 Another influential aspect of the Laws is its positive evaluation of the nature of law itself as a topic proper to political philosophy. While the Laws shares with the Statesman the notion of law in an isolated and singular sense as being brutish and stubborn compared to expert knowledge, it recommends a “double” notion of law, in which each such command is prefaced with a persuasive account of its rationale, addressed to the citizens, who are expected to read and understand it (719b–723d, and passim). Some scholars have found that to be a distinctively democratic and liberal account of law (Bobonich 2002; see also the entry on  Plato on utopia).  That arguably goes too far in a proceduralist direction, given that the value of law remains its embodiment of reason or understanding (nous), so that while adding persuasive preludes is a better way to exercise the coercive force of law, no agreement on the basis of persuasion could justify laws which departed from the standard of nous (Laks 2005). Nevertheless, the emphasis on law as an embodiment of reason, and as articulating the political ideals of the city in a form that its citizens are to study and internalize (Nightingale 1993b, 1999), is distinctive to this dialogue.