Lecture 3: The Capacity of Power
Kratos and dunamis appear as “power” in Plato’s dialogs but they signify differently. Kratos is a practice of mastery, according to which “might makes right.” Dunamis is the individual and collective capacity to do or not to do, a capacity that makes exercises of power of any kind possible. This lecture explores in Gorgias and other dialogs the ethical and political implications of the dialogs’ representations of kratos in terms of dunamis, including for democracy as demokratia.
Date: 10 February 2026, 17:00
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Venue Details: South School
Speaker: Professor Jill Frank (Cornell University)
Organising department: Faculty of History
Part of: Carlyle Lectures in the History of Political Thought 2026: The Shape of Democracy
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Belinda Clark