The aim of this paper is investigating some implications of Cornelius Castoriadis’ thought in the field of legal philosophy. In particular, the analysis will deal with the classical topic of the distinction between government by laws and government by men. To this purpose, it could be useful to retrace Castoriadis’ re-thinking of Plato’s Stateman, where the Greek philosopher talked about the first and the second sailing. These categories are crucial also to understand the project of autonomy developed by Castoriadis, bearing in mind that autonomy in this sense does not mean “anomie” or lack of any norms; conversely, according to Castoriadis, autonomy has the sense of give to oneself one’s laws or rather, “to make one’s laws, knowing that one is doing so”.
