AC640--Public Sphere Communication in History: Classic Sources Week 1: Aristotle, Machiavelli, Marx January 7, 2006

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AC640--Public SphereCommunication in History
Classic SourcesWeek 1 Aristotle, Machiavelli,
MarxJanuary 7, 2006
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The AC640 podcast

• please listen to this podcast before you begin to
  read the Power Point slides (a brief musical
  segment begins and ends the podcast)
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  (the far right button on the tool bar on the
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• the podcast lasts approximately 4 minutes, and
  provides a brief introduction to this weeks
  Public Sphere slides on Aristotle, Machiavelli,
  and Marx
• the sound quality may be improved if you use
  headphones to listen rather than work from your
  computers speakers
• the file is formatted as a MP3 file, the most
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Communication in History Classic Sourcesplacing
these readings in context

• the point of this initial Public Sphere
  presentation (with accompanying podcast) is to
  review briefly three classic texts in political
  theory
• these three texts are here to get us thinking, in
  a historical and foundational way, about the
  nature of the political as defined by three
  canonical thinkers from contrasting philosophical
  perspectives
• its important to distinguish the problem of the
  political (how do we govern ourselves, how is
  power organized, how do we things get done) from
  our usual association of politics with
  electioneering, slogans, photo ops, and other
  more sensational or self-interested aspects of
  elections and government
• these readings focus on the nature of politics
  itself, and age-old issues relating to
  governance, power, representation, authority,
  justice, and state functions regarding war,
  taxation, infrastructure, economy, etc.
• we can appreciate how our contemporary obsessions
  -- the GNP, the GST, American-Canadian
  relations-- are echoed in ways by these ancient
  and historical texts

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Aristotle who is he?

• 384-322 BCE
• born in northern Greece, and studied at his
  mentor Platos famous academy
• tutor to Alexander the Great, who conquered most
  of the known ancient world by age 33
• believed to have written 150 philosophical
  treatises some 30 survive
• wrote on a variety of topics, and in notes and
  commentaries now collected as the Economics, the
  Ethics, the Rhetoric, the Politics, etc.

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Quotable quote Aristotle

• But he who is unable to live in society, or
  who has no need because he is sufficient for
  himself, must be either a beast or a god he is
  no part of the state.
• Book 1, part III

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tribeless, lawless, hearthlessthe
indispensable nature of politics

• in book 1, Aristotle demonstrates a dispassionate
  and scholarly view of politics and economics, and
  behaves like a contemporary political scientist
  might as he or she scrutinizes the meaning and
  practice of the political
• he is concerned to review the different kinds of
  political systems that are possible, and also to
  discuss fundamental points of economics (at
  rather tedious length!)
• at this very early point in human history,
  Aristotle is concerned to state that politics in
  intrinsic to human identity -- that it is in our
  nature to be political, and that human life is
  unimaginable without a political system
• in Aristotles words, only a beast or a god can
  survive outside a polity -- that is, outside
  political life as it takes the form of a
  particular system of coordinating human life,
  marshalling resources, resolving disputes, etc.
• Aristotle signals the inherent political nature
  of humanity by famously describing us as
  political animals or, in the Greek, zoon
  politikón
• Hence it is evident that the state is a
  creation of nature, and that man is by nature a
  political animal.

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the state as the highest form of politics

• the state is the definitive political phenomenon
  in human life, and itself has evolved organically
  out of more primitive forms of governance based
  on family structure and kingship
• a state is the civil government of a country
  (Oxford American Dictionary), and represents a
  formal and rational system of organizing the
  distribution of power and resources necessary to
  governing a society
• those who hold power in the state do so because
  they are naturally fitted for leadership they
  must not do so by arbitrary means, e.g., by force

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the nature of power and hierarchy

• Aristotles view of hierarchy is one that may be
  described as organic in nature
• by organic we mean denoting a relationship
  between elements of something such that they fit
  together harmoniously as necessary parts of a
  whole (Oxford American Dictionary)
• Aristotle believes that there are naturally
  superior and inferior classes of people this is
  affirmed by his defense of slavery, a phenomenon
  widespread in the ancient world, on the grounds
  that slaves are people whose nature it is to be
  used as their servile natures intend
• some men are by nature free, and others
  slaves, and for those latter, slavery is both
  expedient and right.
• while he is not a democrat, Aristotle is also
  someone who believes that those who are equipped
  by nature to rule must use their power wisely and
  responsibly

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Niccolo Machiavelli who is he?

• 1469-1527 CE
• Machiavellis early career was as a politician in
  the city-state of Florence, now part of Italy
• When the Florentine republic collapsed,
  Machiavelli was on the wrong side of the new
  regime, and was forced to retreat into a life of
  private scholarship and reflection
• Here he wrote several treatises on politics,
  including his most famous book, The Prince (1513)
• Machiavellis name is now a byword for ruthless
  and practical politics, as in the adjective
  Machiavellian

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Quotable quote

• A prince ought, above all things, always to
  endeavour in every action to gain for himself the
  reputation of being a great and remarkable man.
• The Prince, chapter 21

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Aristotle versus Machiavelli

• Aristotle presented an idealized view of
  politics, one founded on an inherent natural
  hierarchy between ruler and ruled, and an organic
  and complementary relationship between the
  classes
• Machiavellis view is dramatically different
  there is no idealism here, only Machiavellis
  famously pragmatic, and entirely modern
  perception of the real and practical matter of
  wielding power effectively
• Machiavellis writings read like op-ed columns by
  a political journalist, or a consultants report
  by someone working for a political candidate in
  our contemporary world
• Machiavelli is one of the earliest and most
  famous exponents of what is called realpolitik
  that is, a system of politics or principles
  based on practical rather than moral or
  ideological considerations

