A Study on the Changing Patterns of the Idea of Political Community in Ancient Political Philosophy

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chan-Rai Cho
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Ancient Political Philosophy

scholarly journals Aristotle’s πόλις: The Political Community as a Common Project

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 343-358
Author(s):  
Leszek Skowroński
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nicomachean Ethics ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Highest Good ◽  
Good For ◽  
And Function

At the beginning of Book I of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle says that “the good is the same for an individual as for a city”. The good in question is εὐδαιμονία – the highest good achievable for human beings. In Book X, we learn that contemplative activity (θεωρητική) meets best the requirements set for eudaimonia. Even if we agree that contemplative activity is the good for an individual, how should we understand the claim that contemplation is also the good for a city? I start by reminding readers that for Aristotle the Nicomachean Ethics is essentially a political enquiry and should be read together with his Politics. I focus on the teleological character of his political philosophy and the interlinking of the concepts of the good (τἀγαθόν), nature (φύσις), form (τὸ εἶδος, τὸ τί ἐστι, ἡ μορφή), end (τέλος, τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα) and function (ἔργον). Then, I look at Aristotle’s two closely-connected statements that polis exists by nature and that men are political animals. Having taken into account Aristotle’s opinion regarding the imperfection of this world, which is exemplified by the vulnerability of human lives to fortune, luck and accidents, I conclude that Alasdair MacIntyre’s concept of the political community as a common project explains well how contemplation could be the end of polis. Only very few individuals can achieve the highest good and they can do it only if they have the support of the political community. But all the inhabitants of a polis structured towards achieving the highest good benefit from living in a well-ordered community whose constitution reflects the objective hierarchy of goods.

Xenophon's Socrates on Political Ambition and Political Philosophy

2010 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Lorch
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Public Welfare ◽  
Political Ambition ◽  
The Public ◽  
Urgent Task

AbstractThis essay investigates Xenophon's claim in the Memorabilia that political ambition is a qualification for the study of political philosophy, through an examination of three conversations between Socrates and politically ambitious men. These conversations reveal that the basis for the ambition to serve the public welfare is a concern not only with one's political community but also with one's own character and its excellence or virtue. Politically ambitious men hold virtue to be the greatest good, but they may not know what virtue is. For someone who is conscious of his concern with virtue and of his ignorance of virtue, there is no more urgent task than to search for the knowledge of virtue through the study of political philosophy.

Community and Conflict in Aristotle's Political Philosophy

1985 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Yack
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Organic Growth

In this article a widespread misperception of Aristotle's political thought is challenged, a misperception shared even by his champions among recent political theorists: that his concept of political community is derived from an image of organic growth and identity, and thus does not account for political conflict. Familiarity with liberal political thought and institutions has led most of Aristotle's contemporary interpreters to look for counterimages to liberal images of political society in his work. As a result, they tend to ignore or underplay the connections which Aristotle draws between political community and political conflict. By interpreting Aristotle's concepts of political community and political friendship in light of his analysis of political argument in Book 3 of the Politics, the article tries to uncover these connections and their implications.

scholarly journals Aristotle’s πόλις: The Political Community as a Common Project

2017 ◽  
pp. 343-358
Author(s):  
Leszek Skowroński
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nicomachean Ethics ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Highest Good ◽  
Good For ◽  
And Function

At the beginning of Book I of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle says that “the good is the same for an individual as for a city”. The good in question is εὐδαιμονία – the highest good achievable for human beings. In Book X, we learn that contemplative activity (θεωρητική) meets best the requirements set for eudaimonia. Even if we agree that contemplative activity is the good for an individual, how should we understand the claim that contemplation is also the good for a city? I start by reminding readers that for Aristotle the Nicomachean Ethics is essentially a political enquiry and should be read together with his Politics. I focus on the teleological character of his political philosophy and the interlinking of the concepts of the good (τἀγαθόν), nature (φύσις), form (τὸ εἶδος, τὸ τί ἐστι, ἡ μορφή), end (τέλος, τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα) and function (ἔργον). Then, I look at Aristotle’s two closely-connected statements that polis exists by nature and that men are political animals. Having taken into account Aristotle’s opinion regarding the imperfection of this world, which is exemplified by the vulnerability of human lives to fortune, luck and accidents, I conclude that Alasdair MacIntyre’s concept of the political community as a common project explains well how contemplation could be the end of polis. Only very few individuals can achieve the highest good and they can do it only if they have the support of the political community. But all the inhabitants of a polis structured towards achieving the highest good benefit from living in a well-ordered community whose constitution reflects the objective hierarchy of goods.

scholarly journals Cephalus, the Myth of Er, and Remaining Virtuous in Unvirtuous Times

Plato Journal ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 63-83
Author(s):  
Paul Joseph DiRado
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ancient Political Philosophy

