Notes on "A History of Political Theory" -- Episode 7

For episode 6 see here.

Theory of the City-State

VII. The Twilight of the City-State
 A. Plato and Aristotle had little immediate influence of contemporary political 
      thought 
 B. More influential at the time was protest against the conception of the good
     life as participation in the life of the polis
 C. Individual self-sufficiency became the basis of the good life
 D. Plato and Aristotle both failed to take note of the effects of foreign relations
       on the Greek city-states
        1. City-states constantly balancing between isolation and inter-dependence
          on question of self-sufficiency
       2. Conflict and inability to work together left them open to outsiders
 E. Faced with decline of importance of city-state, two resulting philosophic
          moods:
       1. Withdrawal -- Epicureans and Skeptics
       2. Withdrawal and protest -- Cynics
       3. Represent questions about first principles(as embodied in Plato and
          Aristotle)
 F. Epicureans
       1.  Aimed to lead students towards individual self-sufficiency
       2. The good life seen to consist of enjoyment of pleasure
           i. Avoidance of pain, worry and anxiety
           ii. Congenial friendship, withdrawal from public life
           iii. The good, privately enjoyed
       3. The state formed solely for the sake of obtaining security
           i. Man essentially selfish
           ii. So they make tacit agreement with each other to leave each other be
       4. There are no moral imperatives
       5. Hobbes not unlike Epicureans
 G. Cynics
       1. Reject the lifestyle, virtues and social distinctions of the city-state
       2. Wise man should be completely self-suffcient
       3. Morality was living with nature according to reason and caring for others
       4. Involved a kind of equality of nihilism and anarcho-communism

For further reading on ancient (Greek) philosophy, I can recommend the classics from my grad school days (before the days of political correctness about Western Civilization):

The Discovery of the Mind: The Greek Origins of European Thought by Bruno Snell

History of Ancient Philosophy by W. Windleband

Greek Political Theory: Plato and His Predecessors by Sir Ernest Baker

And for how the Greeks became the Greeks:  The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East by Robert Drews


Next week: The Theory of the Universal Community: The Law of Nature


Dedicated this week and every to grandson William, who arrived today.