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A Short Survey of Western Political Thought by Dr W B Vosloo*, Wollongong, June 2015

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A Short Survey of Western Political Thought by Dr W B Vosloo*, Wollongong, June 2015 1 A Short Survey of Western Political Thought by Dr W B Vosloo*, Wollongong, June 2015 Our understanding of the basic value orientation of the Western political tradition stems from various trains of thought and events to be found in the course of the Western political history. The most important of these are : - the interaction of the rationalist philosophy of ancient Greece and Christian ethics; - the Roman Stoic thought and Roman Law; - the formative influence of Christianity; - the contest between the ecclesiastic and the temporal worlds of the Roman Empire; - the Catholic/Orthodox schism in Christianity; - surviving the “Dark Ages” and the “Holy War” against Islam; - the influence of the feudal system of law and order; - the Protestant Reformation and the emergence of sovereign nation-states; - the spread of Christianity to the New World; - the philosophy of liberal democracy; - the constitutional protection of civil liberties in the modern era; and - the challenges of the “welfare state”. The Interaction of Rationalist Philosophy and a Monotheistic Universal Ethical Code Underlying the various stages of the West’s political history is the interaction of two principle sources of inspiration: the rationalist philosophy pioneered by the ancient Greeks and refined by the Roman Stoics on the one hand and the monotheism of the Judaic-Christian tradition as refined by Christian ethics. The philosophical stream sought to build its appeal on the universally operating force of rationality, whereas the Judaic-Christian stream derived its universalism from man’s assumed relationship to the divine revelation of a universal and omnipotent deity. Using the Socratic method of inquiry, the docta ignorantia, Plato was the first philosopher to ask basic questions such as “What is justice?” He came to the conclusion that man and nature could only be tamed by the application of right reason. Aristotle’s basic values paralleled Plato’s understanding of rationality, but he pioneered the idea of basing conclusions on observed experiential reality. Hence Aristotle can be considered as the originator of what is today known as the “scientific method”. He was also the originator of the idea that law should be regarded as the supreme standard of good behaviour rather than force, passion or personal power. The central conception of a transcended, absolute Creator-God gave the religious tradition of Christianity a strength of conviction that the more abstract intellectual precepts of the combined Greek and Stoic philosophy could not match. The Judaic religion taught that the Jews were God’s chosen people but that all men were equally subject to the omnipotent God and were thereby commanded to observe the code of ethical rules represented by God’s will. Christianity repudiated the limitations of the ethnic-based Judaism, but proceeded by drawing from the Jewish monotheism a universalistic ethical code as interpreted in the teachings of Jesus Christ as later set out in the New Testament and developed by the Christian church to become the dominant moral force of Western civilisation. It has helped fashion and maintain the unique Western ideal of the sovereign and inviolable individual conscience. (See Otto Butz, Of Man and Politics, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, N.Y., 1960, pp.51-53) 2 The Roman Stoic Thought and Roman Law The Roman concept of “law above the law” was given a major impetus by Cicero’s notion of the Law of Nature which ranks above the jus civile and the jus gentium. Cicero considered nature, morality and rationality as synonymous. The functioning of nature reveals certain laws to mankind. These laws indicate to man’s intellect what is natural, rational and moral. This understanding provides man with absolute standards of right and wrong by which all human conduct should be guided and judged. In his major tome the Republic Cicero wrote “There is a true law – namely right reason – which is in accordance with nature, applies to all men, and is unchangeable and eternal .. binding at all times upon all peoples...” (See Sabine, A History of Political Theory, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, N.Y., 3rd ed., p.164) According to Cicero the state gives effect to the consciousness of mutual obligations between citizens and the recognition of the rights that binds its citizens together as a moral community which he called a res populi or a res publica (“commonwealth”) and formulated the famous edict salus populi suprema lex esto. The state is always subject to the moral principles of natural law which is a higher set of rules and rights which transcends human choice and human institutions. Force is only justified insofar as it is required to give effect to the principles of justice and right. Because law had occupied a highly honoured place in the Roman scheme of things, the Stoic notion of Natural Law was deeply embedded in the Roman legal system and carried throughout the Roman Empire which lasted up to the 15th century. Roman Law