Plato on the Evaluation of Images

In Laws II, 669a-b, the Athenian identifies music as a representational (eikastikê) art, and argues that there are three criteria that a wise judge must recognize in order to pronounce such a work to be (kalon): what it is that it is correctly (orthôs) rendered that it is well (eu) rendered. These criteria are not well understood. The third, in particular, is widely misinterpreted as expressing the requirement that the images produced by such arts be morally appropriate. On the contrary, I argue that what counts as being “well worked” in the relevant sense is explained in the immediately following passage (669b5-670b7), which requires that the harmonies and rhythms in a choral work be compatible with each other and with the melodies (mele) and gestures (schêmata) that are set in those structures. Thus we may conclude that being “well worked… in (alt: “by”) words, songs, and rhythms” in the third criterion is a matter of such internal consistency—a supposition confirmed by the Athenian’s identification of expertise at assessing such rhythmic and harmonious appropriateness as the specialized competence of the Dionysian chorus at 670b8-671a1. We might call such internal consistency in a work of art its “integrity.” The three things the wise judge of art must know are therefore (1) what is the object of representation; (2) how accurately the work of art represents it; and (3) how well suited the media of representation are to the subject matter represented

Plato on the Evaluation of Images

In Laws II, 669a-b, the Athenian identifies music as a representational (eikastikê) art, and argues that there are three criteria that a wise judge must recognize in order to pronounce such a work to be (kalon): what it is that it is correctly (orthôs) rendered that it is well (eu) rendered. These criteria are not well understood. The third, in particular, is widely misinterpreted as expressing the requirement that the images produced by such arts be morally appropriate. On the contrary, I argue that what counts as being “well worked” in the relevant sense is explained in the immediately following passage (669b5-670b7), which requires that the harmonies and rhythms in a choral work be compatible with each other and with the melodies (mele) and gestures (schêmata) that are set in those structures. Thus we may conclude that being “well worked… in (alt: “by”) words, songs, and rhythms” in the third criterion is a matter of such internal consistency—a supposition confirmed by the Athenian’s identification of expertise at assessing such rhythmic and harmonious appropriateness as the specialized competence of the Dionysian chorus at 670b8-671a1. We might call such internal consistency in a work of art its “integrity.” The three things the wise judge of art must know are therefore (1) what is the object of representation; (2) how accurately the work of art represents it; and (3) how well suited the media of representation are to the subject matter represented

Mechanism for the Hydrolysis of a Sulfur-Sulfur Bond Based on the Crystal Structure of the Thiosulfohydrolase SoxB*

SoxB is an essential component of the bacterial Sox sulfur oxidation pathway. SoxB contains a di-manganese(II) site and is proposed to catalyze the release of sulfate from a protein-bound cysteine S-thiosulfonate. A direct assay for SoxB activity is described. The structure of recombinant Thermus thermophilus SoxB was determined by x-ray crystallography to a resolution of 1.5 Å. Structures were also determined for SoxB in complex with the substrate analogue thiosulfate and in complex with the product sulfate. A mechanistic model for SoxB is proposed based on these structures