For the next few months, I will be recording here notes made in grad school on A History of Political Theory by George Holland Sabine.
Theory of the City-State
I. City State - Greek political theory
A. Small territory dominated by single city (the polis) of up to 300 thousand
B. Three politically & legally distinct classes
1. Not great amount of leisure due to narrow economic margin
2. Lower standard of consumption
3. At the bottom, slaves
4. Next resident foreigner (metic) and freemen, but neither citizens
5. Citizens were members of the polis and entitled to take part in its political life
C. Citizenship
1. Membership -- some minimum share of participation in public business
2. Extent of membership shared based on the degree of democracy that prevailed
D. Political Problem "to discover what place each kind or class of men merited in a
wholesome society so constituted that all the significant sorts of social work could go
on."
E. Political Institutions of Athens
1. Assembly (Ecclesia) -- male citizens of 20 years, meeting 10+ times a year
2. Magistrates -- boards of ten from ten tribes, not re-electable
3. Body of citizens of cross-section from whole could act for all for short periods
4. Courts of large popular juries
5. Council of Fine Hundred -- executive/steering committee of the Assembly
6. Demes (wards) -- units of local government, hereditary membership. Presented
candidates to fill bodies of the central government
7. Filling of office from panel (by lot) elected by the demes in rough proportion to
their size. (Important democratic feature as seen by Greeks as lot equalized chances
to hold office.)
8. Ten generals (strategoi) chosen by direct election, re-electable. (Also served as
military governor when needed.)
F. Assembly
1. Council of 500 acted as executive
2. The 500 divided into ten groups of 50 (based on tribe plus one each from the nine
other tribes) which rotated actual business for 1/10 of term
3. President (epistates) chosen by lot from the 50 for only one day (and only once in
lifetime)
G. Courts (the Heliaia)
1. Judicial power in civil or criminal cases
2. Chosen by lot from 6000 elected each year from demes
3. Range in size from 201-501
4. Not appealable since courts acted in name of the whole people
5. Had authority over magistrates (chosen by lot) who performed administrative
duties and were examined before taking office, subject to review and audited at
end of term for use of public funds by the courts
6. Court could judge a law & quash it as it was equal to the Assembly in both being
identical to the people
H. Political ideas/ideals (Athenian
1. Polis was the highest interest to which men could devote themselves.
2. Constitution was "mode of life" not a legal structure.
3. All should, & most desired, to participate.
4. All citizens should have equal opportunity to hold office.
5. All should blend to achieve a harmonious common life, the highest goal & chief
joy of every citizen.
6. Rights belonged to his station, not attributes of the individual person.
7. Obligations not forced by state but flow from need to realize his own potentialities.
8. Freedom & respect for law were basic values.
9. Belief in discussion as the best way to come to public decision.
10. "The processes of government are the processes of impartial law which is binding
because it is right."
Next week: Political Thought before Plato
Theory of the City-State
I. City State - Greek political theory
A. Small territory dominated by single city (the polis) of up to 300 thousand
B. Three politically & legally distinct classes
1. Not great amount of leisure due to narrow economic margin
2. Lower standard of consumption
3. At the bottom, slaves
4. Next resident foreigner (metic) and freemen, but neither citizens
5. Citizens were members of the polis and entitled to take part in its political life
C. Citizenship
1. Membership -- some minimum share of participation in public business
2. Extent of membership shared based on the degree of democracy that prevailed
D. Political Problem "to discover what place each kind or class of men merited in a
wholesome society so constituted that all the significant sorts of social work could go
on."
E. Political Institutions of Athens
1. Assembly (Ecclesia) -- male citizens of 20 years, meeting 10+ times a year
2. Magistrates -- boards of ten from ten tribes, not re-electable
3. Body of citizens of cross-section from whole could act for all for short periods
4. Courts of large popular juries
5. Council of Fine Hundred -- executive/steering committee of the Assembly
6. Demes (wards) -- units of local government, hereditary membership. Presented
candidates to fill bodies of the central government
7. Filling of office from panel (by lot) elected by the demes in rough proportion to
their size. (Important democratic feature as seen by Greeks as lot equalized chances
to hold office.)
8. Ten generals (strategoi) chosen by direct election, re-electable. (Also served as
military governor when needed.)
F. Assembly
1. Council of 500 acted as executive
2. The 500 divided into ten groups of 50 (based on tribe plus one each from the nine
other tribes) which rotated actual business for 1/10 of term
3. President (epistates) chosen by lot from the 50 for only one day (and only once in
lifetime)
G. Courts (the Heliaia)
1. Judicial power in civil or criminal cases
2. Chosen by lot from 6000 elected each year from demes
3. Range in size from 201-501
4. Not appealable since courts acted in name of the whole people
5. Had authority over magistrates (chosen by lot) who performed administrative
duties and were examined before taking office, subject to review and audited at
end of term for use of public funds by the courts
6. Court could judge a law & quash it as it was equal to the Assembly in both being
identical to the people
H. Political ideas/ideals (Athenian
1. Polis was the highest interest to which men could devote themselves.
2. Constitution was "mode of life" not a legal structure.
3. All should, & most desired, to participate.
4. All citizens should have equal opportunity to hold office.
5. All should blend to achieve a harmonious common life, the highest goal & chief
joy of every citizen.
6. Rights belonged to his station, not attributes of the individual person.
7. Obligations not forced by state but flow from need to realize his own potentialities.
8. Freedom & respect for law were basic values.
9. Belief in discussion as the best way to come to public decision.
10. "The processes of government are the processes of impartial law which is binding
because it is right."
Next week: Political Thought before Plato
2 comments:
I found the last statement to be the most interesting:"The processes of government are the processes of impartial law which is binding because it is right." Such a simple declaration of self-justification!!
It reminds me of how the current Chief Justice declares that the Supreme Court in NOT a political institution. Whereas, that court and the entire judicial system is, among other things, yet another forum for political conflict....as it should be. Instead of indulging in either Roberts' pious obfuscation or in the Greeks' bland assertion of righteousness, as part of a more mature self awareness we could acknowledge the central role of conflict within our society.
In reply: Thanks for your comment. But it should be noted that the Athenians tended toward the view that law is right and therefore binding because it came directly from the whole of the citizenry. The assumption, shared by Aristotle, was that the good is more likely to emerge from a greater number than from a lesser. In other words, democracy is more likely to produce decisions that converge on the mean -- and the mean is more likely to be right -- because the extremes have been evened out. How any political system can produce the best outcomes is a continuing question.
As to conflict, the Greeks understood that quite well. The classic Athenian approach was to bring all citizens together to directly enter the process of resolving conflict through discussion.
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