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Lecturer(s)
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Konrádová Veronika, Mgr. Ph.D.
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Course content
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1) Political thought, political philosophy, political science, classical political philosophy. What does the word political mean? When did political thinking rise? Greek contribution to political thought. The specifics of the Greek concept of politics. Beginning of political reflection. Basic topics in ancient Greek political thought. 2)The monarchist organization of society in mythical times. Palace culture, palace centers: Mycenean and Cretan culture; anax, basileus. Myth and mythopoetic relationship to the world, cosmogony and establishment of the world order. The beginnings of political thought in Mycenean and Homeric times. The concept of man and deity at Homer; the idea of a divine guarantee of right and justice in Hesiod. 3) Origin and characteristics of polis. The role of speech. New concept of civic virtue, transformation of civic ideology, concept of isonomy (equality). Political reflection in Greek lyrical poetry: Tyrtaios, Solon.Solon's political reforms. 4) Presocratic philosophers: (a) criticism of myths and religions (Xenophanes, Heraclitus); b) a new picture of the world in Anaximander's cosmology; c) law and justice (diké) in the presocratics (Anaximandrus, Heraclitus, Parmenides); (d) the Pythagorean community. 5) Political thought in Greek tragedy and comedy. Theater as a political institution. Aeschylus: Oresteia (founding the Areopagus, the public administration of justice); Sophocles: Antigone (the beginnings of the polis, commitment to family and polis), Aristophanes: Women's Assembly (the idea of common ownership), Lysistrata. 6) Political thought in Greek historiography. Herodotus - the question of the best arrangement of the polis; types of constitutions. Thucydides - characteristics of democracy and discussion on the right - Pericles and the concept of democracy. 7) Sophists. The role of speech in public life. Social and political topics: a) the origin and purpose of the law, fysis-nomos opposition, b) the concept of society and the polis, c) Sophistic relativism - rhetoric and the power of speech, d) education and virtue. 8) Democritus. Democritean concept of an individual and community, the role of the law, the polemic with the sophists. Theory of a social contract. 9) Socrates as a historical and literary figure, the Socratic method of examination. Virtue (aret?), virtue and education, "care of the soul," Socrates' attitude to practical politics, Socrates trial (Apology), Socrates and Athenian laws (dialog Crito). 10) Plato and his dialogues, the structure of Plato's dialogue the Republic (Politeia); Politeia as an organization of a just polis; difference between the best and just polis in the Republic; the role of philosophers in the polis; criticism of the best arrangement in the dialogue Charmides; the concept of justice in Plato's dialogues (Gorgias); a politician and a dialectical method of governance (Politicus), the role of law in the polis (Politicus, the Laws). 11) Aristotle's conception of the best city; the structure of Politics; "naturalistic" concept of polis (city-state); what does it mean that the polis is fysei?; relationship between the individual and the community; a good citizen and a good man; Aristotle as a critic of Plato's conception of polis; political and non-political government; justification of the government as such; types of constitutions; the best arrangement of the polis (politeia). 12) Hellenism; change in the geopolitical situation, the transformation of the Greek polis; cynicism and stoicism, the idea of cosmopolitanism; epicureanism, Epicurus 'conception of the relation of citizen and community, Epicurus' ethics and politics (social contract), Epicurean ideas in Lucretius; scepticism. 13) Polybius: the idea of mixed constitution and a cycle of constitutions (anakyklosis); Roman Republic (res publica); Cicero: his conception of the best constitution; structure and content of De re publica; stability and the compromise of the constitution.
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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unspecified
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Learning outcomes
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The course provides a basic overview of the ancient political thought of the 7th - 1st century BC. It informs about a broad spectrum of not only philosophical but also other literary genres developing political thinking in antiquity (epic, lyric, drama, historiography). Along with the chronological overview, it highlights the constant themes that determine the nature of political thinking in antiquity: order and justice, the beginnings of a political community, the origin and role of legal norms, the problem of abuse of power, best political organization, stability and disintegration of political regime.
Learning outcomes: students will acquire the following academic knowledge: - can characterise the specifics of philosophy as an independent discipline - can use academic terminology - can explain basic philosophical concepts - can distinguish fundamental traits of philosophy - can describe selected philosophical problems in various areas of philosophical inquiry - can set the most relevant issues of individual philosophical disciplines in historical context
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Prerequisites
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None
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Assessment methods and criteria
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unspecified
The exam consists of a discussion on seminar paper and oral examination. Seminar paper on a selected topic must have a length of 5 pages (+/- 9000 characters, including spaces); the oral examination will be based on issues presented during the lectures.
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Recommended literature
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Aristotelés. Politika I: řecko-česky. Praha, 1999.
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cicero. O věcech veřejných. Praha, 2009. ISBN 978-80-7298-133-5.
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Havlíček, A., Mráz, M. Dějiny politického myšlení I/1, I/2. Praha, 2015. ISBN 978-80-7298-492-3.
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Ch. Rowe a M. Schofield (vyd. The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Political Thought. Cambridge, 2000.
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Mulgan, R. G. Aristotelova politická teorie. Praha, 1999. ISBN 80-86005-69-0.
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Platón . Ústava.
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Strauss, L. Eseje o politické filosofii. Praha, 1995.
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Strauss, L. Obec a člověk. Praha, 2007. ISBN 978-80-7298-116-8.
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Vernant, J.-P. Počátky řeckého myšlení. Praha, 1993. ISBN 978-80-7298-393-3.
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