Freedom,ethical choice and the Hellenistic polis

ABSTRACT

This paper examines ideas of individual freedom in the Hellenistic city-states (c. 323–31 BCE). It concentrates on the civic ideas expressed in the laws and decrees of Hellenistic cities, inscribed on stone, comparing them with Hellenistic historical and philosophical works. It places different Hellenistic approaches alongside modern liberal, neo-Roman republican and civic humanist theories of individual liberty, finding some overlaps with each of those modern approaches. The argument is that the Hellenistic Greeks developed innovative ways of combining demanding ideals of civic virtue and the common good with equally robust ideals of individual freedom and ethical choice. They did so not least by adapting and developing traditional Greek approaches close to modern civic humanism, in ways very relevant to modern debates about how to reconcile civic duty, the common good and pluralism.     

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE?*

This article examines the potential future of the U.S. environmental justice movement in a time of economic uncertainty, increasing inequality, and an ascendant white right. It traces the origins of “whiteness” as a historically contingent concept within American history and its relationship to current politics in general and the politics of the environment in particular. It reviews the emergence of research, public concern, and action over the linkage between environmental pollution, race, and class. After offering a critique of the contrary empirical findings of academic researchers, the article identifies two roads for future work in the field, and their potential pitfalls.