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19 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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republicanism
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• A tradition of political thought of governing a society or state as a republic.
• Stresses civic virtue, citizenship, and the need of subordinate private interest in favor of the public good • Patriotism – love for country • Public identity defined by political activity and participation • Machiavelli’s Republicanism o Three kinds of gov’t: monarchy, aristocracy, democracy o Best kind of gov’t = republic • Combines element of each gov’t • Strong and active citizens • Citizen idenity o Civic virtue – greatness of spirit, strength of body • Republican Rome – classic model of republican government o Mixed constitution o Institutionalized conflict • Gave voices to various social groups; between nobility & masses |
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liberalism
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• Political philosophy
• Arose in 17th and 18th centuries, influenced European & American politics • Thinkers: Hobbes, Locke, Kant o Stressed conception of politics built on individualism, natural & inalienable rights, economic freedom, strong distinction vs public & private o “State of nature” thought experiment: consider how free & equal individuals could come into a government • Social contract –consent of the governed o Legit gov’t have must be built on consent of individuals being governed o Opposed to hereditary nobility and divine right of kings |
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aporia
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• A debate without a resolution
• Book I in Plato’s Republic ends in an aporia with the debate of what the definition of justice is. • Socrates’ tries to disprove Thrasyamachus’ argument that justice is the advantage of the stronger. |
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allegory of the cave
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• Allegory about human knowledge that criticize the level of knowledge held by ordinary person
• The Theory of Forms is illustrated by the Cave analogy • Background: Prisoners chained in a cave and unable to move their heads. All they see is the wall of the cave. Behind them is the fire o Stage 1: Imagination Prisoners are only able to see the shadows cast on the wall by the real objects. The prisoners would mistake the appearance of the objects for reality. o Stage 2: Belief Prisoner is freed from bonds, sees the fire and real objects and realizes the objects are more real than the shadows he mistakenly thought was reality. o Stage 3: Understanding Prisoner dragged out of cave into the world. He can see the shadows, reflections, and the real objects. |
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virtu and fortuna
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• Machiavelli encourages human action; goes against predestination
o Goes against normal Christian virtue o Idea that humans can control their own lives o Circumstances can change • Virtu – strong, bold, skilled, aggressive action, risk-taker, able to act violently to conquer winds of fortune o Not same as Christian virtue of temperance, modesty, mercy o Best leaders make decisive actions & bold risks o Someone that has a lot of virtu will have a hard time getting control of • Fortuna – along same lines as fortune o Fortune is a lady – mysterious, elusive, cannot be controlled • Lady luck; winds of fortune o Fortune (the lady) can be conquered and beaten into submission by bold, manly action o Leaders can protect against bad fortune and can offset negative & unpredictable consequences o In principle, you can always be successful if you adjust to changing times. • A great ruler is sensitive to changing demands • Although fortune is powerful, our lives aren’t entirely controlled by |
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justice in the city
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• Plato – Justice = Each part of society is doing what its suited to so the city can benefit collectively.
• The three classes o philosophers = reason; rational, intellectual part o military auxiliaries = honor; courage, spirtedness o laborers = wealth; basic appetites • Three classes correspond to three parts of human soul • When everyone contributes what they do best, city functions best • Injustice = any group in city oversteps boundaries |
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justice in the soul
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• Similar to justice in the city, except shrunk down to the individual level
• More appeal that the reason rules in an individual and that there is reason, honor and wealth within every individual. • City is more concerned with class differences and forcing the classes to represent their part • Justice in individual = occurs when each part is in balance within the person |
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gender relations in the kallipolis
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• Men and women are roughly equal
• Elimination of traditional family unit o Marriage & procreation will be done in common & heavily regulated o Mating festivals o Promotes unity in city, not family attachments • Philosopher kings lie to people about their breeding partners |
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kallipolis
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• The ideal and just city constructed by Socrates and his interlocutors to better understand the true nature of justice in the individual soul.
