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General
Greek Beliefs (classical republicanism) Civic
virtue – goal is collective good Freedoms
limited to those needed for democracy (right to vote, criticize gov, etc.. but
not privacy, freedom of religion, etc . . . Moral
education Education
was there to develop the right habits of citizenship and admire heroes of
antiquity described in song, poetry, etc. . . Small,
uniform communities Factions
could tear a community apart so communites should be unified and homogenous in
wealth, religion, moral beliefs
Aristotle
(a good voice for classical Greek thought): --
as a classical philosopher he is concerned with identifying the patterns of
nature – -- Towards that end he is exploring the dynamics of human politics
(thus politics is not the study of an artificial human construct, but instead
the natural manifestations of nature as they appear in the human political
world) SO MAN IS A POLITICAL ANIMAL INCAPABLE OF ACTING OUTSIDE THE POLITICAL
ORDER -- to be outside the political world indicates you are not human- The
opposite of nature is apolitical the
opposite of apolitical is citizen --
The individual is an indistinguishable part of a collective whole (the polity)
– He Creates the idea of the polity -- --
that whole has an animating spirit that gives its government life -- the
collective wisdom of the polity exceeds the individual wisdom of the even the
wisest expert (or individual) --
The constitution is a manifestation of the animating spirit and can include
monarchies, oligarchies, aristocracies, democracies, etc. . . . --
While citizens are members of a larger enterprise they are NOT free standing
individuals – One thing that was universal was that the individual was to be
educated and guided by “civic virtue” or assisting the common good and not
their individual happiness, rights, or material goods -- --
Though the health of the citizen is crucial to the stability of the system - the
aim of the government should be the common good -- -- tyranny and disorder are
perversions of politics because they are not aimed for the common good as are
thus outside the natural order |
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