evident meaning nomos is the foundation of the social and political body: whatever its normative content, which can vary from state to state, the law exists in order to regulate the life of citizens. In addition to this, a second meaning of nomos emerges, according to which law is a logic and linguistic structure, precisely a discourse stating what should and should not be done, whose truth can be accepted or disputed. The second sense of nomos is particularly problematic for its practical and political consequences, as it makes it possible to resort to the Socratic strategies of persuasion.