• Socrates and Glaucon outline their just city • Class hierarchy – job specialization • Guardians • Philosophers – ruling class; represent reason o Most educated; only ones that have true knowledge of the Forms • Military auxiliaries - soldiers; represent honor • Laborers – farmers & laborers; represent vast majority/wealth • Communal childhood o Mating festivals – children raised in common by the city • Gender equality – women and men are roughly equal • Philosopher-king o Socrates –the ideal and just kallipolis is only possible if the rulers are philosophers (philosopher kings). o The group warns him that others would take offense to his radical claim, because in Ancient Greece, philosophers were looked down upon. o The group asks Socrates what a philosopher is, because there are those phony people who claim to be philosophers. |
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the forms
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• Plato’s metaphysical theory that there is an aspect of reality beyond the one that we can see. This reality is more real than the one we see.
• Not concerned with particulars or individuals, instead concerned with the unseen universals • Background: Forms are universally absolute ideas that are responsible for making the things we sense around us into the things they are. • Three Classes of Existence: o What is completely = completely knowable o What is in no way = object of ignorance o What both is and is not = object of opinion/belief • Form of Justice → manifests, shows itself in → particular just person • All Forms possess their qualities completely, eternally and without change. • Only philosophers have access to the Forms. |
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plato's 5 types of government
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1. Kallipolis
2. Timocracy • Gov’t ruled by victory and honor loving people • Ex) Greek city Sparta – military rule 3. Oligarchy – rule by rich • Gov’t ruled by rich & unnecessary appetites • Poor have nothing • Deeply flawed • Faults: ruled by those not fit to rule; split into two cities: rich/poor; unable to wage war b/c scared of people; lack of specialization 4. Democracy • Gov’t ruled by poor majority • Majority revolt against rich rulers in oligarchy 5. Tyranny • Ruled by one man, whose soul is not philosophic but enslaved to its worst appetites & desires |
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plato's critique of democracy
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• Democracy is close to anarchy
• Falsely makes equal of people that aren’t equal |
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socrates
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• Plato’s teacher and philosopher
• Character in Plato’s Republic • Executed by democracy of Athenian gov’t for corrupting the youth • Deeply impacted Plato’s life and philosophy |
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the role of class in The Prince
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• Coming to power with elite support will be harder to rule
• Populace deemed better judge than the elites • Better to be feared than loved - Subjects should fear the prince |
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ring of gyges
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Glaucon:
• Imagine that a just man is given a ring which makes him invisible. Once in possession of this ring, the man can act unjustly with no fear of reprisal. • No one can deny, Glaucon claims, that even the most just man would behave unjustly if he had this ring. He would indulge all of his materialistic, power-hungry, and erotically lustful urges. • This tale proves that people are only just because they are afraid of punishment for injustice. No one is just because justice is desirable in itself. |
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sophists
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teachers of rhetoric, teach their students how to make an argument appear strong, and argued for a strong form of individualism
Mostly resident aliens with no community loyalty to Athens Plato’s Republic is a response to the Sophists; they criticized them |
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modernity
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• 16th & 17th centuries
• Political thinkers: Machiavelli, Hobbes • Philosophers: Descartes, Leibniz • Early scientists: Newton, Bacon • Rise of individual – rational, self interested, capable of knowledge beyond religion • Challenging old ideas of religion & control over people’s lives • Looking away from idealism & politics; bringing back ancient ideas that move away from Christianity • Machiavelli’s modernity o Don’t look at myths or religious stories; focus on real history to understand present o Looks at successes & failures of past to succeed in future o Challenge religion & assert human control o Politics is imperfect & will sometimes have evil consequences o Bring back classical Greek & Roman ideals back to Christian ideas. Create new & modern ideas |
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realism
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• Machiavelli is pragmatic & wanted to be useful in advising Lorenzo de Medici to gain favor and political positions
• How he & his readers see him • Criticizes Plato for creating “imaginary republics” in theory. • To be good political theorist/leader need to be realistic & act how people are not how they should be |
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Plato's method of political theory vs. Machiavelli's method of political theory
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Plato
• Method: inductive reasoning, lots of speculation, looks forwards • Wants to avoid conflict • Skeptical of politics – philosopher-kings should only rule out of duty, not for honor • A philosopher – wants to understand true nature of world and achieve true knowledge (Cave) Machiavelli • Method: looking backwards and analyzing history to replicate success • Admires Republican Rome • Sees conflict as necessary evil; politics is amoral • Leaders should have their glory & embrace it • Political identity & patriotism to Florence • Landscape painter – need different perspectives; historical & contemporary examples of leadership |
