Lecture- Term 1 - Emily Nacol covering term 1 of pol200 PDF

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Emily Nacol covering term 1 of pol200...

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POL200 LECTURE 1 -

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Politics and vision- Valden Political theory over time, political theory from the views of various authors. Arguments about politics. Political behavior. How we act when we engage in political activity. Political psychology, social psychology. Guides and motivates our behavior towards psychology. Political Language. Vocabulary used to change the political word, concepts. Certain words that substantiate the political thought process of a time. Justice, power, equality. Gathering information about the political world and figuring out what it means, and making sense of our actions is political theory. The activity of airing out the and letting people know about political ideas, successfully or not successfully. ARISTOTLE- best example of gatherer and describer of the political world. They function like a doctor in a political world. Look at a problem, analyze why it happened and how it can be alleviated. Political theorists, responder of political anarchy. Find out different ways of doing things. Goal to find out the meaning of the political life.

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What is the writer describing?

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What kind of world is he observing

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What are the features is he observing?

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What does law look like?

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What kind of things to people do in the world

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Is there a problem or crisis that the author is describing? And what is disturbing the author and does he try to fix it or no. and how?

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Text’s main argument. Or any sub or mini arguments.

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Does he have any assumptions about politics that he brings into text. E.g. Human beings are naturally good or women are naturally dim witted.

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Does it remind the author of any fact, does he draw any parallels?

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Writing style.

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Most confusing things about the text. LECTURE 2

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Antigone 1. Greek Tragedy A. 6th century BCE B. Athenian tragedies Performance A. Performed in day long festivals B. Submit a trilogy C. In Amphitheaters. D. All males E. Most parts were sung and danced. F. 32 surviving manuscripts. Structure + feature A. Aristotle B. Dramatic literatures and deal with trivial matters. C. Appropriate and pleasurable language. D. A hero who usually has a good character but also a hamartia. E. Two emotions we feel strongly are fear and pity. F. Creates a catharsis for them. G. These emotions are good for us. H. Who is the tragic hero? I. Why do we like this? Examples 2. Background A. Theban plays B. Sophocles i. Best known ii. Wrote Antigone. iii. Born around 497 in Athens in a prominent family. iv. He performed in public theatre, held office and was in the army. C. Antigone i. It is not an explicitly political play. ii. Character driven play, and their personal and moral struggles. 3. Plot i. Edaphus’s story. ii. He was told by an oracle, that he would kill his father and marry his mother. iii. He was adopted. iv. He travels to a place gets into an argument and kills the king and it is his father. v. Marries his mother by solving a riddle. vi. Prophecy comes true.

vii. viii.

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Sibling rivalry between brothers. Edaphus dies. Both the brothers kill each other. Throne passes to their uncle, Creon. ix. Creon decides what will be done with the 2 brothers. Buries one and leaves Polynices. Did not bury so that he cannot transition into the other life. x. Antigone and her sister together decide to bury Polynices. xi. Ismani makes a false confession to save Antigone. xii. Creon decides to keep her in a cave. D. Set in Thebes and politics of Thebes. Central question of the play i. If humans are to live a just life, where should we look for guidance to do this. Characters+ their response A. Antigone (Creon vs Ismani) B. Creon (Antigone vs Ismani) What are the sources of Justice? What if they conflict? A. Sophocles view B. Tragic hero C. What do you think? If humans are to live a just life, where should we look for guidance to do this?

8. Claims and perspectives. A. Antigone’s claim is that Creon wrong. B. Ismani does not want to fight the men. And they would have to obey the law, and political hierarchy. C. JUSTICE IS THE RULE OF THE STRONGER. - Ismani D. Moral claims vs political claims. E. Ismani, wishes to do what the law asks of them, that is not bury their brother and then apologize to their brother. F. Antigone say SHE NEEDS TO PLEASE THE DEAD AND NOT THE LIVING. G. Pleasing the afterlife is more important to her than pleasing the living as then she would have to explain herself to her brother forever. H. The laws and decrees of the divine outplays any earthly laws. I. Antigone is highly religiously motivated but also, because of the love of her family. J. Creon says justice is what is good for the city i.e. Thebes. K. City is the most important as it gives us stability thus keeping it safe and stable is the priority and the right and just things need to be done by it. L. He makes claims as a king too. I AM THE KING, I MAKE THE LAWS, I DECIDE WHAT IS JUST. M. Haemon, Creon’s son. The laws of land should also abide by the laws of the divine. The people should be happy and satisfied with the rules of law set by the king.

