Polis

As he describes it, to live from politics is to rely on it as a career and a source of income, whereas to live for politics is to participate in the governmental process due to an inner passion for it, as well as, most importantly, to be able to participate actively without worrying about a career and the bare necessities of life, as they are wealthy enough to be free from such constraints. Initially, Arendt’s argument parallels Weber’s, as she discusses the ancient Greek polis, wherein only the wealthy could participate in politics as they were free from the constraints of slavery or labor. However, as she shifts her discussion to that of politics in the modern era, she expresses that politics, and participating in it, is no longer freedom in and of itself but rather the necessary means through which persons can fight for religious or academic freedom, stating “politics becomes on one hand a necessity that stands in opposition to freedom, and yet on the other hand is the prerequisite for freedom” (Arendt…

Yet, both authors are stifled by memory – they are simultaneously unable to reconcile the foundations of memory within social and political thought, but are profoundly influenced by the past. Hannah Arendt describes memory in The Human Condition (1958) as originating in human action, spurred in the realm of the polis – the Ancient Greek city state – as a space of organized remembrance. Arendt suggests that the polis as a space of organized remembrance can help improve the frailty of human…

Compare and contrast the part that the city or state (polis) plays in Antigone and Oedipus The King. Antigone is a play about the tension caused when two individuals have conflicting claims regarding law. In this case, the moral superiority of the laws of the city, represented by Creon, and the laws of the gods, represented bt Antigone. In contrast, Oedipus The King is driven by the tensions within Oedipus himself. That play both begins and concludes within the public domain, the plot being…

citizen had it’s perks such as the freedom to be a part of the polis, the political body governing Athens, and the most sought after aspect of citizenship. The goal of an actor of the polis was to sustained and insure the prosperity of the city-state as a whole, thusly ensuring the freedom of all its citizens. At their core, Athenians believed civic duty to be of the utmost importance, it was to have the responsibility and or ability to affect others or at least seem to, that the Athenians…

The current governmental system employed by modern governments is based on the ancient Greek concept of the polis. In order to comprehend how the West adopted the principles of democracy in the early modern period, it is integral to build ones understanding of the ideas surrounding the establishment and maintenance of the Polis during the dark and classical ages in Greek history. For instance, prior to the development of democracy in Greek city-states, the poleis went through periods of…

Throughout architecture history, cities have developed a more urbanized setting each building on the city that came before it. One can notice which traits of Modern cities have been adapted from Greek cities by comparing and contrasting Ancient Athens, Greece and Manhattan, New York. These two urbanizations are both examples that display how much the urban grid and the programs within a city have changed over time. Although the city of Manhattan has advanced greatly contrasting the Ancient…

In his work, The Histories, the Greek historian Herodotus gives an account of Darius and Xerxes, who were two members of the Achaemenidai family, and ruled as Kings during the Greco-Persian Wars. Persian kingship was different from earlier Greek kingship. I believe, however, that if we examine the virtues that Darius and Xerxes had, we could see they shared similar values than the Greeks. In this essay, I will argue that Herodotus does indeed provide us with a narrative that indicates that…

development, and revolution changed the course of physical, geographical cities and political ideology. The “polis” or city state was a vital part to the development and change of politics and fundamental ideology . Each polis had different laws from Athens to Sparta and each Polis had different aspects that made them unique and distinguished them from each other. Sparta was a very exclusive and rigid polis with an emphasis on battle, blood, and courage whereas Athens’s concentration tuned…

The Superior Polis: More Than Just a City-State A simple definition to the term Polis is, “an independent Greek city state” and according to Aristotle, a Polis can be defined as “a natural association of rational human beings and an analysis and evaluation of the relationships between the various categories of individuals that compose the citizen body.” These two definitions offer an explanation as to what a Polis is considered to be on the surface however, do not capture what a Polis…

An Analysis of the Ancient Greek Polis The illustrious philosopher, Aristotle, provides a vantage point to the practicality of a polis in antiquity by defining it as a “... partnership finally composed of several villages…” that has “...attained virtually complete self-sufficiency and thus while it comes into existence for the sake of life, it exists for the good of life” (Camp). In a versatile attempt to foster a sense of community among citizens, the conception of the polis set into motion…