POLSCI 2O06 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Cephalus, Political Philosophy, Politeia
28 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Republic is how we translate politeia (greek word) Title means political life in general, not just an institution. Politeia comes from the word polis (citizen-state: at the time, greece was separated into independent cities who quarreled with one another, and whose types of governments differed. Only landowners and citizens born in athens could participate. Participants were constantly involved: revolutions took place- athens was an unstable place at the time. Between the time of writing the book, socrates was tried and put to death (plato wrote the book on his behalf) Athens- aggressive city trying to take over the world- democratic yet business people, taking people over, very wealthy, hugely successful, culturally energetic. Every author in this course starts off with reading plato- where all the important questions about doing philosophy and political philosophy starts. Difference between our world and ancient greek world: Ancient greece: politics is not just about how to live, but the right way to live.