He says that the people are on Antigone’s side. And a good ruler should be flexible, and should correct his decision if he is wrong. A ruler who is ready to amend to his decisions based on popular judgement. 9. What is our moral conscious, political, dive and popular opinions all differ? Whose side is Sophocles on? Creon is wrong!!!! Tragic hero- Creon Hamartia- He doesn’t consider the humanity. And does not listen to anyone until too late. Sets himself apart from the rest. Antigone is committed to principle and Creon to the state. Antigone is ready to the consequences. Who do you support?

LECTURE 4 1. Plato A. From a rich and well-off family. B. He did military service. Fought from 409- 404. Peloponnesian War. Lasted for 25 years. Plato fought in the last 5 years. Between Greek city and Sparta. War ended in 404. Athens supported Sparta. Oligarchy of the Tenants. Plato broke up with politics. Democracy was brought back to Athens, overthrow of Oligarchy of the 30. Plato was related to the previous regimes. Socrates feared a lot worse. He was tried and then executed on 399. C. Plato’s life is divided into Early, middle and early dialogues. He became a serious writer after Socrates died. 2. Trial and Death of Socrates. A. Nuisance to other teachers. He was said to behave impiously in public and imparting bad knowledge to the youth. B. Myelitis is the main accuser. C. All male citizens were eligible to serve by the jury. D. He was convicted by a very few votes, about 30. E. He is made to drink the Hemlock and dies. 3. Charges against Socrates. A. Charged of corrupting the youth. a. Publicly known as a teacher and he ran a fowl among other teachers and people from other professions. b. Oracle at Delphi said that Socrates is the wisest man. c. He would interrogate every person. d. He realizes that these people are not as wise as him. e. A few young people who try to follow his example. f. He thinks he is not doing anything other than pursuing the truth. g. Charge of disrespect and Impiety to the Gods.

B. He said he cannot be charged of Impiety because he is doing all this because of what a divine oracle told him. 4. What is the real cause of the trial. A. Do you think Socrates has good responses to the charges? a. He thinks that the only reason he is charged is that he is vastly unpopular. b. He is poor, and makes no money, is not a public figure, not a businessman, and does not engage in any public craft. 5. What is Socrates defending? A. Things being defended; a. The city of Athens. b. Philosophy c. And Himself. B. He didn’t care about the outcome of the trial. C. He though what he did was fine. D. He said he would not stop practicing philosophy and he would abide by the Gods rather than the Jury. E. He says that the Oracle has asked him to push the city of Athens to enlightenment. And that he is a gift and it would be Athens loss if they hurt him. F. To live a good life is to tell the truth. G. A good life is a private life. H. Shouldn’t be influenced by money, fame, and power if you want to seek the truth.

6. CRITO A. Socrates would break out from jail and his friends would let him but he stayed in jail and went through the punishment. B. Crito is agreeing with everything that Socrates is saying. C. Socrates while arguing, bakes into the mindset and conversation of the opposition and does he win. D. He asks Crito a lot of questions. E. He does not directly refute the claims of the conversation partner. F. He tries to see if what they speak are consistent to what they believe is true. And he gets them to refine or leave the argument. G. After the useless jitters from his opponents are removed, you are left with true knowledge. We will finally be left with information that is air tight, and that is true knowledge. H. Plato scholars call the method of questioning as Elenchus. I. Plato readers believe that Socrates already knows the answer to the questions that he is asking. 7. Crito’s Arguments. A. Socrates had lots of friends and Crito is one of them, and he has a plan to help Socrates flee.