was in practice applied by an annually elected official called the praetor. He was assisted by jurisprudents (legal experts) who wrote legal opinions upon which the praetor’s decisions came to be based. Compilations and textbooks of the opinions of jurisprudents became the foundations of the logical and precise definitions that are characteristic of Roman Law. It received its final systematisation in the Corpus Juris Civilis, the vast codification of the opinions of the leading Roman jurists that was carried out between AD529 and 534 at the behest of Emperor Justinianus. The lasting influence that the Stoic-inspired humanising process introduced into Roman Law and later into European legal principles can be summarised as the interpretation of law in the light of such concepts as equality before the law of all persons, faithfulness to contracted engagements, fair dealing or equity, the superior importance of intent to mere words and formularies, the protection of dependants, the recognition of claims based on blood relationships, the resting of contracts on agreement rather than on words of stipulation, protecting people from cruelty, and, above all, of accepting as the guiding star of all law, the realisation of justice. The Formative Influence of Christianity The major religions still active in the world today made their appearance during the past 3000 years. Judaism became monotheistic; Zoroastrianism enveloped the Persian Empire; Hinduism penetrated India; Buddhism arose to challenge Hinduism and spread to the Far East; Taoism and Confucianism were founded in China; Islam took root in the Middle East and Christianity spread from the Roman Empire into Europe and the New World. Since ancient times, religion has played a prominent role in the formation and development of communities and societies: offering an account of the origins and nature of reality and humanity’s 3 relationship with it; offering a basis for communal identity, social affiliation, cultural cohesion and territorial attachment; offering a foundation for moral values such as thinking and feeling about what is right, just, fair, preferable, true and universally compelling; offering a sense of sacred mission exerting a profound hold upon people’s emotions and imagination; providing a fertile source of social and political cleavage driven by assumptions of a divine or supernatural imperative. Religion as a source of values, determining which ultimate valuations are right and which are wrong, fulfils a cultural function that science, per se, cannot perform. The scientific method cannot help us to take an unconditional stand in matters of value judgements. Religion provides a source of values to the majority of people living on planet earth. Since ancient times, religion inspired men to express their feelings in artistic ways: in architecture, sculpture, painting, music and poetry. Each form of artistic expression has created works of genius depicting religious themes, events, symbols and figures. Hindus invest much in elaborate decoration of temples and shrines. The Romans developed the arch, vault, dome and the creative use of concrete to build cathedrals like St. Peters in Rome and the “Hagia Sophia” in Constantinople. Throughout Europe there are examples of cathedral construction in the Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque styles. Sculpture also represents an age-old form of religious artistic expression and European art galleries are replete with examples of the use of paintings in a religious context. A Catholic monk, Guido of Arezzo, came along in the 11th century and provided a map for musical notes by using his “sol-fa” system. His “scale” or musical ladder and stave notation changed the course of musical history and paved the way for composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Mozart and many others. The great composers of the Baroque period were all closely associated with church life and the development of musical instruments that could follow the lead of the “Equal Temperament” of voices and instruments without which even popular music cannot function. Since ancient times religion has served as a binding force within communities – binding people with the same values and aversions – as a mark of distinction and giving rise to tensions and hostilities. Religion is capable of exerting a profound hold on people’s emotions and imagination. A common religion can produce both a militant cultural identity and a sense of sacred mission. Where religion regards sacred and secular issues as inseparable, co-existence of different religious communities within the same area or state become particularly problematic such as the Catholic-Protestant cleavage, the Muslim-Christian cleavage, the Shiite-Sunni cleavage and the Muslim versus non-Muslim conflicts. There are many examples where such cleavages stand in the way of an integrated political system. Together, the Greek philosophy of rationalism, the Roman doctrine of the supremacy of law and Christian ethics of right or wrong, formed the three pillars of the spread of Western civilisation. The teachings of Christianity from the earliest times proclaimed the supreme moral attribute of humans as beings created in the image of God.
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