Political Theory From Antiquity to the 18 th Century CPW4U Lesson 2 Roots of Modern Political Thought
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) One of the first empiricists knowledge comes from experience and evidence teacher of Alexander the Great the pupil of Plato (c.427-347 B.C.),student of Socrates (c.469-399 B.C.).
(Plato 427-347 B.C.) Plato s Rationalism believed that universal ideas of things -- like justice, beauty, truth -- had an objective existence all their own, or that these things existed whether men perceived (apprehended) them or not. They had an independent reality which Plato believed men could come to grasp as knowledge. These ideas exist "apriori," that is, they exist prior to experience and hence, transcend experience.
This (Plato s) philosophical school has come to be known as rationalism In Athens, the two major western philosophical traditions of thought were born For 2000 years, philosophers had to choose whether they followed Plato and his rationalism, or Aristotle and his empiricism. Indeed, Plato comes off as the first philosopher and Aristotle as his first critic.
Plato s Republic (360 B.C.) Question = What is justice? Answer = two types of justice a. Individual justice = rationality ruling over our appetites and emotional attachments (spirit) b. Social justice = rational parts (i.e. philosophers) ruling over appetites (workers) and spirit (warriors) Knowledge of the good is naturalistic (virtues are discovered out there, not created by us) and agentbased (people, not their actions, are described as just or unjust)
Socratic Dialogue The Socratic Method Plato wrote The Republic, his best known work, in the style of his teacher, Socrates, who never wrote anything for himself Socrates asked questions to discover knowledge which already exists outside of ourselves (do any of your teachers do this?) Here's an example from book VII of The Republic, called the Allegory of the Cave
The Cave explained In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato described symbolically the predicament in which mankind finds itself and proposes a way of salvation. The Allegory presents, in brief form, most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions: his belief that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended intellectually; his idea that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it for themselves; his faith that the universe ultimately is good; his conviction that enlightened individuals have an obligation to the rest of society, and that a good society must be one in which the truly wise (the Philosopher-King) are the rulers.
The Allegory of the Cave
Politics of Plato s Republic What is good government? Just government by rational thinkers over the rest of us, who are driven by our appetites, to make us better through education, protection, and management of daily life Tools of governance = Military force and the noble lie (propaganda) Ideal polity (political system) = autocratic rule by the intellectual elite (philosopher-king) in order to avoid any social conflict Stratified system, with population split into classes i. Producers (craftsmen, farmers, artisans, etc.), ii. iii. auxiliaries (warriors), and guardians (rulers);
How can we keep leaders from doing the wrong thing? There is no check on leaders in Plato s world We shouldn t have to worry about this, since they re philosophers as well as rulers and therefore virtuous by nature Therefore, the right ones must be in place, and they must have the power to affect real change. In other words, Plato favours rule by a person (the philosopher king) to the rule of law.
Aristotle s Politics (350 BCE) 1. Question = What is the best regime? 2. Answer = Elective aristocracy by welleducated, prosperous slave-owners. 3. Like Plato, also naturalistic (everything has a natural purpose, which is its only proper purpose) and agent-centered (be a virtuous person or a virtuous city)
The Politics of Aristotle s Politics What is good government? Government adapted to the people, with democracy as the best for free people and/or aristocracy when people are very unequal in many respects. Government should try to develop better citizens and virtuous people, but it should also leave household matters to the household, for the household is different from the city-state.
How do we keep leaders from doing the wrong thing? All men of virtue must be given real participatory power, with the ability to stop tyranny, oligarchy, or mob rule (How do we decide men of virtue???) Tyranny is bad, but not because it has a bad character, and not because it infringes on rights or does bad things. What else is there?
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 C.E.) Platonic City of God (426 CE) 1. Question: What should a Christian society look like? 2. Answer: Christians should aim at the City of God -- a religious way of life -- rather than a perfect political system (a mere City of Man).
Augustinian (Anti-)Politics a. What is good government? All non- Christian polities are doomed to die in body and soul. The City of Man produces war. b. How do we keep leaders from doing the wrong thing? Teach them to be good Christians. In the end, Christians are not of this world and will find peace in the City of God. c. What are the duties of a good citizen? Study what is good in order to come to know God and follow divine law.