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Crito said that Socrates should not be worried about him as even if he gets caught he has got furthermore resources. C. He also said that there are more friends who are ready to spend on him to help him flee. D. Crito said that Socrates needs to man up, and cannot flee from his children that is his moral responsibility and complete your obligation to your family and children. He also says that Socrates has given up and he should fight for what he believes. He says its braver to Fight for himself and flee. Socrates refutes by saying that he needs to live for his conviction even if he needs to die for it. 8. Socrates’s dismissal of Crito’s opinion. A. He did not care about public opinion, and cared only about the best opinion. He says he must stick with his principles. B. Socrates tells Crito that he is looking in the wrong direction. There are experts in the matter of justice and they should look for guidance to the experts of justice. C. It didn’t matter what the majority think, but what the experts think. Matters of justice are not handled well by the public. 9. Is it just for Socrates to flee? A. It is never just to do an injustice even if it’s payback. B. TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE A RIGHT. C. Socrates has made an agreement with the city and the laws. He has taken on the safety and the benefits of Athens and his fleeing would hurt the city. D. Reference to Creon’s argument to Antigone that the City is the most important. E. TACIT CONSENT F. He has agreed to abide the law, and the law has not wronged him, it is the jury. And so, the Socrates must keep his part of the agreement with the law. 10. What is the Extent of Our obligation to the state and its laws? What is the basis of this argument? And Why?

LECTURE 5 Republic Book 1 A. Context and themes. 1. Plato became active after Socrates death. Intellectuals grew up and trained under him. One of those students was Aristotle. 2. He tried to bring a critical light towards the law, order etc. 3. Plato mainly compared different regimes and different types of rules. B. Major characters. 1. Socrates- former teacher of Plato. Brought back to life, still searching for true knowledge. 2. Two brothers- and Glaucon. Glaucon very good friends with Socrates. 3. Cephilis. Wealthy arms dealer. 4. Another, Socrates main argument partner. C. What is justice?

1. Socrates asks Cephyllus about his old age. And he is as good as he is in his old age because he is very wealthy. Cephylus said that wealth has kept me pious and truthful as he didn’t have to do anything unjust like LYING AND PAYING OFF YOUR DEBTS because he was wealthy. Socrates counters otherwise. And says that sometimes being just is lying and not repaying the debt. Palemarcus, Cephylis’s son gives justice a new meaning. JUSTICE IS GIVING PEOPLE WHAT IS OWED TO THEM. A common pair of “friends and enemies” to decide what people to decide. We really need to scrutinize our friends to see if they are good people. Even when a horrible person is identified we shouldn’t do wrong to them as it pushes them to be a worse person through the idea of vengeance. Thrasymachus- HE SAYS THAT JUSTICE IS THE ADVANTAGE OF THE STRONGER. Justice is just power and dynamics of power. Laws are supposed to be codes the justice. In a tyranny, the justice is advantaged towards the one ruler; and in a democracy the public. We can see that supports the powerful side. Rulers try to benefit themselves while making laws, then they legitimize it by saying that the law is a moral code. People scratch out advantages of themselves. TO BE JUST IS TO JUST SUBORDINATE YOURSELF TO SOMEONE IN POWER, I.E. PUT YOURSELF BELOW THOSE IN POWER. There is zero- sum gain over power and the winner plays the category of just, whereas the losers become unjust. GOOD PEOPLE WANT TO RULE, IN GENERAL PEOPLE WANT TO RULE IS BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO LEAVE THE PEOPLE TO SOMEONE UNJUST. Socrates says that entering politics is a lot of sacrifice. Someone who is wise is someone who has mastered a skill set or craft. Justice is supposed to be collaborative, like an art rather than means of a zero- sum gain. D. Is justice the equality of human soul? 1. Communities are unjust when they are splitting up and fractioning. People with unjust soul have a lot of inner turmoil and leads them to unjust doings.

Republic book 2 A. What is justice? And Ring of Gyges. 1. The brothers want Socrates to show them, that a. human being should be just as it is good for its own sake; b. to show that being just pays benefit. 2. Gyges- finds a corpse with a ring- ring gives invisibility- convince the queen to overthrow the king. 3. Justice is between the best and the worst. Most of us are too weak to do bad things in the fear of getting caught. The idea that keeps us just is the idea that we think that we are being watched. We would all do bad things without the sense of being watched as Justice is not profitable but Unjust is very profitable. Without the threat of being caught and the fear of consequences, we would all do bad. We are just because we are socialized to be. 4. Do we do act just so that others will see us and praise us? Or we want the gods to see us.

