Transcript Slide 1

Ancient Political
Philosophy
Why do we study Greece?
I. Origins of Political Philosophy
A. Religious justifications prior to 600 BCE –
Egypt, Israel, India, Mesopotamia
1.
2.
3.
Kings as divinely inspired
Checks and balances through divinity
Citizens: Loyalty = Piety
B. Hammurabi’s Code (1750 BCE):
Political Philosophy?
A.
B.
C.
The Code Itself: 282 Laws for Babylonia
Social context: Separation of King and Divinity (Oaths
to both King and God)
General principles behind the laws (implied, not
explicit)
1.
2.
3.
4.
King’s legitimacy derives from being the purveyor of
justice (Code as justification), possible divine mandate
King’s actions must be just – no pardon without private
forgiveness
Three classes of citizens with different rights:
aristocrats, landless, slaves
No absolute rulership: Not all citizens are slaves; king
has limited power
C. What about China?
 6th-2nd Centuries BCE: Flourishing of Chinese moral
philosophy






Taoism: Virtue from genuineness; being from mystery.
Generally interpreted as anti-political
Yin-Yang School: Need for balance in life (i.e.
reason/intuition). Skeptical of formal logic.
Confucianism: Emphasizes filial piety, need for good behavior
without laws (relies on ritual to internalize shame)
Mohism: Consequentialist morality emphasizing need for
authoritative rule from above. Heaven will punish
wrongdoers. Eventually loses out to Confucianism.
Legalist School: How people can best be controlled by laws
(opponents of Confucianism)
School of Names: Concerned with use of language to
produce logically-correct inferences. Mostly lost, dismissed
by other schools.
Characteristics of Ancient Chinese
Philosophy
 Naturalistic focus: Tends towards description
of the underlying substance or forces in the
universe (analogous to pre-Sophists like
Thales)
 Political implications are scattered throughout
– few if any treatises on political life generally.
Reflects belief that personal and political are
identical (i.e. filial piety, harmony)
 Many schools that did emphasize political life
survive only in brief fragments (Mohism)
D. The Pre-Socratics of Greece: Antecedents of
Western Political Philosophy
1.
2.
3.
4.
Greeks credit Egypt for inspiration
Naturalists: Focused on physical science and nature of souls:
mundane concerns of human relations received little attention
The Physis-Nomos distinction
a.
Physis – Universal and timeless reality
b.
Nomos – Customs that may change
c.
Which is good governance? Depends on philosopher…
Influences on Plato
a.
Parmenides: Parmenides argued that reality must be
timeless and changeless.  Plato: True knowledge is
knowledge of the timeless and unchanging.
b.
Heraclitus: Nothing is permanent in the sensible world. 
Plato: We cannot get knowledge of the timeless and
unchanging truths by using our senses alone.
4. The Sophists: Practical Advice for
Wealthy Boys Entering Politics
a. Skepticism -- Good arguments on both sides of
every issue (rejection of divine truth)
b. General question: preservation of virtue – Can
virtue be taught? (Implication: Will transition
from aristocracy to democracy lead to disaster?)
c. Sophists generally said virtue was nomos,
subject to change whenever law and society
changed.
II. From Sophism to Socrates
A. Was Socrates a Sophist?
1.
2.
Peers: Yes – Skepticism, emphasis on
debate, practical knowledge
Plato: No – Denial, no charge, emphasis on
timeless truth, no claim to be a teacher
B. Socrates in Athenian History
1.

Background
594 BCE: Solon founds Athenian democracy



“Democracy” in Athens = landed slave-owners
monopolizing power. Agrarian interests predominate
over urban or peasant ones. Athenian population
peaks at 300,000 – one of the largest cities in the
world. 50,000 can vote.
546-508: Tyranny returns. Democracy restored.
Sophism becomes important for success
490 – 480 BCE: Persian Wars. Athens sacked, but
Greeks ultimately win. Athens is one city-state
among many, but exerts leadership over antiPersian coalition
2. Athens During the Life of Socrates:
Socrates Chooses Life of Philosophy




469: Socrates born; Athens becoming increasingly
imperialistic
461-445: First Peloponnesian War. Pericles leads
Athenian “democracy” into war against Sparta.
440s: Socrates criticizes values of everyday citizens.
Often viewed as a harmless crank by others. Marries but
lives in poverty, supported by charity from students
Athenian population peaks at 300,000 – one of the
largest cities in the world. 50,000 can vote.
3. The Socratic Method
 Socratic Method- asking questions and offering
counterexamples in a manner which ultimately leads
the other person to reach the right (or at least a
better) conclusion.


