Papers in English
2023
Plato in the Laws proposes a simulation of nearly ideal conditions regarding the experts’ persuasion and observes that even in these circumstances some citizens will not agree with the epistemic authorities. In this paper, such situations are labelled as exhibiting persistent dissent. Plato maintains that persistent dissenters lack the virtue of sōphrosynē, but its meaning is notoriously difficult to decipher. This paper offers to examine the role of sōphrosynē in tackling persistent dissent in light of Plato’s reflections on civic participation. This angle will not only uncover the epistemic aspect of sōphrosynē that lays the groundwork for persuasion, but it will also give a less optimistic assessment of the civic theory of the Laws, whilst simultaneously widening our own understanding of the range of disagreements between the experts and the non-experts and the difficulties in removing them.
2022
This chapter explores the classical Greek texts that lay the conceptual foundation for the Greek notions of sea power. I shall argue that for the Greek authors sea power embodies broader principles of expansionism and mobility, which are bound to threaten the stability of the existing political order and lead to either a catastrophic subversion of it or a creation of a new utopian arrangement. At their core, the Greek notions of sea power mediate between a profound transformation of political sphere and a conspicuous challenge to the good life of citizens.
2021
This paper examines moral virtues and cult practice in Plato’s Laws. It explores the symposium and the chorus and their potential to provide a recognisable cultural setting, in which the Magnesian citizens can test their responses to pleasurable and painful experiences and thus train their moral virtues. The challenge to this reading is to explain what additional input to moral habituation is provided by the religious aspect of these institutions. This paper draws attention to the relationship between the people and the patron gods of the respective institutions. It argues that the cult practices are designed to reflect the virtuous character of the traditional gods, who serve as the ethical role models for the worshipers. In this way, the worship of the traditional gods not only facilitates moral progress by exemplifying the objective of virtuous life, but also gives an egalitarian version of the ideal of godlikeness to its citizens.
Papers in Lithuanian
2023
Straipsnyje analizuojamas vėlyvasis Platono pilietinio dalyvavimo modelis santykyje su šiuolai-kine pilietine teorija. Straipsnyje teigiama, kad nors platoniškasis modelis atitinka tokius įprastus pilietinėms teorijoms kriterijus kaip lygybė, autonomija ir įgalinimas, esminė sąvoka norint suprasti šį projektą yra nuosai-kumas. Būtent nuosaikumas struktūruoja ir vienija skirtingus šio modelio sudedamuosius elementus (įstatymų valdymas, preambulių įtikinimas, įgalinanti ekonomika ir švietimas) bei paaiškina, kokia yra esminė asmeninė dispozicija norint pasiekti stabilios ir racionalios politinės tvarkos.
2022
Vėlyvojo laikotarpio Platono etikoje pagrindinis asmeninio tobulėjimo iššūkis yra sielos netvarkingos mintys ir netvarkingi judesiai. Tokią netvarką siūloma taisyti mąstant ir atkartojant kosminių dievų tvarkingas mintis ir judesius. Straipsnyje nagrinėjamos Platono etikos teorinės prielaidos. Nuodugni dialogo Timajas analizė atskleidžia savitą matematikos koncepciją, pagal kurią skaičiai ir jų santykiai ne tik parodo realybės faktus, bet kartu išreiškia vertybes ir idealus. Mokydamiesi matematikos, žmonės pažįsta kosminių dievų etinę kasdienybę ir tampa kaip šie dievai
2021
This article examines the anthropological premises of Alvydas Jokubaitis’ philosophy. The earlier works are based on the conception of human beings as political animals, an anthropological theory, according to which humans are naturally social beings inclined to act in the public space. The latest book, A Political Idiot, is based on a new anthropological theory, according to which humans are apolitical (or idiotic) animals, who cannot reveal their personalities in the public space and social roles. This article explains the turn from the earlier anthropological optimism to the later anthropological pessimism as a theoretical answer to a particular issue concerning the nature of unsuccessful practical actions. However, the article also argues that this turn also marks a new tension in Jokubaitis’ philosophy, since the two anthropologies establish different visions of morality and the political. The first vision follows a classical conception of morality and the Schmittian distinction between the friends and enemies, while the latter vision develops a personalist view of ethics and prioritises the category of the enemy. This tension cannot be resolved in the current works of Jokubaitis and so the two different conceptions of human nature allow us to classify his works into the early period and the later period.
