History of Political Thoughts Lecture 3

Prepared by Raizza Corpuz

Objectives

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

2. Introduce students to the idea of state and citizenship

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 law2. A tribal God3. God as the source of political authority4. Bureaucracy (System of Gov’t)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.

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.

Socrates on Politics• no particular beliefs on politics but did

object to democracy, but disliked its Athenian form.

• Basically, he objected to any government that did not run on the basis of his ideas of perfect governance

• His pursuit of virtue and his strict adherence to truth clashed with the course of Athenian politics 

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 justiceb.the right kind of life c.the makeup of the human personalityd.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)

THE REPUBLIC

• main contribution to political science is its sui generis emphasis on the role of ideas, values, and ethics in politics

• Division of LABOR of man

No one has ever surpassed Plato in insisting upon the moral urgency and centrality of

political vision---- Wolin (N.D)

• A state comes into existence because no individual is self-sufficing, we all have many needs.

Aristotle • A cool dispassionate, moderate observer, the

empirical investigator of political institutions and behavior

• He thus created an exhaustive analysis of existing constitutions and political science.

• He believed that change is teleological, movement toward the natural, predetermined end.

• The end of man’s action was happiness, which is achieved by moderation, in its wealth, size, its constitution, and its ruling group.

• The end of the state is self-sufficiency achieved through moderation, in its wealth, size, its constitution, and its ruling group.

• Man and state were linked together • Man was by nature a political animal who

reached perfection and became civilized as a citizen.

• The state was a natural phenomenon to reach man’s end, end to provide good life

Aristotle is concerned with the best form of POLITICAL ASSOCIATION or

CONSTITUTION

• His emphasis was the need for: constitutional stability- to be secured by stable foundation of economic power, by education and breeding-the great virtue of the good polis.

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

Thus, Aristotle

• believed in a government that worked for the common good through realistic means

• attainable and promoted the common good for all citizens through the supremacy of the LAW

• increasing the number of rulers decreases the chances of a virtuous state

POLITEIA• ideal is hard to achieve, and even harder

to sustain the same as Utopian society

• Thus, Aristotle advocated a form of mixed government, or "politeia", in which all citizens "rule and are ruled by turn", and power is monopolized by no particular class.

Politeia • (πολιτεία) is an ancient Greek word used

in Greek political thought, • Derived from the word polis ("city-state"), it

has a range of meanings, from 'the rights of citizens' to a 'form of government'.

The function of the government guarding the

• common interest of the people of the state and helping them with moral and intellectual virtue which is happiness.

ARISTOTLE

• His emphasis was the need for constitutional stability- to be secured by stable foundation of economic power, by education and breeding-the great virtue of the good polis.

REFERENCES

The Great Political Theories Volume 1.

M. Curtis, 1981 P. 22-101