History of Political Thought Lecture 3: THE GREEKS

History of Political Thoughts Lecture 3

Prepared by Raizza Corpuz

The GreeksSection 1 : M. Curtis

Prepared by Raizza P. Corpuz

• Political Philosophy began in Greeks.

• Important civilizations: Egyptian, Hebrew, Persian, Hittite

• Greek science owes a considerable debt to Babylonia.

The Fragments in Political Nature and Political Problems:

1. Written code of law

2. A tribal God

3. God as the source of political authority

4. Bureaucracy

5. The nature of the absolute ruler or despot (there are no systematic or exhaustive expositions).

• Politics was inseparable from life in the polis, a city possessing common habits, military strength, a myth of its origin, its own God and religion and citizens.

• The Athens had a great art and literature• The Academy and Lyceum- put great

stress in education and proclaimed the value of government, its history of military aggression and intolerance, and economic based slavery.

• The polis contained a community, the sole source of authority, dedicated the purpose of achieving good life.

HOW TO ACHIEVE A GOOD LIFE?

• Through individual participation in communal affairs, a duty the individual voluntarily accepted and which was desirable both for the community and for its own development.

OBJECTION:

• the creation of social balance and harmony, which meant not totalitarian control but a reconciliation of individual differences need to end anarchy.

• The best kind of self-realization and society was the goal: doing well or living well was the aim of inquiry and action.

• Politics, therefore, became a proper subject of inquiry, a process concerned with the meaning of:

nomos- law and custom- and with the wisdom of social organization.

Sophocles• Antigone (441B.C) written by Sophocles

an immortal drama, the order of the ruler Creon forbidding the burial of Polyneices is defied by his niece named ANTIGONE.

• It is a timeless drama, the discussion about the problem of disobedience by an individual of the state and its ruler and the effect of that disobedience on the parties involved.

What is the importance of the

immortal drama?1. The play embodies conflict between

opposing points of view and principles on a number of basic issues confronting all political systems.

2. The issue of the nature of law and justice.

3. Differences exists between the claims of divine law and the unwritten laws of God and natural law and laws made by the existing rulers

4. The expression of individual conscience and will conflicts with the demands of the ruler

5. The ties of blood relationships are opposed to the impersonal loyalty to the state.

6. The struggle exists between men and women, and between young and older people.

Sophists

• The first important group of political thinkers

• The teachers who created subjects by inventing definitions and concepts, and who were paid for teaching them.

• Not endowed with university chairs, not attached with a particular culture or polis.

• They traveled every where to deliver their lectures, helping their students to practical success.

• Versatile in their interests, they introduces cosmopolitanism, skepticism, and free thinking, education for all and academic freedom

• They taught Sophia, the wisdom, knowledge and skill is necessary conduct

• The important thing of all is the study of MAN• According to Protagoras “man is the measure

of all things”• According to Gorgias, the proper study of

mankind is Man• Gorgias, Protagoras, Prodicus, Hippias, and

Trasymachus

Ideal State and Model CItIzenS: anCIent GreeCe

and ItS PhIloSoPherS:

SoCrateS, Plato, and arIStotle.

Socrates (470-399 B.C)

• Known for being a drinker and his love of inquiry

• He wrote nothing himself

• For Plato: Socrates was the great example of intellectual prepared to discuss , the man always prepared to discuss, the professor who sought not to profess, the teacher who refused to indoctrinate, who aimed to make men THINK.

• His method is through dialectical process of question and answer. (Q and A)

• He criticized the Sophists as a group for professing false knowledge, in not penetrating sufficiently the significance of the subjects they were treating.

PLATO• The greatness of the teacher is best

shown by the caliber of his students

• Student of Socrates an Aristocratic Athenian (427-347 B.C)

• Founder of the 1st college, the Academy in 388, the first systematic political theorist

• Plato was the founder of the first college, The Academy, in 388 and was a student of Socrates

• concerned himself with fundamental questions like:

a.the meaning of justice

b.the right kind of life

c.the makeup of the human personality

d.the purpose of political association.

• describes the state as necessary to meet the needs of every individual.

• believed the Athenian ideal of all citizens being involved in politics was ineffective; he believed ruling was a craft needing a group of trained rulers.

• believed that wisdom in the state is vital, and that wisdom comes from those who lead.

• thought that elders (Guardians) should have authority and does what is best for the state, with younger men “auxiliaries” to enforce the rules of the elders.

• Guardians should have no earthly possessions and should live in a communal fashion, sharing meals together.

• Guardians should not have wives either, and upon the finding of a Guardian to have more than he should then he shall be sent back to the general population.

The three elements of the soul

1.Courage-warrior

2.Reason-ruler

3.Appetite - referring to satisfaction of physical desires) (laborer)

Objectives

1. Introduce students to Greek political philosophy and evolution of politics

2. Introduce students to the idea of state and citizenship

Aristotle’s Politics

• Man is a political animal : – Highest form of human fellowship is in the

state

• Three good forms of constitution:– Monarchy NOT tyranny– Aristocracy NOT oligarchy– Polity (Democracy) NOT mob

Zoon Politikon – Man is a Political Animal