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Political Dissent in Democratic Athens : Intellectual Critics of Popular Rule / Josiah Ober.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Martin Classical Lectures ; 30Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2011]Copyright date: ©1998Edition: Core TextbookDescription: 1 online resource (440 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691089812
  • 9781400822713
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 320.010938
LOC classification:
  • DF275.O33 1998
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction. Why Dissent? Why Athens? -- CHAPTER 1. The Problem of Dissent: Criticism as Contest -- CHAPTER 2. Public Speech and Brute Fact: Thucydides -- CHAPTER 3. Essence and Enactment: Aristophanes Ecclesiazusae -- CHAPTER 4. Justice, Knowledge, Power: Plato Apology, Crito, Gorgias, Republic -- CHAPTER 5. Eloquence, Leadership, Memory: Isocrates Antidosis and Areopagiticus -- CHAPTER 6. Political Animals, Actual Citizens, and the Best Possible Polis: Aristotle Politics -- CHAPTER 7. The Dialectics of Dissent: Criticism as Dialogue -- Bibliography -- Index Locorum -- General Index
Summary: How and why did the Western tradition of political theorizing arise in Athens during the late fifth and fourth centuries B.C.? By interweaving intellectual history with political philosophy and literary analysis, Josiah Ober argues that the tradition originated in a high-stakes debate about democracy. Since elite Greek intellectuals tended to assume that ordinary men were incapable of ruling themselves, the longevity and resilience of Athenian popular rule presented a problem: how to explain the apparent success of a regime "irrationally" based on the inherent wisdom and practical efficacy of decisions made by non-elite citizens? The problem became acute after two oligarchic coups d' tat in the late fifth century B.C. The generosity and statesmanship that democrats showed after regaining political power contrasted starkly with the oligarchs' violence and corruption. Since it was no longer self-evident that "better men" meant "better government," critics of democracy sought new arguments to explain the relationship among politics, ethics, and morality. Ober offers fresh readings of the political works of Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle, among others, by placing them in the context of a competitive community of dissident writers. These thinkers struggled against both democratic ideology and intellectual rivals to articulate the best and most influential criticism of popular rule. The competitive Athenian environment stimulated a century of brilliant literary and conceptual innovation. Through Ober's re-creation of an ancient intellectual milieu, early Western political thought emerges not just as a "footnote to Plato," but as a dissident commentary on the first Western democracy.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781400822713

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction. Why Dissent? Why Athens? -- CHAPTER 1. The Problem of Dissent: Criticism as Contest -- CHAPTER 2. Public Speech and Brute Fact: Thucydides -- CHAPTER 3. Essence and Enactment: Aristophanes Ecclesiazusae -- CHAPTER 4. Justice, Knowledge, Power: Plato Apology, Crito, Gorgias, Republic -- CHAPTER 5. Eloquence, Leadership, Memory: Isocrates Antidosis and Areopagiticus -- CHAPTER 6. Political Animals, Actual Citizens, and the Best Possible Polis: Aristotle Politics -- CHAPTER 7. The Dialectics of Dissent: Criticism as Dialogue -- Bibliography -- Index Locorum -- General Index

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How and why did the Western tradition of political theorizing arise in Athens during the late fifth and fourth centuries B.C.? By interweaving intellectual history with political philosophy and literary analysis, Josiah Ober argues that the tradition originated in a high-stakes debate about democracy. Since elite Greek intellectuals tended to assume that ordinary men were incapable of ruling themselves, the longevity and resilience of Athenian popular rule presented a problem: how to explain the apparent success of a regime "irrationally" based on the inherent wisdom and practical efficacy of decisions made by non-elite citizens? The problem became acute after two oligarchic coups d' tat in the late fifth century B.C. The generosity and statesmanship that democrats showed after regaining political power contrasted starkly with the oligarchs' violence and corruption. Since it was no longer self-evident that "better men" meant "better government," critics of democracy sought new arguments to explain the relationship among politics, ethics, and morality. Ober offers fresh readings of the political works of Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle, among others, by placing them in the context of a competitive community of dissident writers. These thinkers struggled against both democratic ideology and intellectual rivals to articulate the best and most influential criticism of popular rule. The competitive Athenian environment stimulated a century of brilliant literary and conceptual innovation. Through Ober's re-creation of an ancient intellectual milieu, early Western political thought emerges not just as a "footnote to Plato," but as a dissident commentary on the first Western democracy.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)