Jacob Abolafia
Biographic Data
| ID | 4125089 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jacob Abolafia |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jacob |
| FAMILY NAME | Abolafia |
| SIGNATURE | ABOLAFIA J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ben-Gurion University of the Negev |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8782-6395 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 8 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Democracy against liberalism and the punishment of elite deviance
This Article examines the tension between liberalism and democracy in the context of elite accountability, arguing that the liberal-democratic project faces a legitimacy crisis partly due to its failure to effectively hold political and economic elites accountable. The Article contrasts classical democratic approaches to elite accountability with the liberal-constitutional framework that emerged in the 18th century. While liberal political though…
No Shame Without Divine Necessity
Plato’s Laws devotes considerable attention to heterodox ‘impious’ criminals. Why are these criminals so worrisome for Plato’s Cretan city? Using evidence from both Plato and Euripides’ Hippolytus , this paper investigates why Plato might have thought that religious heterodoxy was so dangerous. The answer lies in the interaction between religious practice and the prevailing ‘shame culture’ that characterized the moral economy of polis -life. Whil…
Thinking Poetically and Thinking Politically—Arendt, Benjamin, Heidegger, and Arendt's Benjamin
Prison Abolitionism and the Liberal Imagination
One of the most controversial political demands to emerge from the mass protests of the summer of 2020 was the abolition of police departments and prisons. This review article takes stock of the rationale behind prison abolitionism and of the philosopher Tommie Shelby's The Idea of Prison Abolition, a recent effort to initiate a dialogue between Angela Davis, the intellectual vanguard of contemporary abolitionists, and Shelby's own style of liber…
The Prison before the Panopticon
A pioneering history of incarceration in Western political thought. The prison as we know it is a relatively new institution, established on a large scale in Europe and the United States only during the Enlightenment. Ideas and arguments about penal incarceration, however, long predate its widespread acceptance as a practice. The Prison before the Panopticon argues that debates over imprisonment are as old as Western political philosophy itself. …
Plato and the mythic tradition in political thought
The role of the word 'myth' in contemporary political discourse appears to be fairly straightforward: to call something a 'myth' (e.g., 'the Lost Cause,' 'the steal,' 'the stab in the back,' 'the fallen cherry tree,' 'racial superiority,' 'computer chips in vaccines,' 'There was so much love at that [January 6th] rally') is usually to call it a
Plato's Theory of Incarceration
In addition to its many famous innovations in popular government, the Athenian democracy seems to have also experimented with another, more ambivalent political institution familiar to modern societies—penal incarceration. In recent years, there has been renewed debate over the precise role of imprisonment in Athens, as an increasing number of voices, including Marcus Folch in this volume, make the case that imprisonment was an important point of…
Solar Theology and Civil Religion in Plato’s Laws
How is a legislator to harness the positive cohesive power of religion without falling prey to a charge of hypocrisy? As with so many theoretical puzzles, it was Plato who first recognized this paradox of civil religion. Consequently, the multi-tiered religion he proposes in the Laws should be understood as western thought’s first attempt to solve this problem. At the centre of the Laws stands a single icon – the sun – that fits within both the O…
Solar Theology and Civil Religion in Plato’s Laws
How is a legislator to harness the positive cohesive power of religion without falling prey to a charge of hypocrisy? As with so many theoretical puzzles, it was Plato who first recognized this paradox of civil religion. Consequently, the multi-tiered religion he proposes in the Laws should be understood as western thought’s first attempt to solve this problem. At the centre of the Laws stands a single icon – the sun – that fits within both the O…
Solar Theology and Civil Religion in Plato’s Laws
How is a legislator to harness the positive cohesive power of religion without falling prey to a charge of hypocrisy? As with so many theoretical puzzles, it was Plato who first recognized this paradox of civil religion. Consequently, the multi-tiered religion he proposes in the Laws should be understood as western thought’s first attempt to solve this problem. At the centre of the Laws stands a single icon – the sun – that fits within both the O…
Plato's Theory of Incarceration
In addition to its many famous innovations in popular government, the Athenian democracy seems to have also experimented with another, more ambivalent political institution familiar to modern societies—penal incarceration. In recent years, there has been renewed debate over the precise role of imprisonment in Athens, as an increasing number of voices, including Marcus Folch in this volume, make the case that imprisonment was an important point of…
Plato and the mythic tradition in political thought
The role of the word 'myth' in contemporary political discourse appears to be fairly straightforward: to call something a 'myth' (e.g., 'the Lost Cause,' 'the steal,' 'the stab in the back,' 'the fallen cherry tree,' 'racial superiority,' 'computer chips in vaccines,' 'There was so much love at that [January 6th] rally') is usually to call it a
Prison Abolitionism and the Liberal Imagination
One of the most controversial political demands to emerge from the mass protests of the summer of 2020 was the abolition of police departments and prisons. This review article takes stock of the rationale behind prison abolitionism and of the philosopher Tommie Shelby's The Idea of Prison Abolition, a recent effort to initiate a dialogue between Angela Davis, the intellectual vanguard of contemporary abolitionists, and Shelby's own style of liber…
The Prison before the Panopticon
A pioneering history of incarceration in Western political thought. The prison as we know it is a relatively new institution, established on a large scale in Europe and the United States only during the Enlightenment. Ideas and arguments about penal incarceration, however, long predate its widespread acceptance as a practice. The Prison before the Panopticon argues that debates over imprisonment are as old as Western political philosophy itself. …
Democracy against liberalism and the punishment of elite deviance
This Article examines the tension between liberalism and democracy in the context of elite accountability, arguing that the liberal-democratic project faces a legitimacy crisis partly due to its failure to effectively hold political and economic elites accountable. The Article contrasts classical democratic approaches to elite accountability with the liberal-constitutional framework that emerged in the 18th century. While liberal political though…
No Shame Without Divine Necessity
Plato’s Laws devotes considerable attention to heterodox ‘impious’ criminals. Why are these criminals so worrisome for Plato’s Cretan city? Using evidence from both Plato and Euripides’ Hippolytus , this paper investigates why Plato might have thought that religious heterodoxy was so dangerous. The answer lies in the interaction between religious practice and the prevailing ‘shame culture’ that characterized the moral economy of polis -life. Whil…
Thinking Poetically and Thinking Politically—Arendt, Benjamin, Heidegger, and Arendt's Benjamin
Political science (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Criminology (3 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (2 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (2 works)