Title: Stoicism: Philosophy of Empire
1Stoicism Philosophy of Empire
2Polis law and Cosmopolitan Law
- Alexander Pharaoh in Egypt, King in Persia
- No Greek system of law
- only Athenian, Corinthian, etc.
- Polis law
- Legacy of Greek empire cultural (phil, art )
- Roman empire is based on Roman law
- Cosmopolitan law
3Irony of History
- Only some are free (Hegel)
- Greece
- Accept Principle of enslaving others
- Romans enslave them
- Rome
- Cheap slave-produced grain ruins small farmer
- Destruction of free Roman army, fall of Rome
4Compare with US system
- House elected based on population
- More democratic
- Black slaves dont vote count 3/5s whites
- Women, natives, slaves dont vote
- Senate appointed based on equality of states
- Elitist 2 senators per state no matter the
population small state equals large state - U.S. Constitution as legacy of Roman Law
- Rationally organized code (Justinian)
- V. England no written constitution
5Some are free
- Representatives and direct taxes shall be
apportioned among the several States which may be
included within this Union, according to their
respective numbers, which shall be determined by
adding to the whole number of free persons,
including those bound to service for a term of
years, and excluding Indians not taxed,
three-fifths of all other persons.
6Lessons of History 1
- U.S. imitates Roman system
- Political
- checks and balances
- Excludes women, slaves, and native Americans
- Legal written system of law
- Some are free.
- gt Civil War
- Shows need to go beyond political limitation of
freedom All are free.
7Main Roman periods (compare with Greek periods)
- 1) 494-440 struggle of the orders gt republic
Twelve Tablets (or Tables) of the Law, 451 - 2) 405-264 Internal, Italian wars
- 3) 264-146 Struggle with dominant external power
of Carthage (3 Punic Wars) - 4) 134 -71 BCE --Renewed class warfare 3 Slave
wars - 5) Fall of Republic (Emperor Augustus Caesar, 27
BCE - 14 CE)
8Second wave of class struggles
- Tiberius Gracchus, about 133 BC "Wild animals
stalking their prey throughout Italy have dens
and lairs to spend the night in, but people who
fight and die for Italy have nothing but the air
and the light. They wander with their children
and wives like homeless vagabonds. The warriors
fight and die for others' luxury and wealth they
are called the masters of the universe, yet they
don't have a single plot of land."
9Self-Defeat of Roman peasant
- New kind of threat not enslavement but economic
ruin - Invisible enemy who to blame?
- Cycle of cause and effect (karma)
- 1) Roman peasants enslave Greek citizens
- 2) Greek slaves in Syracuse produce cheap grain
for Roman aristocrats - 3) Roman peasants are ruined become urban
proletariat
10Lessons of History 2
- US trade unions (modern proletariat) strike
- Veto power of Roman plebeians
- What about foreign workers?
- Only some workers are free
- Corporations employ cheap foreign labor, move
elsewhere - US workers compete with cheaper foreign labor
- Wages drop unemployment rises
- Social network declines
11Causes of downfall
- 1) Force Democratic institutions are sabotaged
- 2) Fear threats to physical security of ordinary
people - gtPeople give to new power to authoritarian
leaders to exercise military power - 3) Corruption money undermines over the
political system
121) Destroy democracy by brute force
- Later Roman farmers face already existing state
made up of their own sons - Goal of Tribunes, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus
land to the Roman farmers - Both are assassinated
- Compare assassination of the Kennedy brothers
132) By Using Fear Slave Wars
- Three Servile Wars
- Gladiator Spartacus and 70 others escape
- Army of 120,000 threaten Rome
- Crassus manipulates Spartacus and Rome
- How did Crassus make his money?
- Crucifixion of 6000 on Apian Way
- Why is Crucifixion especially horrible?
143) By Corruption Client system of Politics
- Wealthy Romans have clients
- Huge wealth from victorious wars
- Individuals raise their own armies
- Clients vote as they are told
- gt Corruption of electoral system
- gt Fall of Republic
15Lessons of History 3
- Huge cost of running for elections
- Super PACs
- gt Power of private wealth over politicians
- gt Apathy of voters
- Effect on US democracy?
16U theory of History?
- Going from L to U
- End role of money in elections
- On world level
- Making environmental and labor laws part of
international trade (all should be free)
17Why not fight back?
- Strong Roman army (and nowhere to go)
- A powerful State, with a standing army, is now in
existence - Recall Rousseaus analysis of early state
18Rousseau on the victory of the rich over the poor
- The outcome was . . . the most thought-out
project that ever entered the human mind. It was
to use in his favor the very strength of those
who attacked him, to turn his adversaries into
his defenders to give them other institutions
which were as favorable to him as natural right
was unfavorable to him.
