Lecture 6: Democratic Form
This lecture draws together the findings of the first five lectures to paint a different picture from the rationalist, transcendentalist, idealist, and universalist depiction of “Plato’s Theory of Forms” that dominates the history of political thought. Analyzing the co-implications of eidos, usually translated as “Form,” with eidos as a “look” or “shape” grasped by the senses, the lecture develops an account of democratic form that inhabits the spaces of opinion, appearance, and practice explored in the preceding lectures.
Date: 3 March 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