Through a reading of the Myth of Er and Socrates' conversation with Cephalus, I will argue that merely conventional virtue is highly unstable and unreliable. Virtue acquired by convention proves foundationless outside the confines of the political regime that establishes those conventions, and a tendency toward an unreflective moral complacency on the part of the conventionally virtuous leaves them in particular danger of committing unjust actions. Socrates recommends the study of philosophy because it can ground conventionally acquired virtue and, even more importantly, because it is capable of shaking the moral complacency that afflicts the conventionally virtuous. Keywords: Republic, conventional virtue, Cephalus, Myth of Er, Ancient Political philosophy, relation between convention and philosophy

Greek and Roman Political Philosophy

Classics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jed W. Atkins
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Literary Forms ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Ancient Political Philosophy

In this bibliography “Greek and Roman political philosophy” is taken to mean philosophical reflection on politics in the Greco-Roman world from the 5th century bce to the 5th century ce. More particularly, ancient political philosophy involves reflection on the establishment of political institutions and laws; the nature of political rule; central social and political concepts such as liberty, justice, and equality; the rights and duties of citizenship and its relationship to a flourishing human life; civic education; and the different possible forms of constitutions or regimes. Scholars frequently distinguish political philosophy from political thought. Political thought encompasses any thinking about politics at all and may be expressed through a wide range of media and literary forms, from epistles to comedy to inscriptions. Political philosophy represents thinking about politics that is more specifically theoretical and systematic in nature. Thus, political philosophy may be seen as a subset of political thought. Because this bibliography is concerned with the narrower of the two categories, it focuses primarily on philosophers and theoretical discourse. This focus also informs the general organization of this entry, which adopts a chronological, author-by-author approach rather than the thematic approach sometimes utilized by historians of political thought. This bibliography covers Early Greek, Athenian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Early Christian political philosophy, extending from the Presocratics to St. Augustine.

Liberalism, Communitarianism, and Political Community

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandran Kukathas
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
Political Association ◽  
The Individual

The primary concern of this essay is with the question “What is a political community?” This question is important in its own right. Arguably, the main purpose of political philosophy is to provide an account of the nature of political association and, in so doing, to describe the relations that hold between the individual and the state. The question is also important, however, because of its centrality in contemporary debate about liberalism and community.

scholarly journals Philosophy, revelation and politics: The recovery of medieval Islamic political philosophy

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
Funda Günsoy
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Leo Strauss ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Philosophical Thought ◽  
Radical Enlightenment ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Order ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ancient Political Philosophy

In contemporary philosophical thought, Leo Strauss is associated with the rediscovery of ancient political philosophy against modern political philosophy. The rediscovery of ancient political philosophy is the rediscovery of classical rationalism or “moderate Enlightenment” against modern rationalism or “radical Enlightenment” and can be understood as recapturing the “the question of man’s right life” and “the question of the right order of society”. This article would like to show that it was his study of medieval Islamic and Jewish texts that enabled Strauss to rediscover the classical rationalism. Also, in this article we would like to argue that although the opposition between Athens and Jerusalem, Reason and Revelation embodies two irreconcilable alternatives or a way of life in his thought, this opposition should be only examined with references to claims about radical rationalism of modern philosophy. In this case, we would like to argue that there can be seen a commonality between these “opponents”, i.e., Athens and Jerusalem, Reason and Revelation in terms of both their attitudes towards morality and their approaches to the relationship between philosophy and society.

scholarly journals Libertad como no-dominación = Freedom as Non-Domination

2019 ◽  
pp. 258
Author(s):  
Ricardo Cueva Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Community

Resumen: El neo-republicanismo es una propuesta principalmente articulada por P. Pettit (1999 [1997]), aunque se apoye en trabajos de carácter historiográficos previos realizados por otros autores. Pretende constituir un tertium genus en la filosofía política que sirva de opción distinta tanto al comunitarismo como al liberalismo. Sin embargo, las intenciones de Pettit acaban vaciando de contenido lo que sí que sería realmente una postura republicana que, al mismo tiempo que integrara la vieja visión de autores clásicos y los hallazgos de la historiografía contemporánea, pudiera unirlos al paradigma democrático.Palabras clave: Republicanismo, libertad, autogobierno, comunidad política, no dominación.Abstract: Neo-republicanism is a proposal mainly articulated by P. Pettit (1999 [1997]), although its grounds are previous historiographical works made by other authors. It aims to constitute a tertium genus in political philosophy that serves as a distinct option from both communitarianism and liberalism. However, Pettit's intentions end up emptying the content of what would really be a republican position that, at the same time as integrating the old vision of classic authors and the findings of contemporary historiography, could link them to the democratic paradigm.Keywords: Republicanism, liberty, self-government, political community, non-domination.

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