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how a prince should conduct himself

• Machiavellis advice to politicians is very
  contemporary in character be charismatic, be
  bold, and use the pomp and trappings of authority
  to justify your power
• we can draw an analogy between the federal
  Liberal Party, struggling to maintain a positive
  ethical public image while contending with the
  consequences of the Gomery commissions findings,
  or the U.S. Republican party coping with the
  Abramoff bribes scandal while professing to be
  the party of virtue and moral rigor, with
  Machiavellis suggestion that a prince should in
  private practice expedient politics, while in
  public act so as to be always maintaining the
  majesty of his rank
• the nuance of this expedient and practical
  approach to politics, while always maintaining
  the right public image, is evident in his
  detailed discussion of why a prince should never
  be neutral (during one of the endless wars that
  afflicted Europe), but align himself with one of
  the warring parties and deal with the
  consequences later

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Machiavelli and impression management

• the McLuhan Campaign 640 presentation addressed
  the importance of performance in todays
  political culture
• Machiavelli demonstrates how old this matter of
  public perception and optics is that the
  successful exercise of power depends
  significantly on the fact that people respect the
  image that the powerful project
• we see the tension between power (the ability
  to do things) and authority (the rationale,
  legitimacy, or right to wield power in a given
  political system)
• Machiavelli reminds us that power must be used in
  such a way as to not compromise authority or the
  public manifestation of authority in rank, pomp,
  and regal bearing
• that is, power depends on looking the part --
  on projecting an impression of superiority,
  leadership qualities, and greatness
• we can see this in Stephen Harpers concern to
  appear prime minsterial in debates, photos, and
  the Conservative partys ads

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Karl Marx

• 1818-1883
• born to a Jewish family in Germany his parents
  converted to Protestantism because of
  anti-Semitism
• studied law and philosophy, took his doctorate in
  philosophy
• worked as a journalist and political organizer
  chased from Germany and France due to his radical
  politics, and lived in Belgium and England
• lived a life of considerable poverty a number of
  his children died depended on donations from
  wealthy friends who sympathized with his
  political work
• published regularly in the U.S., notably in the
  socialist New York Daily Tribune newspaper

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A spectre is haunting Europe the spectre of
communism.The Communist Manifesto, 1848

• with these words, Marx opened one of the most
  widely read, cited, loved, and loathed political
  tracts in history
• the Manifesto was intended as a means of
  explaining Marxs analysis of history and his
  political program for the proletariat he believed
  would be the agents of a new and better world
  after the end of capitalism
• the Manifesto was a popular treatment of Marxs
  theories -- remember that he was a trained
  journalist -- intended for the wider general
  public, and to help bring about the revolution
• the Manifesto is thus the ultimate instance of
  political communication that is, no essay,
  article, or treatise has been so intimately
  connected with actual historical and political
  change on so epic a scale, e.g., Russia, Cuba,
  China

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The history of all hitherto existing society is
the history of class struggles.

• Marxs intention in this section of the Manifesto
  is to explain his view of history, one that has
  been described as a dialectical and
  materialist model of social change another
  word for his view is dialectical materialism
• dialectical means a social pattern that is
  defined by the interaction of dynamic, opposite
  forces, such as feudalism and capitalism
• materialist means a view of history that sees
  the natural world, and how we sustain human life
  through its exploitation, as the most significant
  factor in shaping society
• every significant transition in human history has
  been defined by struggle between various classes,
  but the latest capitalist stage is the decisive
  one
• the struggle in the capitalist stage is between
  the bourgeosie (the capitalists, the owners of
  capital, those who control corporations and the
  other means of production) and the proletariat
  (the working classes)

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all that is solid melts into air

• the capitalist phase of history is one that is
  characterized by ceaseless change and
  transformation -- what economist Joseph
  Schumpeter elsewhere calls creative destruction
  and what Marx characterizes in his poetic famous
  phrase, all that is solid melts into air
• the catalyst for this transformation is
  commodification, the translation of everything
  -- nature, labour -- into commodities or goods
  for sale, drawing everything with value into the
  market system
• the worlds resources, labour, peoples, and
  cultures are being drawn into a massive global
  market, and the bourgeosie is the class that is
  leading and profiting from this change
• the mid-19th century represented the early days
  of the capitalist mode of production, and Marx
  saw here the emergent patterns of the
  contemporary world

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Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Marx compared

• where the state was the organic expression of
  societys need to organize itself for Aristotle,
  it is in Marxs view a means by which the
  bourgeoisie pursues its self-interest
• The executive of the modern state is but a
  committee for managing the common affairs of the
  whole bourgeosie.
• Aristotle and Machiavelli are largely
  uninterested in what life is like for those who
  are governed Aristotle justifies slavery,
  Machiavelli advises the prince on how best to
  exercise his power and manage his authority
• Marx gives us a view of history from the bottom
  up, but also represents history as a place or
  process whereby underlying patterns are more
  important than what people themselves do

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communication and these classic sources some
questions for discussion

1. Aristotle tells us that only a beast or a god
   could live outside of political life -- that
   politics is an intrinsic part of our identity as
   political animals. What role does communication
   have in ensuring a healthy and functional
   democracy?
2. Machiavelli reminds us that the familiar adage,
   perception is reality, predates our
   contemporary era. What would Machiavelli counsel
   contemporary politicians as to the importance of
   appearance, impression, and image to the
   performance of power?
3. Marx intended for the Manifesto to be not merely
   a report on the conditions of 19th century
   capitalism, but an incitement to revolution. Is
   there latitude or opportunity in contemporary
   political culture for people to be moved to
   change, of any kind, by political communications?
   In other words, in our cluttered media culture,
   is communication a force for social change?