ANCIENT POLITICAL THOUGHT
NATURE OF GREEK AND ROMAN POLITICAL THOUGHT
Nature of Greek Political Thought
Nature of Greek political thought is concern for the central rules controlling the universe (Wanlass 1953: 40). The idea is focused on the universal rules whereas the nature is the law and that the universe as the product of creative reason.
The State for the Greeks is being necessary for man’s highest development was a product of nature and that man and state are bound together in living as a whole (Wanlass 1953: 41). During this time the concept of laws are based on nature and where the state and its citizen are bound to live together and no separation are occurred between the two.
Nature of Roman Political Thought
Nature of Roman political
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Aristocracy is a form of government where the few are governing, the rulers in aristocracy are wise and well-educated because they came from the rich families.
Aristotle
Aristotle’s works focused on the rule of law rather than applying the idea of Plato’s rule of men. He relied on the rule of law or in today’s politics is call constitutional government and also he agreed that law laws might not provide absolute justice because of their generality however this generality can results to an impartial treatment, avoidance of personal desire which is the essence of good government (Wanlass 1953: 63). The rule of law does not result to an absolute justice because of its generality rather it avoid self-interest and the generality that resulted to an impartiality of treatment.
He believed that man is destined to lead a political life by his inherent nature (Wanlass 1953: 63). This idea of Aristotle viewed that man is deemed to enter in political life whether an individual does not
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In using passive obedience he clearly stated that it is needed to maintain the order in state and society.
In the church, he said that the ultimate source of its authority in the general council not in the pope and place the civil power over the ecclesiastical authority (Wanlass 1953: 156). Luther attacked the church because of its hierarchy and by stating that ecclesiastical is over secular. General council for him is the source of authority rather than pope because of applying the Teutonic idea of democracy.
He then said the state is also sacred and the power of the state receives in God alone (Wanlass 1953: 157). He then began to discuss that state is also divine in nature because it also came from God and the ruler of the state is also sacred. On the other hand, Luther had no sympathy in equality because for him in a civil state inequality is a necessity (Wanlass 1953: 157).
John
As we have established, if the primary role of the state is to secure and maintain the most possible happiness for the people, the surely an unjust state would not be a state capable of achieving this goal. Monarchies seem the ideal constitution to Aristotle because the virtue of the monarch is not diluted by the potentially selfish desires of others. However, this is also the least stable of the
1. The Reformation was a period where men like Martin Luther challenged the teachings and authority of the Roman Catholic Church. However, before the Reformation, the Church had to deal with problems such as the Sack of Rome. In 1527, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, had his own troops come against the city of Rome, take the city over, and imprison Pope Clement VII. While the Church was trying to deal with outer conflicts, there was a problem that was rising from within.
The geography of Greece influenced the development of ancient Greek government and politics. When describing ancient Greece, “mountainous land” is the phrase one would use because Greece is made up of many mountains. Because of the mountains, it was difficult to commute from place to place. As a result of that, instead of Greece being ruled by one government, it formed many different poleis, which each had their own government Polis is the Greek word for independent city-states. Greeks had a strong connection with their polis, and they strongly identified with them.
Chapters 20/21 Even though Christopher Columbus held onto his belief that he had reached the Indies until the day he died, the new continent he had actually reached had been the result of much geographical speculation and exploration by many curious men. “In some ways, these journeys of discovery collectively represent man’s most astounding characteristic: intellectual curiosity (Watson 424).” As Watson points out, we who live in the twenty-first century have nothing to compare to the feats accomplished by those early map makers and courageous adventurers. “The discovery of America was important intellectually for Europeans” yet many drawbacks soon followed as the New World was not as developed as the Old World (Watson 442).The lack of technology,
Evaluation: This source was written by Aristotle in 350 BCE as he was present at the time that democracy was developed it makes this source a primary source making it more reliable. The source provided a detailed explanation of the ancient Greeks democratic processes and development as the source was highly detailed it provides for a more reliable source. The source is translated by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon he is a palaeographer and a biblical and classical scholar this means that the source has been translated by a qualified professionally, thus meaning it is more reliable. This source is useful as it provides insight into the laws and rules of ancient Greece at the time this helped in the understanding of the ancient Greek society and what
Aristotle did not consider all people equal; Locke and Aristotle had differing views on citizenship in their respective polity or commonwealth. He, Aristotle, argued that only certain people should participate in the political process. This contrary to Locke’s ideals that all people were created equal. Moreover, Aristotle did not consider all inhabitants of a state as citizens; he did not think women, aliens, or vulgar people, to name a few, should be granted the rights of citizens. According to Locke, all members of a society had equal rights, except for
Introduction Monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy and democracy were all forms of government found at different times and in different city-states in Ancient Greece. Elements of more than one of these forms also co-existed, however, and the modern connotations of labels such as these are not necessarily the same as those that prevailed in Ancient Greece. In this paper I firstly describe these various forms of government and provide examples of their use in Ancient Greece. I then compare and contrast the models.