19Turn to Authoritarian Rule
- Plebs support popular Roman generals
- Gaius Marius, Julius Caesar
- Julius Caesar is assassinated!
- gt Generals take more and more power
- Octavian Augustus Caesar (adopted son of Julius
Caesar) made Imperator for life (27 BCE -14 CE)
20How Did Augustus Seize Power?
- A grateful Senate, weary of seemingly endless
civil wars, heaped him with honors, including, in
27 BCE, the title Augustus, meaning sacred or
venerable. (Spodek, 180) - Augustus rejected the title of monarch,
preferring to be called princeps, or first
citizen. This gesture of humility fooled no one.
With Augustus reign, the imperial form of
government begins even though the Senate and the
consuls and other magistrates survived. (Spodek,
180)
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22Fall of the Republic, Rise of the Empire
- Chancellor Palpatine In order to ensure our
security and continuing stability, the Republic
will be reorganized into the first Galactic
Empire, for a safe and secure society which I
assure you will last for ten thousand years. An
empire that will continue to be ruled by this
august body, and a sovereign ruler chosen for
life.
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24How does liberty die?
- PADME So this is how liberty dies, with
thunderous applause . . . - (Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith)
25How democratic was it?
- In 14 C.E. Augustus Caesar announced that there
were 4,937,000 citizens, about 2 million of them
in the provinces. At that time, the total
population of the empire was between 70 and 100
million. Spodek, 182. 5 to 7 are free
citizens - (Athens 16)
26Abstractness of Cosmopolitan Citizenship
- Under the empire, legal citizenship has become
abstract, formal, almost powerless - gt Citizens have formal legal rights but not real
power to control their society
27Greek philosophy of free polis
- Recall Socrates
- Re wealth and virtue
- Re soul and body
- Re choice and destiny we choose our own fate
- Socrates does not flee
- His life is tied to the Athenian polis
- He is a true citizen
- He has real citizen power
28Stoic philosophy of empire
- Socrates virtue does not come from wealth, but
that wealth, and every other good thing which men
have, whether in public, or in private, comes
from virtue. - Stoic position virtue is unrelated to wealth
- Virtue (mind) is in our power
- Wealth (body) is not in our power
29Slave and Emperor
- Two great Stoics
- Epictetus the slave (50-138 AD)
- Marcus Aurelius, the emperor (121-180 AD) (See
film, Gladiator) - Philosophy that equates master and slave
30What we can and cant control
- Under our control are conception, choice,
desire, aversion . . . - not under our control are our body, our
property, reputation, office . . . - if you think only what is your own to be your
own, and what is not your own to be, as it really
is, not your own, then no one will ever be able
to exert compulsion upon you . . . 1
31Body and Soul
- Philosophy of Roman empire
- All can be free internally (in mind)
- None can be free externally (in body)
- Philosophy of Greek republic
- Virtue (the rightly ordered soul) brings wealth
and all good things (of the body) - I.e., we can control our external conditions of
life
32Be realistic
- Do not seek to have everything that happens
happen as you wish, but wish for everything to
happen as it actually does happen, and your life
will be serene. 8
33How to be free
- Whoever, therefore, wants to be free, let him
neither wish for anything, nor avoid anything,
that is under the control of others or else he
is necessarily a slave. 14 - Story of Epictetus and his master
- Freedom of the mind
34Accept your role in life
- Remember that you are an actor in a play, the
character of which is determined by the
Playwright if He wishes the play to be short, it
is short if long, it is long if He wishes you
to play the part of a beggar, remember to act
even this role adroitly and so if your role be
that of a cripple, an official, or a layman. For
this is your business, to play admirably the role
assigned you but the selection of that role is
Anothers. 17
35The world is in good order
- In piety towards the gods, I would have you
know, the chief element is this, to have right
opinions about them, as existing and as
administering the universe well and justlyand to
have set yourself to obey them and to submit to
everything that happens, and to follow it
voluntarily, in the belief that it is being
fulfilled by the highest intelligence. 31
36Is Socrates a Model Stoic?
- See Epictetus 53 Well, O Crito, if so it is
pleasing to the gods, so let it be. Anytus and
Meletus can kill me, but they cannot hurt me. - Does Socrates neglect the body? Wealth? Is he a
fatalist? - Plato on nature of our fate we freely choose our
lot in life! (NDE of Er)