Political Thought
The study of western political thought has endured a drastic change throughout the centuries. This shift occurred through the queries of ancient philosophical minds such as Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and St. Augustine. Two examples of great importance are the inequality of gender and the role of power distributed and issued within the state.Plato believed all people, men and women alike are created equal; this notion runs parallel to our modern day Constitution. He states "if we are to set women to the same tasks as men, we must teach them the same things," they must endure "training for the mind and body and also be taught the art of war" (149). Plato developed a role known as a guardian or a soldier to protect over the people. He relates this to the fact that if watchdogs can be both male and female why can't guardians. Aristotle is known as Plato's greatest pupil. He was strongly influenced by the teachings of Plato but was also known for ridiculing some of his ways. His view of women is drastically different from those of Plato. By nature, he says, women are to be dominated by men. Aristotle refers to women as imperfect men. He acknowledges that women can possess reason, but can not obtain the same stature as
St. Augustine took the Stoics ideas of equality one step further. His views pertain to that of the Christian approach. Augustine believed that people were all equals within the City of God. Spiritually women were identical to men, but physically they shared many differences. This idea of equality holds true even to present day. After much reading for this report, I realized the major impact these philosophers have had both in equality and state over the nations of today. This shows that at one time certain governments or rights were at there prime, but as time progresses things change. One thing will always remain and that is the impact of religion over society. These paragraphs demonstrate a tremendous change in the equality of women within society. Another example that was greatly impacted by these time periods was the change in the role of power distributed and issued within the state. Government was gradually moving away from the days of Plato. The beginning of Stoic philosophy formed a totally different view on the idea of equality. Equality was no longer devised with respects to a community in the whole, but rather as individuals. The Stoics developed a system consisting of three classes. Everyone within each particular class was
Some common words found in the essay are:
Aristotle Plato's, God Spiritually, Plato's Aristotle, Plato Augustine, St Augustine, , Augustine Stoics, Aristotle Zeno, plato believed, distributed issued plato, role power distributed, believed people, women alike, power distributed, distributed issued, issued plato, power distributed issued, ideal city, aristotle believed, idea equality, natural law,
Approximate Word count = 850
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
|