B. Analogy of the Republic. 1. Socrates has not told anyone what justice is yet. 2. Socrates explains justice by giving an analogy between a person and a city. 3. What is takes for the city to be just first? He considers the city because it’s easier when you look at it from a larger scale first. Is this an appropriate comparison? Why do we for cities in the first place? Why do we have political communities? We do it for the need, as an individual has various needs and these needs are fulfilled by an entire community specializing in different crafts and then trade.

LECTURE 6 Justice- telling the truth and repaying the debts Is justice what the powerful say it is?

Justice makes us happy and it has its advantages. Socrates started the question of Justice. He hasn’t told us what the definition is. Two brothers issue a challenge to Socrates. Justice is good by itself and brings its advantages. 1. Analogy: City + Man A. Socrates wants to show what it is to be just. He needs to look at the larger things and then considers the smaller things. B. Scale Comparison. Scale Comparison Is this comparison appropriate? C. Builds a city of words. Human need a lot of things to survive and it is better that instead of one man performing all the activities, all the work is divided among the men based on their specialization. Socrates imagines a simple city. Glaucon- calls Socrates’s city as the city of pigs. This city eventually grows as more and more people try to specialize in all the activities and thus the city would need to expand. In the idea of a luxurious city, some people would have to take a role of the warriors. D. Warriors/ Guardians require physical strength. Socrates says that these roles are for life. 2. Guardian education.

A. What should they be taught? Censorship? To teach them about being courageous, brave, strong etc. Little kids don’t know the difference between what is real and what is not. So, it is very important to teach them the right things. The guardians, as a kid are taught about gods and heroes. They are taught that death is not something to fear. TO avoid the stories where the gods are cruel, vicious, dishonest or passive. Ring of Gyges is out. Physical training. Fine arts like music, poetry etc. to softer the rough edges; so that they can be good to the people they protect. People of a certain nature can become guardian, but they cannot be just left alone, and their nature should be properly nurtured. A few people are picked from the guardians, to take care of the guardians. They keep the city above all. They are carefully chosen when they are kids, and later they set the rules of training. - guardians. Rest is auxiliaries. Noble Lie need to be told to every person in the city- Myth of the Metals. Gods mixed metals while making these men. Guardians- Earth + Gold Auxiliaries- Earth + Silver Producers- Earth + Bronze/ Iron Rigid hierarchy. If a gold child is born to silver, they have leave and live with other guardians. A bronze can never rule the city. Guardians & Auxiliaries- City provides living quarters, they have no privacy, they live together, eat together etc. They cannot own property, they cannot touch money, they cannot earn money, not own any jewelry. Because private property needs planning and management, which would distract them from their duties. Should leaders live more austere lives? What is importance being the happiness and prosperity of the entire city and not a part. Poverty also restricts people to perform to their best capabilities. The city should not be too small and not too big that it loses its unity. Guardians should have common women and children, as a family would make they prioritize their personal life over the city. 3. What are the virtue of the city? A. Wisdom Specialized knowledge is what Socrates calls wisdom- it’s with the guardians. (political and ethical) B. Courage With the auxiliaries.

C. Temperance Temperance in the order of human cities, and it produces concord and harmony in the city. If the better rule the worse, i.e. Hierarchy, political and ethical expertise, it is the temperance. It’s not confined to anyone class but spread through the city/ hierarchy. Temperance is like a chord where one class is a note. D. Justice Like temperance. Justice is finding people their appropriate roles. It is doing one’s own work and not meddle with another people’s work. Knowing your place and working in that sphere. 4. Tripartite Soul Every human should has three crucial parts in them. We have plenty of desires and we are desire driven. We desire knowledge/ truth. We want honor and glory. We want food, sex, money. - base desires. R- Rational- strong in guardians S- spiritual- strong in auxiliaries A- Appentive- strong in Producers. If you have a just soul, your elements are ordered properly. All the three parts are there in everyone’s soul, but as mentioned above one of them is stronger. 5.

What is justice? The just person is someone with a ordered soul. The three parts of the soul does not meddle with one another.

LECTURE 7

Assignment

Thesis Statement is reqd. What makes it a good one? Arguing Something. Argument or view should be firmly stated The lie question should be answered What you plan to argue? Why you think?

First Person is Acceptable Take a position on the question Support it with evidence in the text

What you’re arguing and why? -----------------------------------------Plato’s Republic 1. Guardian, women & children. - Adamantus asked fo...