Philosopher as “gadfly” (to prick at complacently held
prejudice, and ill founded opinion) or “midwife” (to help
others to give birth to truth, by asking the right
questions to help them to figure out what the answer
might be).
Socrates opposes written philosophy! He wrote
nothing, because paper can’t talk back and question
the reader. That’s what this class is for.
4. Athens During the Life of Socrates:
From Crank to Dangerous Subversive
 431-404: Second Peloponnesian War. Socrates




serves in battle early in the war, but falls under
suspicion when Alcibiades (student/lover of Socrates)
betrays Athens and joins the Spartans, later launches
coup.
404: Athens loses. Occupation, tyranny follow – with
the aid of some of Socrates’ students. Socrates
never criticizes the “Thirty Tyrants,” who execute
many Athenians.
403: Democracy restored. Some Tyrants executed
but amnesty decree prevents further revenge.
401: Failed attempt to reimpose authoritarian rule.
399: Socrates convicted (vote: 28 to 22) and
executed (vote: 36 to 14!) for impiety and corrupting
the youth of Athens.
5. The Socratic Moment
 12-15 Socratics began publishing Socratic dialogues:
 Nearly 200 books with more than 300 dialogues written
in a few decades
 Nearly ever Athenian philosopher acknowledges
Socrates’ influence – virtually no other books published
on philosophy
 Shift in philosophy from demonstrating theses to
critically examining common beliefs – Socratic
dialogues often end up “proving” nothing positive on
the surface
 For an entire century, Greek philosophy is almost
entirely composed of pupils of Socrates or pupils of his
pupils!
III. Plato’s Republic
A. Plato’s world: Born in 427, sees nothing but war,
epidemic, social collapse for 23 years.
 409-404: Intermittent military service; Becomes
student of Socrates
 404: Several of Plato’s relatives join Thirty Tyrants,
offer Plato a seat. Regime collapses before Plato
decides. Plato’s relatives are executed.
 399: Watches as Socrates tried and executed.
Plato flees Athens, returning in 388
 388: Plato founds Academy; admits women
 375: Plato writes The Republic at age 52.
B. Socrates is a character in The Republic. Unclear if
Socrates’ views actually represented
C. Reading Plato
 Meiutic method: Philosophical dialogue aims
to help people to give birth to their own ideas,
not simply to persuade others or provide
them with information.
 Plato vs. Socrates:


Plato often uses dialogue form, but many of
them aren’t “real” dialogues
Republic: After Book I, most characters
reduced to “Oh, of course, Socrates” and “All
can see you are correct, Socrates!” Seldom
any real challenges to Socrates.
D. Significance of Plato
 “All of Western philosophy consists of
footnotes to Plato” (A.N. Whitehead)
 Machiavelli, Letter to Vettori from 1513

Claim: Reading Plato is not just an exercise in
intellectual archaeology. Plato’s project is a
continuing project, a continuous conversation
that has been taking place for more than 2000
years. You enter here into a very old tradition!
IV. Ancient Origins of Modern
Ideologies
A. Communism: Most people ascribe Marxism to Marx.
But communism was defended by Plato, and
Rousseau was even used to justify the regime of Pol
Pot!
B. Liberalism: Liberal notions of democracy are founded
on the individualist approaches of Hobbes and Locke,
the emphasis of Rousseau on popular sovereignty,
and the social contract approach of all three
C. Fascism: The nationalism of Rousseau and elitism of
Plat were used to justify fascist and theocratic
regimes (Ayatollah Khomeini was influenced by The
Republic)
D. Conservatism: The most convincing
case for ancient influence
 Modern conservatism often traces its roots to
Burke, who wrote most of his material just
before and after 1789.
 But many of Burke’s own ideas have deeper
roots, and different variants of modern
conservatism have different foundations in
ancient and early modern political theory.


No Plato, No Aristotle
No Aristotle, No Burke