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Chapter 4 - A City for Pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2020

M. D. Usher
Affiliation:
University of Vermont
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Summary

“A City for Pigs” portrays Plato as a systems modeler of a sustainable society. Plato’s argumentative methods, in the Republic especially, are favorably compared to techniques of computer simulation and to the heuristic objectives of game theory. Plato’s views about social cooperation in the use of common-pool resources, for example, are shown to be strikingly similar to conclusions reached via field studies by Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom in Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (1990). Plato’s own homology, of city and soul, provides a compelling rationale for both individual and collective action vis-à-vis the environmental and social problems we still face today.

Type
Chapter
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Plato's Pigs and Other Ruminations
Ancient Guides to Living with Nature
, pp. 91 - 109
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • A City for Pigs
  • M. D. Usher, University of Vermont
  • Book: Plato's Pigs and Other Ruminations
  • Online publication: 26 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108884518.005
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  • A City for Pigs
  • M. D. Usher, University of Vermont
  • Book: Plato's Pigs and Other Ruminations
  • Online publication: 26 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108884518.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • A City for Pigs
  • M. D. Usher, University of Vermont
  • Book: Plato's Pigs and Other Ruminations
  • Online publication: 26 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108884518.005
Available formats
×