Unit 2: Political Thought in Ancient Greece and Rome

Introductıon

The ancient Greece and Rome are home to the birth of the western political thought despite some earlier examples from Mesopotamia and Egypt.

In Greece, the establishment of polis was the starting point for political thought because cities needed a sort of social structure and order. Two important philosophers were Plato and Socrates. Plato had a state theory based on the social life of cities and whereas Aristotle focused on ethical form of life.

Birth Of Political Thought In Polis: Sophists, Socrates, And Cynics

Polis (city) was a specific political, social, economic, and cultural environment in Ancient Greece. The members of the Polis, are polites (citizens) who are free Greek men, but foreigners, women, and slaves are not included. Polis became a social settlement with its ideological and political institutions in the 5th Century B.C.

The parts of a polis are

• Agora,
• Gymnasium,
• Amphitheatre,
• Oikos.

Gods lives at the top of Olympus Mountain and the stories about the “social life” of the Gods are called myths. Mythology is the collection of these myths and associated with the beliefs of society.

The term politics originally means “related to the polis”. Since there was an organized society, the process of decision-making for the sake of this organization was called as politics.

There were two stereotype cities in Athens

1. Sparta: agriculture, slavery, simple arrangement, three strata (spartiats, perioikos, and helots)
2. Athena: trade-based economy and a developed culturalpolitical social life; four strata (Eupatrides, geomores, demiurgus, and thetes); political debates and competition;

The term democracy comes from the words deme and demos; location similar to a neighborhood. The power of demos later was used to refer “democracy”.

Early philosophy of Ancient Greece focused on explaining the order of the universe through mathematics or material elements (philosophy of nature). Later this philosophy changed into “philosophy of society” thanks to Sophists. Three factors affected the birth of Sophism:

1. A relatively liberal atmosphere thanks to the development of democracy
2. Attempts to explain the transformation of society
3. The need for social knowledge to take an active role in politics.

The aim of the Sophist was to identify the needs of Greek citizens and to educate young people about the art of life in a practical way.

Socrates became famous because of his students Xenophone, Plato and Aristotle. He focused on wisdom and knowledge. He used Socratic Method: talking to a person through questions. He believed that a minority should govern the state rather than democracy because of complex and unreliable human nature.

Another popular thought of the period was Cynicism, which criticized in equality in the society by claiming that the virtue is the only important concept.

State As A Result Of Social Life: Political Thought In Plato

According to Plato political theory is based on human activity, so it is a topic of philosophy. he claims that for a good governance of Greece, a philosopher should be the king or the king should be a philosopher. There are two universe:

• The universe of objects: senses,
• The universe of ideas: reasoning.

He also mentions about a difference between material and spiritual world, which is a dualist approach, and believed that spiritual world is superior; which is an idealist approach. He states “good human is only a good citizen; and a good citizen is the consequence of good society”. It is necessary to have labor division in social life just like an organism. An ideal state should include jobs in three main areas:

• Production: lowest part of the society / material satisfaction,
• Protection: bravery / noble wills,
• Administration: top part of the society / logic and reasoning.

There are four virtues for an ideal society:

• Moderation,
• Bravery,
• Wisdom,
• Justice.

His educational system is an authoritarian one which is controlled and designed by the state. He is against marriage; especially by the top levels of the society. He believes in equality between men and women. They are equal in every aspects. According to him, there are two types of equality:

1. General equality: (no difference between the citizens),
2. Proportional equality: (each citizen has rights and duties according to their abilities).

Types of government are categorized in the following groups:

• Patriarchy: power is the leader of the tribe or clan,
• Monarchy,
• Aristocracy: power is minority,
• Timocrasy: power is a group of warriors,
• Oligarchy,
• Democracy: power is majority.

State As The Only Ethical Form Of Life: Political Thought In Aristotle

Aristo had a philosophy based on experiment and observations. He believes that politics was related to virtue, and the good of city, general interest, was the main aim of individual life. Aristotle’s works were collected in a book called Organon (tool, instrument) by his students. He classified sciences under three different classes:

1. Productive sciences,
2. Practical sciences. politics and ethics,
3. Theoretical sciences: physics, mathematics, metaphysics, or theoretical philosophy.

He suggests that logic is not a form of science but a tool to provide rules for discussions. According to him, there are two elements of being; material and form. Form is more than a shape. It is a non-material or spiritual element for Aristotle. Form appears with a material. It is possible to understand a formation through the following influencing factors:

• Material causes,
• Formal causes,
• Effective causes, and
• Target-oriented causes.

The ultimate target of people is happiness. And there are two pre-requirements for “good”

1. The good should be an end in itself, it is not a way to do and be something else,
2. The good should be self-contained, and it must make the life worth living.

Ethics and politics are interrelated and state was an ethical organism. According to Aristotle, there were three domination-submission relationships within a family: Between the father and the son, between the husband and the wife, and between the master and the slave.

Aristotle classified the governmental types on two dimensions:

1. Rightness and aim of the states.
2. The number of people who possesses the power.

Aristotle classifies six different types pf government on the basis of number of people involved:

1. Monarchy: The government of a single person,
2. Aristocracy: The government of a minority group,
3. Politeia: The government of the majority,
4. Tyranny: The government of a single person who targets the interests of single person,
5. Oligarchy: The government of a minority group who aims the interests of the rich,
6. Democracy: The government of the majority of the people aiming the interests of the poor.

Aristotle talks about several reasons for revolutions:

• Inequalities,
• Drives for profit and dignity,
• Cruelty, excessive force application Improvidence of rulers,
• Conflicts of different races or nations,
• Minor issues, such as personal disagreements,
• Empowerment of the ruler,
• Lack of middle-classes- a highly polarized society,
• External interventions.

Intermediate Rings Between Greek And Roman Politics

Hellenistic Age started when Philip II conquered the Greek peninsula at 339 B.C. There are two important Hellenic schools:

1. Epicurean school (a philosophy based on Platonic lecturers of Athens, atomist doctrine of Democritus, septic views of Pyrrhus, and hedonist philosophy of Aristippus) / an ethical philosophy, consistent with the materialist philosophy of nature / not political / internal ethical philosophy for individuals.
2. Stoicism: The founders of early Stoicism are Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus.an ethical philosophy /philosophy had three parts: Logic, physics, and ethics / senses as the sources of knowledge / the God as the only principle of cosmos /formal logic, monistic physics and naturalistic ethics.

Political Thought Of Roman Res Publica: Polybius And Cicero

There were several phases in Roman history:

• Pre-Regal Period,
• Regal Period,
• Republican Rome,
• Roman Empire.

Polybius was a connection between Roman politics and Greek political thought. He described the political history as highs and lows. According to the anacyclosis theory each governmental structure transforms to another one through degeneration. Polybius was a pioneer for the idea of separation of powers but at the same time the unity of the system.

Imperial Rome

Infinity, divinity, universality were the main conceptions of empire. Stoicism of the Imperial Rome was represented by Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Self-sufficiency and happiness were the main targets in the Stoic thought. According to Stoicist, there were two types of freedom; internal freedom and external freedom. According to Seneca, humans were social animals born for the common good. Roman Stoicists contributed to idea of the Roman law. Saint Augustine tried to systemize Christian thought on religion, world order, and society. There is a dualist dualist “state”: State of the earth (civitas terrana) and the state of God (civitas dei). Augustine believed in the universality of Christianity instead of universality of the Roman Empire.