Notes on "A History of Political Theory" -- Episode 10

For episode 9 see here

 The Theory of the Universal Community

 X. Seneca and the Fathers of the Church
    A. Seneca wrote in the early days of Empire
    B. Reflects despondence of a Rome in social and political decline 
    C. Good man can do nothing through political office and such offices
         have little to offer good men
     D. Duty of the good man is to offer moral or religious virtue, to become
          the teacher of mankind
       1. offered strength and consolation in this world
       2. turned toward contemplation of spiritual life
       3. beginning of split between religious life and politics
     E. Religious institutions begin to form along side state
     G. State no longer seen as highest agency of moral perfection 
     H. Seneca saw innocent Golden Age, a state of nature
      I.  For him, government and law are an ethical second-best and as a cure for
           the sinfulness of civilized man
      J. Rise of Christian Church as distinct institution to govern spiritual
          concerns of men was revolutionary
       1. Religious doctrine of salvation was neither philosophy nor political theory
       2. Philosophy of early Christians not unlike Stoics  
          i. law of nature
          ii. providential government of the world
          iii. obligation of law and government to serve justice 
          iv. equality of all men before God
       3. Added obligation to respect constituted authority, as derived from God,
          not the people
          i. respect due institution, not merely the person of the ruler
          ii. But unlike Roman law, it was necessary to suffer bad ruler as he came
              from God and not the people
          iii. Yet obligation to God higher than obligation to the state
       4. Christianity split what for pagans was a unity -- that the duties of
          morality and religion met in the state
       5. Led to problems of church and state (which made possible liberty)
       6. Church and State were to be mutually interdependent with the Church
          the superior partner
     K. Ambrose, Augustine and Gregory
       1. Dealt not with systemic philosophy of Church and State but with
         immediate pressing problems
       2. Ambrose -- 4th Century AD
          i. strong statement for autonomy of the Church in spiritual matters
          ii. taught and converted Augustine
       3. Augustine -- 5th Century AD
          i. transmitted ancient thought to Middle Ages
          ii. Saw human history as dominated by contest between earthly city
              (lower human nature) and the City of God
          iii. through earthly life, however, the two cities are mingled
          iv. true commonwealth must be Christian as only such a state is just
       4. Gregory -- pope, father of the medieval papacy
          i. obedience to ruler extended to passive obedience to wicked ruler
          ii. ruler had power even to do what was unlawful, providing he was
             willing to risk damnation
       5. The Two Swords
          i. Church held spiritual interests and eternal salvation which was the
           province of teaching by clergy
          ii. State held temporal authority, maintenance of peace, order and
           justice
          iii. between the two a spirit of mutual helpfulness ought to prevail
       6. Universal Christian society was the Empire and the Universal Church,
       7. Split laid the ground for the right of (spiritual) freedom
 

Next week: The Folk and Its Law  

Notes on "A History of Political Theory" -- Episode 8

Continuing recording here notes made in grad school on A History of Political Theory by George Holland Sabine.  

For episode 7 see here to begin from the start see here

The Theory of the Universal Community

VIII. The Law of Nature

 A. The passing of Aristotle, and the city-states, is the only sharp break in the

      history of Western Political Thought

       1. Continuity since then

       2. Theory of natural law goes from Stoics down to the revolutionary

           doctrine of the Rights of Man

 B. Man cut off from the life of the polis and left to live in a new, enlarged

      and impersonal social union

 C. After Aristotle, philosophies tended to become vehicles for ethical

      instruction and consolation

       1. Took on characteristics of religion

       2. Religious feeling grew

       3. Result of new impersonal world

 D. Distinctions between citizen and other lost usage 

"Political thought had, therefore, two ideas to make clear and to interweave into a common scheme of values: the idea of the individual, a distinct item of

humanity with his purely personal and private life, and the idea of universality, a  world-wide humanity in which all are endowed with a common human nature. (143)

 E. Greek notions (Aristotle) of two essentials of citizenship, relations

      between equals and voluntary loyalty to lawful government, were

      reworked to become part of Western consciousness 

 F. Chrysippus the Stoa gave Stoicism form last quarter of Third Century BC

       1. Idea of concord between Greeks and from the east

       2. Theory of Kingship

       3. Result of Alexander's Empire and its breakup

       4. Divinity of king seen as the best way of achieving unity and

           homogeneity of the state and legitimize his rule

       5. Gave positive moral meaning to idea of a world state and universal law

       6. Made achieving self-sufficiency and individual well-being an ethical

           imperative

       7. Taught self-sufficiency by rigorous training of the will

       8. Virtues were resolution, fortitude, devotion to duty and 

           indifference to solicitations of pleasure

       9. Sense of duty re-enforced by religious training -- the duty of every

           man to play well the part assigned by Divine Providence

          i. Man and nature seen as one

          ii. Man shared in the rationality of God, who animates nature

          iii. Right reason is the law of nature

          iv. All men are equal under God (reason), but most are fools not wise

       10. Saw law of the city as customary law and inferior to the law of the world-

           city which is the law of reason

          i. Customary law of several cities combined under a king became the

           common law

          ii. Law of reason is higher that customary law and a separate standard

             of justice

          iii. Law of reason provided an appeal to equity in the

             elaboration of common law

       11. Resulting in part from criticism by the Skeptic Carneades, Stoicism

          underwent reform at the end of the 2nd Century BC

          i. Went back to Plato and Aristotle

          ii. Became less logical but more urbane in appeal and more attractive to

              Roman aristocrats

          iii. Became a philosophy of self-control and public devotion which

               appealed to the Romans

          iv. Ideal of a world-city was of use to idealize Roman conquest

          v. Reason became law for all men, not only the wise

          vi. Contact between Polybius and Panaetius with the Roman Scipionic

               Circle

 G. Scipionic Circle

       1. Brought Stoic thought to bear on earliest studies in Roman jurisprudence.

       2. Roman Law enlightened by inclusion of ius gentium (common law) that

            grew alongside civil (or ceremonial) law based on good business practice

       3. ius gentium coalesced with ius naturale of the Greek Stoics as translated

            into Latin

Next week: Cicero and the Roman Lawyers