Abu Nasr Al-Farabi (870-950 C.E.) one the earliest Islamic intellectuals who was instrumental in the transmitting the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle to the Muslim world translated the Greek works on Aristotle and Plato and made a considerable addition to them of his own in the Muslim world he earned the nickname Mallim-e-Sani, which often is translated as second master or second teacher (after Aristotle) Al-Farabi believed in a Supreme Being who created the world through the exercise of balanced intelligence.
Thomas Aquinas Rehabilitates Aristotle for the Christian World(1273 CE) 1. Question = How should reasonable Christians design their polities? 2. Answer = Natural Law. To be happy, people must form harmonious political communities guided by virtue. Everything has a purpose, so we must identify ours. 3. Answer is still guided by naturalism (interpreted to mean God s will) and agent-centered morality
The Politics of Aquinas What is good government? Government for the common good, with political autonomy for the household and the Church. Leave promotion of personal virtue to the Church and focus on protecting citizens from each other
How do we keep leaders from doing the wrong thing? Morality and moral laws bind leaders, who may justly be deposed if they violate it. The Church cannot release people from political bonds by an act of will, but it can tell citizens that the leader is transgressing moral law.
What are the duties of a good citizen? Obey the laws of the state in matters of governance and also obey the laws of the universal (Roman Catholic this is pre-reformation) Church in matters of personal virtue. Develop personal virtue and reason to the highest degree possible.
The Medieval Christian Contribution to Political Thought 1. Disagreement: Whether Christians are to participate in political and material life (Aquinas) or withdraw from it (Augustine). Echoes divide between evangelical and non-evangelical traditionalists in the last century 2. Agreement: God s law takes precedence over the state or even the good of the community.. 3. Innovations: Concept of natural law combining Plato s idea of universal laws with Aristotle's emphasis on happiness. - Natural law as a constraint on rulers, not just citizens. Foreshadows theories of a right to disobey leaders.
Renaissance Philosophy: Conflicts Between Reason and Traditional Values
Niccolo Machiavelli (1513) A rebuttal to the politics of virtue. Power is all that matters Question = How do great leaders actually behave? Answer = they ignore moral law and the Church, relying on power and fear to gain security. The ends justify the means. Answer pits naturalism against agent-centered morality: good people don t win and can t defend their homelands; the powerful can
Machiavellian Politics a. What is good government? b. Be stingy but effective in everything necessary: war, diplomacy, and justice. c. Good government is limited government, refraining from confiscation or lawless violence, but doling out punishments when necessary in order to preserve power. d. How do we keep leaders from doing the wrong thing? e. Give them good advice and let them defend the state as they see fit. There really is no wrong per se. f. What are the duties of a good citizen? g. No conspiracies or mob rule. Factionalism weakens the state.
Thomas More Revisits Utopia (1516) Question = What would a perfect polity look like? Answer = Democratic, orderly communism Answer is naturalistic (but based on reason, not God s law) and retains focus on agent-centered morality (good people key to good society)
The Politics of More s Utopia What is good governance? Government by the most highly educated, who will teach the others. Criminals become slaves to aid others, weighed down by chains of gold (!) Work is compulsory, but health care and other essentials are free from the government.
How can we keep leaders from doing the wrong thing? Leadership is democratic, although the people choose the best-educated and smartest people to lead them. Government has little real power over everyday life because citizens are virtuous.
What are the duties of a good citizen? Good citizens share everything with each other, eagerly work for the common good, and try to learn as much as possible. What have we done with this idea? Here are some contemporary examples http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oowytsl07pa
Enlightenment Political Theory: Rights-Based Conservatism Thomas Hobbes and Leviathan 1. Question = When should we obey authority? 2. Answer = Natural Law. Compare state of nature (anarchy: life nasty, poor, brutish, solitary, and short ) to government. 3. We need a Social Contract between people to create a sovereign (leader) powerful enough to protect us from each other) Obey while government has any chance of protecting you
Hobbes Breaks With Tradition Answer rejects ethical naturalism (nothing is right or wrong in a state of nature) Goal is to overcome nature with binding laws (which determine right and wrong), not to emulate it. Act-centered morality clearly expressed (rights, duties, and consequences) modern framework of autonomous individuals pursuing self-interest Legitimizes the use of force against the government for self-interest (survival) rather than religion or the greater good.
