Edward M. Harris
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199899166
- eISBN:
- 9780199369690
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199899166.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter begins with an analysis of Aristotle's discussion of epieikeia. It shows that epieikeia is not an appeal to a higher standard of justice above the written law but applies only in unusual ...
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This chapter begins with an analysis of Aristotle's discussion of epieikeia. It shows that epieikeia is not an appeal to a higher standard of justice above the written law but applies only in unusual circumstances that could not have been anticipated by the legislator who had to formulate a general rule. When a litigant used an argument based on epieikeia, he was not asking the court to reject the written law but was demonstrating that his case was an exception to the general rule contained in a statute and that in his specific case other legal considerations should take precedence. The second part of the chapter examines several passages in which litigants in Athenian courts use the arguments that Aristotle gives as examples of arguments from epieikeia. Several cases where Athenian judges acquitted defendants for reasons of epieikeia are also considered.Less
This chapter begins with an analysis of Aristotle's discussion of epieikeia. It shows that epieikeia is not an appeal to a higher standard of justice above the written law but applies only in unusual circumstances that could not have been anticipated by the legislator who had to formulate a general rule. When a litigant used an argument based on epieikeia, he was not asking the court to reject the written law but was demonstrating that his case was an exception to the general rule contained in a statute and that in his specific case other legal considerations should take precedence. The second part of the chapter examines several passages in which litigants in Athenian courts use the arguments that Aristotle gives as examples of arguments from epieikeia. Several cases where Athenian judges acquitted defendants for reasons of epieikeia are also considered.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226405094
- eISBN:
- 9780226405117
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226405117.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter examines legal decision making in ancient Greece. It considers how the active, judging role of the audience in Athenian courts and assemblies has been obscured by the reduction of ...
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This chapter examines legal decision making in ancient Greece. It considers how the active, judging role of the audience in Athenian courts and assemblies has been obscured by the reduction of rhetoric to persuasion and describes how elite and ordinary Athenians negotiated their class interests through ideology in rhetorical contexts. This chapter argues that a generalized trust in the system preceded and established trust in specific speakers and explains that rhetoric constituted relationships among citizens that were abstract, impersonal, and powerful.Less
This chapter examines legal decision making in ancient Greece. It considers how the active, judging role of the audience in Athenian courts and assemblies has been obscured by the reduction of rhetoric to persuasion and describes how elite and ordinary Athenians negotiated their class interests through ideology in rhetorical contexts. This chapter argues that a generalized trust in the system preceded and established trust in specific speakers and explains that rhetoric constituted relationships among citizens that were abstract, impersonal, and powerful.
Steven Johnstone
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226405094
- eISBN:
- 9780226405117
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226405117.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
An enormous amount of literature exists on Greek law, economics, and political philosophy. Yet no one has written a history of trust, one of the most fundamental aspects of social and economic ...
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An enormous amount of literature exists on Greek law, economics, and political philosophy. Yet no one has written a history of trust, one of the most fundamental aspects of social and economic interaction in the ancient world. This volume explores the way democracy and markets flourished in ancient Greece, not so much through personal relationships as through trust in abstract systems—including money, standardized measurement, rhetoric, and haggling. Focusing on markets and democratic politics, the book draws on speeches given in Athenian courts, histories of Athenian democracy, comic writings, and laws inscribed on stone to examine how these systems worked. It analyzes their potentials and limitations and how the Greeks understood and critiqued them. The book links Greek political, economic, social, and intellectual history and examines contemporary analyses of trust and civil society.Less
An enormous amount of literature exists on Greek law, economics, and political philosophy. Yet no one has written a history of trust, one of the most fundamental aspects of social and economic interaction in the ancient world. This volume explores the way democracy and markets flourished in ancient Greece, not so much through personal relationships as through trust in abstract systems—including money, standardized measurement, rhetoric, and haggling. Focusing on markets and democratic politics, the book draws on speeches given in Athenian courts, histories of Athenian democracy, comic writings, and laws inscribed on stone to examine how these systems worked. It analyzes their potentials and limitations and how the Greeks understood and critiqued them. The book links Greek political, economic, social, and intellectual history and examines contemporary analyses of trust and civil society.
