A World History of Ancient Political Thought A World History of Ancient Political Thought: Its Significance and Consequences

by Black, Antony

• ISBN13: 9780199281695
• ISBN10: 0199281696
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-07-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book examines the political thought of China, Greece, Israel, Rome, India, Iran, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and also early Christianity, from prehistory to c. 200 CE. Each of these had its own priorities, based on a religious and philosophical perspective. This led to different ideas about whoshould govern, how to govern, and what government was for.In most cultures, sacred monarchy was the norm, but this ranged from absolute to conditional authority. 'The people' were recipients of royal (and divine) beneficence. Justice, the rule of law and meritocracy were generally regarded as fundamental. In Greece and Rome, democracy and liberty wereborn, while in Israel the polity was based on covenant and the law. Confucius taught humaneness, Mozi and Christianity taught universal love; Kautilya and the Chinese 'Legalists' believed in realpolitik and an authoritarian state. The conflict between might and right was resolved in many differentways.Chinese, Greek and Indian thinkers reflected on the origin and purposes of the state. Status and class were embedded in Indian and Chinese thought, the nation in Israelite thought. The Stoics and Cicero, on the other hand, saw humanity as a single unit. Political philosophy, using logic, evidenceand dialectic, was invented in China and Greece, statecraft in China and India, political science in Greece. Plato and Aristotle, followed by Polybius and Cicero, started 'western' political philosophy.This book covers political philosophy, religious ideology, constitutional theory, social ethics, official and popular political culture.

Author Biography

Antony Black is Professor Emeritus in the History of Political Thought, School of Humanities, University of Dundee. He was Lecturer in Politics at University of Dundee from 1963 until retirement in 2000. 1975-76 Visiting Associate Professor, School of Government and Public Administration, The American University, Washington DC., USA. 1980-81 Senior Research Fellow, Nuffield Foundation. March-April 1993 Visiting Professor, Faculty of Jurisprudence, University of Trento, Italy. 1993-7. Head of Dept. of Politics 1995-9 Book Review Editor of Early Modern History: Contacts, Contrasts and Comparisons (Brill).

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	p. xii
Time Chart	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Early Communities and States	p. 6
Human groups	p. 6
Social behaviour and intelligence	p. 7
Small groups and reciprocal altruism	p. 8
Symbolic systems	p. 9
Democracy?	p. 11
Tribes	p. 11
Hierarchy and ownership	p. 12
Them and us	p. 14
Sacred monarchy	p. 15
Egypt	p. 22
Morality: justice	p. 25
Equality	p. 28
Individuals	p. 29
Spin	p. 29
Conclusion	p. 30
Mesopotamia, Assyria, Babylon	p. 33
The functions of monarchy	p. 38
Justice	p. 40
City assemblies	p. 42
Iran	p. 47
Israel	p. 50
The covenant	p. 52
The people of Israel	p. 55
Nation	p. 56
The elders and the people	p. 57
Monarchy	p. 60
The Messiah	p. 63
India	p. 69
Castes	p. 72
Kingship	p. 74
Morality and pragmatism	p. 79
Kautilya's Arthashastra: approach and method	p. 80
Kautilya on political economy and foreign policy	p. 82
Buddhism	p. 84
China	p. 92
The Mandate and the people	p. 95
Status and meritocracy: 'advance the worthy'	p. 100
Public service	p. 102
Confucius on li (ritual conduct) and ren (humaneness)	p. 103
Persuasion, not coercion	p. 105
Mozi	p. 107
The origins of the state	p. 108
Shang Yang and Han Feizi: coercion and Realpolitik	p. 110
A new kind of monarchy: the Laozi and Han Feizi	p. 115
The First Emperor	p. 120
Han Confucianism	p. 122
Conclusion	p. 125
The Greeks	p. 130
The polis	p. 130
Athens and demokratia	p. 138
Plato	p. 148
Aristotle	p. 158
Conclusions	p. 168
Rome	p. 175
Cicero and the Roman republic	p. 175
Stoicism and the principate	p. 191
Power and philosophy in Rome and China	p. 197
Graeco-Roman Humanism	p. 203
Globalization	p. 205
Pax romana	p. 205
Cosmopolis	p. 207
Natural law	p. 210
The Kingdom of Heaven and the Church of Christ	p. 215
After Jesus	p. 219
How do we know?	p. 220
Ritual	p. 222
The church	p. 222
The state	p. 224
Themes: Similarities and Differences Between Cultures	p. 227
Sacred monarchy	p. 227
The state	p. 228
Justice	p. 229
The origins of kingship	p. 230
The people	p. 231
Social categories	p. 232
Genres	p. 233
Theory and practice; ethics and expediency	p. 234
General Conclusion	p. 237
Bibliography	p. 240
Index	p. 255
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