The statesmanship and political philosophy
The idea of statesmanship and politics forged in Greece since the emergence of the
independent city-state “also known as Polis”. The “Polis” was basically meant as a peak place of
human civilization and a principle domain where human fulfilment could be sought. The
politics, justice and equality were important topics for the political theories and arguments in the
civil battles. At the time theories such as who can participate in politics, who counts equal, the
definition of justice and how justice is served, were fundamentals to the city. (Lane 2018)
In giving birth to philosophy, the polis also gave birth to a tension between what Aristotle
would describe as two lives: the life of politics and the life of philosophy. A fault line between
ethics and politics, so closely connected in an ancient culture preoccupied with flourishing
(eudaimonia) and virtue (aretê), opened here. At point, Plato’s student Aristotle, the practice and
even the study of human affairs such as politics were less divine, and so less admirable, than the
broader study of truth about the natural and the divine realms. (Jowett, 1892)
About the politics and ethics, in considering practical reason to be the domain of both
ethics and politics, Aristotle follows Plato in drawing no sharp line between those two domains.
Aristotle also says that “it is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by
nature a political animal.” In another famous contention of the work—that “a citizen is one who
shares in governing and being governed” also translatable as “ruling and being ruled in turn”),
modern political scholars criticized this by saying political participation is not mandatory but one
should follow the law of the land where the individual lives, but again even if an individual does
not participate in politics, the rules and laws must be followed. . (Jowett, 1937)
Political philosophy as a genre was invented in this period by Plato and, in effect,
reinvented by Aristotle: it encompasses reflections on the origin of political institutions, the
concepts used to interpret and organize political life such as justice and equality, the relation
between the aims of ethics and the nature of politics, and the relative merits of different
constitutional arrangements or regimes (Lane 2018)
The natural law: Plato (427–347 B.C.) is usually numbered among the most important
thinkers in the natural law tradition. The idea of nature as a fundamental and organic principle of
things and its relationship to specifically human affairs was already the subject of vigorous
discussion by the Pre-Socratic philosophers, and mentor Socrates’s (469–399 B.C.) engagement
with them is preserved in many of Plato’s works. (Jowett, 1892) however, at no point in the
practical works does Aristotle use a compound term directly equivalent to “natural law.” (Stump
2020) The closest approximation is found neither in the Nicomachean Ethics nor in the Politics,
but rather in the Rhetoric, which distinguishes between particular and common law (nomon ton
men idion ton de koinon) by stipulating that the latter consists of things agreed upon by all
persons and hence in accord with nature (Duke 2020)
The justice: Plato offers an account of justice linking the political to the psychological
and justice to a higher understanding of true goodness. The Republic is, with the Laws, an order
of magnitude longer than any other Platonic dialogue. Readers today are likely to think of the
Republic as the home par excellence of political philosophy. But that view has also been
challenged by scholars who see it as primarily an ethical dialogue, driven by the question of why
the individual should be just (Annas 1999).
According to Plato, justice and the State are the warp and the woof which run through the
whole texture. And when the constitution of the State is completed, the conception of justice is
not dismissed, but reappears under the same or different names throughout the work, both as the
inner law of the individual soul, and finally as the principle of rewards and punishments in
another life.
Plato and Aristotle (Pol. vi. c. 8) laws do not separate the judicial, legislators and
executive bodies of the state. The question to them was who should execute a sentence? Every
Athenian was at some time or on some occasion in his life a magistrate, judge, advocate, soldier,
sailor, policeman. (ix. 881).
Justice was conceived by poets, lawgivers, and philosophers alike as the structure of civic
bonds which were beneficial to all (rich and poor, powerful, and weak alike) rather than an
exploitation of some by others. (Lane 2018)
Plato about slavery: ‘The right treatment of slaves is to behave properly to them, and to
do to them, if possible, even more justice than to those who are our equals; for he who naturally
and genuinely reverences justice, and hates injustice, is discovered in his dealings with any class
of men to whom he can easily be unjust’ (vi. 777 D, E). Aristotle defines the stateman or a king
to be distinguished from the rule of a master over his slaves. According to Socrates the laws
which they make must be obeyed by their subjects (Jowett 1892 p340)
Like Aristotle, Plato envisioned the state as the place where goodness could be realized.
In his Republic, he viewed "the Good itself" as "a pattern for the right ordering of the state and of
the individual themselves included." (Robitzsch 2017) Rights existed only between those who
were free and equal before the state, for equality was to be found among those who shared their
life in community' and justice in the state demanded a unanimity in which mutual rights would
not be violated. Plato, however, neither predicated his concept of justice upon the idea of rights
nor viewed the function of justice as that of maintaining such rights. (Kutner, 1972)
The Gospel and Statesmanship: Many of the legal tradition of roman society for quite
some time they were revolutionized by the Christian idea that every soul is made in the image of
God and worthy of salvation. Most of classical society was structure of a very few men could use
their material position and salves to live an ideal human life. The rest of humanities were
accessory of best. As Christian began to control of political institution, law eventually changed to
reflect this reality. The gradual ending of slavery and the increased status of women are two of
the most significant effects of these changes. (Chupp 2021)
Bibliography:
Cupp, Jesse. Natural law, the state, and the Gospel. Liberty University. 2021
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Harte, V., 1999, “Conflicting Values in Plato’s Crito,” Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 81:
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Luis Kutner, Legal Philosophers: A Trilogy on Great Philosophers and the Law: Plato and
Aristotle: Precursors of the Human Rights of World Habeas Corpus, 55 Marq. L. Rev.
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Plato and Benjamin Jowett, The Dialogues of Plato. New York: Random House, 1937.
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