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. Kings as divinely inspired

2. Checks and balances through divinity

3. Citizens: Loyalty = Piety

B. Hammurabi’s Code (1750 BCE): Political Philosophy?

A. The Code Itself: 282 Laws for Babylonia

B. Social context: Separation of King and Divinity (Oaths to both King and God)

C. General principles behind the laws (implied, not explicit)

1. King’s legitimacy derives from being the purveyor of justice (Code as justification), possible divine mandate

2. King’s actions must be just – no pardon without private forgiveness

3. Three classes of citizens with different rights: aristocrats, landless, slaves

4. 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. Greeks credit Egypt for inspiration2. Naturalists: Focused on physical science and nature of souls:

mundane concerns of human relations received little attention3. The Physis-Nomos distinction

a. Physis – Universal and timeless realityb. Nomos – Customs that may changec. Which is good governance? Depends on philosopher…

4. Influences on Platoa. 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. Peers: Yes – Skepticism, emphasis on

debate, practical knowledge

2. 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 anti-Persian 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 IdeologiesA. 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