The Romans had a system of indirect democracy where the people had the power to vote for representatives who would advocate for them on the state level. The Greeks had a government in which the people directly were involved in the governmental and legislative process. In addition, both systems were flawed in their representation of their people in their respective governments through neglecting a large portion of their population. Both societies did well to create term lengths to decrease the likelihood of corruption and abuse of power through creating accountability. However, the Greek democracy was a caliber above its counterpart.
The Polis and Ancient Greek Life To the Ancient Greeks, the Polis was the center of their way of life. From socializing to conducting business to even deciding whether to go to war, the Polis was a very important aspect of the Greek’s lives. In the essay, the functions of the Polis will be discussed along with how the Polis managed to bring about the formation of Democracy, with the Polis of the city of Athens being the main example. The importance of the Polis will be explored through this essay because without the Polis, Democracy as we know it may not have ever formed. In ancient Greece, the Polis was the center of everything, consisting of the main town, but also farms and villages surrounding the polis.
The Ancient Greeks’ renowned use of democracy influenced Ancient Rome’s government structure. The strong belief in Gods and oracles in Ancient Greek shaped the religion of Ancient Romans. The Spartan-like training and leadership style of Ancient Greek war heroes formed the
Introduction The history of Western civilization was influenced by the Ancient Greece in more than a few ways, for instance, they inspired various achievements that shaped the early foundation of civilization in the west, and other parts of the world. Some of these developments arose during renaissance and industrial revolution, and impacted on various aspects of the modern world including philosophy, politics, education, and religion. Essentially, the Greeks accomplished great feats in these aspects of life, and the Ancient Greek Culture is popularly known as the birthplace of Western civilization. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the ancient Greek’s political structure played an important role in the world history considering the fact that it had a noteworthy influence on Western Civilization.
Aristotle believed that constitutions were used as ways to organize the citizens within a given city. However, Aristotle did not believe that citizenship was simply determined by the residence of an individual in a city. In fact, he thought that the citizenship of a person should be determined on the share that person plays within the administration of
Greece and India had belief systems that shared some common aspects. However, the two systems had many basic differences. Greece and India were more different, because Greece’s system was based in Humanism, while India’s was based in spiritualism. The Greeks emphasized the physical world, concentrating on what was right in front of them, things they could see and touch. The Indians believed in something beyond the physical world.
1 INTRODUCTION Power and authority are the most important aspects of politics as such way of thinking comes a long way from the earliest thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle to mention few. They are the fundamental features of state in politics, focusing on who should have the power and authority over the people and who should rule them. During the time prior and after the birth of states, political authority has always been a major concern with regards to who should rule and how and who shouldn’t. Therefore this issues need to be addressed in a way that will at the end benefit the society. Plato is the thinker or theorist who came with addressing who should rule in a political environment in what Plato outlined that only Philosophers should rule.
If Plato had portrayed an Ideal State in hid republic which could be built in heaven only, Aristotle came down to earth while drawing the outline of his ideal state. Like a true scientist he does not attempt any impossible scheme in formulating his theory if Ideal State. His ideal state is attainable on his earth. We must first consider not only what is ideal but also what is the best attainable in actual practice. The only difference between a monarchy and an aristocracy is that in the first case virtue is centered in one person.