The Politics of Hobbes s Leviathan What is good government? A strong absolute monarchy that preserves peace and grows its own wealth The monarch should be aware of Natural Law and educate the people to revere duty to parents and the state
How can we keep leaders from doing the wrong thing? We can t because they have power and we don t and we shouldn t because we should honour our contract with each other to keep the covenant with the sovereign (leader) By definition, a leader can do no wrong to the people since he/she owes us nothing while we owe them utter obedience, and since he/she is the embodiment of all our interests and desires. (Rule of man, not law) How can this be problematic?
What are the duties of a good citizen? Obey the sovereign, the civil law, and the law of nature in that order Do not presume to debate the wisdom of the sovereign, although you should identify shortcomings of his underlings if he so allows Defend the sovereign in war as you are defended in peace.
Statist Realism: A new kind of conservatism Humans are inherently selfish and violent the closer to a state of nature they are, the more violent they are Need for social control to protect us from each other and foreign powers Moral duty to fellow citizens to obey laws and authority for self-preservation State must be able to limit some individual rights to preserve citizens right to life Note the rejection of traditionalist morality: Leaders may need to be Machiavellian to defend their citizens in Hobbes s world
John Locke s Classical Liberalism and Libertarian Thought Question = When is rebellion justified? Answer = rebellion is justified when government violates our natural rights. Ethics are clearly actbased (wrong to violate someone s rights). Nature is to be improved upon rather than rejected.
The Politics of John Locke s Second Treatise on Government What is good government? Limited government by majority rule to protect property rights (including rights to our own bodies, which are just another type of property right). Rule of law, not rule of man.
How do we keep leaders from doing the wrong thing? Divide up authority to make it difficult for anyone to ignore the laws and create only as much government as we need for life, liberty, and estate and no more We should ensure that the majority has the ability to express its consent from generation to generation (also: elections) Overthrow our government when it threatens our natural, God-given rights.
What are the duties of a good citizen? The good citizen respects the rights of others and seeks to further his or her own family s welfare through labor. The good citizen must also defend the commonwealth from external enemies and participate in monitoring and checking any abuses of the government. Sometimes, being a good citizen means resisting the government when it has been usurped or transformed into tyranny.
Jean Jacques Rousseau s Romantic Naturalism Question = How can we make the chains of government more legitimate? Answer = Govern by the general will of the people. Cannot return to state of nature, so we must make state of civil society as good as possible. human beings are good by nature but are rendered corrupt by society.
The Politics of Rousseau s Social Contract What is good government? Legitimate use of power by the people (popular sovereignty democracy?). The state should be supremely powerful but since we are ruling ourselves (and we re naturally good, including our leaders), there is no threat to our liberty.
How can we keep leaders from doing the wrong thing? The key is to have popular assemblies to ensure that the government never usurps the legitimate sovereign authority from the people. power should be divided between the sovereign (people), government (executive) and magistrates. Note that government is not to be limited in power, but rather harnessed to the general will. Rousseau denies individual rights even a right to life. All civil rights are given by society and subject to amendment or revocation for the good of the people.
What are the duties of a good citizen? Participate in politics at the local level, aim at the common good rather than one s own interests, and listen to the advice of neutral outsiders (the lawgiver ) on how best to organize society. Try to make ourselves into better people through deliberation and following the general will (human nature can be reshaped by institutions).
Edmund Burke: A Conservative Rebuttal to the Enlightenment Writes in opposition to the French Revolution (and its favourite philosopher, Rousseau) Argues that Rights and institutions are inherited, not constructed from scratch Reason therefore cannot identify the best institutions without examining history History has produced traditions, which must therefore be respected Nature (and God) prevent equality, because inequality is everywhere and therefore inevitable
Why do we care? Most interesting political disputes involve conflicts between values: liberty vs. equality, good ends vs. unpleasant means, good intentions vs. bad consequences, etc. Examples Should we torture suspected terrorists to extract information? Should we threaten to destroy cities full of innocent civilians in order to protect our own innocent civilians? Should we execute people if doing so fails to deter crime? Should we respect property rights if property owners want to discriminate against other races? Is it OK for the US government to lie to its citizens about whether it is testing biological weapons?