2019
Šiame straipsnyje apžvelgsime standartines Platono pasakojimo apie Atlantidą interpretacijas. Straipsnio tikslas – įvardyti, kaip konkretūs tyrėjų sprendimai dėl dialogo veikėjų tikslų, pasakotojo intencijų, Atlantidos pasakojimo žanro ir siužeto plėtotės duoda pagrindą įvairioms politinio skaitymo galimybėms. Taip atskleisime draminės sąrangos įtaką politinės minties raiškai. Straipsnyje teigiama, kad Kritijo sąveika su Sokratu ir Timaju geriausiai paaiškina, kodėl dviejose Kritijo kalbose daugiausia dėmesio skiriama valstybių atsiradimo klausimui.
2019
Šis straipsnis nagrinėja VIII–IV a. pr. Kr. antikinio politinio mąstymo diskursus. Šio periodo autorių, svarsčiusių apie politinius klausimus, analizė rodo, kad antikinį politinį mąstymą galima skirstyti į tris diskursus: politinę mintį, politinę teoriją ir politinę filosofiją. Straipsnio tikslas – apibrėžti trijų diskursų savitumus, juos iliustruojant konkrečiais istoriniais pavyzdžiais, rodančiais minėtų diskursų santykį su graikų politinėmis patirtimis ir atskleidžiančiais, kaip vyko politinės minties transformacija į teoriją ir filosofiją.
Graduate Papers
2015
Šiame straipsnyje nagrinėjama religijos ir pamaldumo reikšmė Platono politinėje ir etinėje mintyje, aptinkamoje dialoge Įstatymai. Aptariant šiuolaikinę literatūrą pastebima, kad tyrinėtojai yra vis labiau linkę telktis ties Platono vėlyvąja etika, praleisdami religijos klausimą. Tačiau dialogo kertinių politinių naratyvų aptarimas atskleidžia, kad religija užima svarbią vietą Platono teorijoje. Tolesnė analizė rodo, kad Platonas savo paskutiniajame darbe permąsto religijos ir pamaldumo reikšmę. Viena vertus, jis polemizuoja su tradicinėmis graikų idėjomis apie pamaldumą, siūlydamas būdą, kaip sujungti performatyvaus ir racionalaus dievotumo tipus. Be to, pamaldumas yra įtraukiamas į dorybių etiką, suteikiant jam struktūriškai svarbų vaidmenį etikoje. Taip aiškėja, kad pamaldumas yra viena iš esminių idėjų mąstant apie Magnesijos projektą dialoge Įstatymai.
2014
The paper explores Plato’s Statesman in the perspective of its philosophical unity and autonomy. The relevance of this approach arises from the problem posed by the traditional readings of the Statesman – the developmental and unitarian. Both methods interpret the Statesman in the context of Plato’s major political dialogues of, the Republic and the Laws, thus preventing the exposing of the internal theoretical coherence of the dialogue. Hence this paper focuses on the analysis of the main political themes of the dialogue – conflict, statesmanship, and political knowledge – and their relations to each other. By discussing the emergence of the political and its importance for conceptualizing political practice, as well as by indicating the structural elements of statesmanship, the author of the paper argues that the Statesman contains a coherent and internally completed political theory.
2014
This paper analyses the role of expertise (technē) in Plato’s Statesman. We argue that expertise is one of the central notions in the dialogue, which pervades the conception of political action and human condition in general. In the Statesman humans are understood as technological animals, whose being is in the constant state of conflict. However, the expertises do not overcome the political conflict, but stimulate it even more by competing for political power. One of the activities of statesmanship is to manage and control the conflict of expertises by ordering their functions, using them for communal good and regulating them by the means of disciplinary expertises. In such way statesmanship reveals as an expertise itself. The foundation for statesman’s expertise is his theoretical knowledge, which gives the understanding about the evolvement of the conflict of expertises and about the required solutions for political faction.
2014
The paper argues that the distinction between the pre-political and the political in the form of the household and the state is essential to the understanding of Aristotle’s communal projects. The analysis with the help of this distinction reveals the structure and principles of Aristotelian communal projects and removes tensions, which are rooted in different and frequently incompatible statements of Aristotle. In the course of the paper, it is showed that the household and the state can be defined as separate and yet interdependent communities and how these definitions affect the understanding of concrete constitutional communities.