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Durham E-Theses Durham E-Theses 'This is not the truth': A methodological inquiry into the classical Greek origins of political realism Orton, Jane How to cite: Orton, Jane (2006) 'This is not the truth': A methodological inquiry into the classical Greek origins of political realism, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2434/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 'This is not the Truth': A Methodological Inquiry into the Classical Greek Origins of Political Realism The copyright of this thesis rests with the author or the university to which 1t was submitted. No quotation from 1t, or Information derived from 1t may be published without the prior written consent of the author or university, and any Information derived from lt should be acknowledged. -5 FEB 2007 Jane Orton Submitted for the Degree of MA by Research in Politics, University of Durham 2006 Acknowledgements I should like to thank the following people: my supervisor, Bob Dyson; George Boys­ Stones for taking the time to discuss Greek Grammar; the Physicists for setting such high standards of integrity, especially Sophy Palmer, for being a bad influence; James Carlisle and Liam Vasey for joining me on crazy time; Percy Pig for the Half Past Six Song; Dennis for all the trout; the other two members of the Gilesgate Three and all the punk rockers who ever stood up when they were told to sit down. Above all, I should like to thank my fiance James, my parents and my family and friends for their love, toleration and support. Contents Introduction and Methodology 1 Part One: The Epistemological Debate 24 Chapter One: The Emergence ofMethodology 24 Section One: There is Something to Know 24 Thales 24 Anaximander 32 Anaximenes 34 Section Two: Reason Itself and the Emergence ofthe Thought Experiment 35 Xenophanes 36 Heraclitus 38 Parmenides 45 Section Three: The Actual World, Physical Observation and the Physical Experiment 50 Anaxagoras 51 Empedocles 52 Chapter Two: Opposing Claims 55 Zeno 55 Democritus 66 Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans 71 Part Two: The Political Theorists Respond to the Debate 81 Chapter Three: The Relativists 81 Protagoras 82 ~~~ ~ Euthydemus and Dionysodorus 103 Chapter Four: The Political Realists 112 Antiphon 112 Thrasymachus 11 7 Callicles 122 Thucydides 125 Conclusion 133 Bibliography: English 137 Bibliography: Greek 149 Introduction and Methodology In a single episode of the Peloponnesian War, the foreign policy employed by Athens results in the slaughter of all Melian men of military age and the selling of Melian women and children into slavery. This is not atypical of Athenian policy during the Peloponnesian War; throughout the period, Athens exercises the approach to politics that we have come to call 'political realism.' In Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians tell the people of Melos, ... you know as well as we do that, when these matters are discussed by practical people, the standard of justice depends on the equality of power to compel and that in fact the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept. 1 This approach is the subject of much debate in fifth century Athens, where an intellectual elite attempts to fit itself for involvement in public life. Teachers of rhetoric from all over the Greek world are employed to verse wealthy young men in the construction of political argument, resulting in the flourishing of discussions about the nature and purpose of policy. Political realism finds keen proponents: in Republic, Thrasymachus tells us that 'justice or right is simply what is in the interest of the stronger party. ' 2 We are to feel that the proponent of political realism is stripping away the 'fine phrases'3 of conventional morality to reveal the actuality: the rules are made by those who have the capacity to implement their own will; everyone else must submit to the stronger party. Conclusions and policy recommendations are drawn from an analysis of the political situation as it actually is, in terms of the power relationships that exist between political entities, without reference to moral ideals. The virtue of this approach, it is supposed, is that it does not rely upon unproven moral absolutes that divorce theory from reality. It is tempting to see Classical Greek political realism as both a necessary and a historical development of the moral relativism that emerges in the intellectual life 1 Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War V 89 2 Plato, Republic 354b 3 Ibid V 89 1 of fifth century Athens. This is part of a wider epistemological relativism, embodied in Protagoras' 'Measure' doctrine: Man is the measure of all things, of things that are that they are and of things that are not that they are not. 4 The nature of knowledge, according to this view, does not allow us to speak in absolutes: we cannot speak of anything being unconditionally true, either because we cannot access the information we need to do so or because the truth simply does not exist independently of us. Nowhere are the implications of this more potent than in political theory: if we cannot speak of moral absolutes, the construction of a policy that incorporates them is immediately devoid of a sound philosophical foundation. The temptation is to say that this moral relativism necessarily culminates in political realism: if moral absolutes are not really 'there,' then there is nothing to stop the stronger party exercising its own will over the weaker, and the only political reality we have left does seem to be the power relationships that exist between various political entities. In historical terms, Classical Greek political realism is said to find its roots in the moral relativism of the fifth century. 5 Protagoras and Thrasymachus were both Sophists, professional teachers who promised, for a fee, to fit young men for political life by teaching them the art of rhetoric and, in some cases apET~, or political virtue. Many early Sophists, like Protagoras, are relativists. The so-called Radical Sophists are thought to develop the implications of this relativism into political realism. There is no 'right' interpretation of justice independent of us. What is implemented in the name of justice is, according to Thrasymachus, the interests of the stronger party. This is the myth to which we are supposed to subscribe: but it is a myth. We shall expose it as such on two counts: we shall demonstrate that it is not a necessary truth that political realism originates from the moral relativism and we shall show that it is not a historical truth that Classical Greek political realism grows from the moral relativism associated with the Early Sophists. 4 Diogenes Laertius, Lives ofEminent Philosophers 9.8.51 5 Dyson [2005] Ch 1 2 How to go about this? In exposing a myth, the most important thing to bear in mind is that we must be careful to avoid creating a new myth to replace it. Our methodology must be stated and justified. We must specify precisely in what way the old account is erroneous and how our account is to avoid vulnerability to the same charge. This is the aim of the current introduction. Methodology as the Framework for Analysing Political Realism This is to be a methodological inquiry into the origins of Classical Greek political realism. The focus here is methodology; its significance twofold. Firstly, the methodology of this investigation is to be that of an inquiry, rather than a narrative. Assertions will be justified as needed, at the expense of a smooth telling of the story. Indeed, the original meaning of the word, 'history', iTopii'J, is closer to 'inquiry' than 'narrative.'6 We shall see that the former sense, although resulting in more stilted accounts, is actually more appropriate for our purposes. An inquiry must justify how the conclusions of that investigation arise. A narrative need only be a retelling of the story, with no means of deciding why we should replace the old account with the new. By rejecting this approach, we are also able to make clear which of our own claims are speculative and which are not. Secondly, our focus upon methodology is significant because it is to be in virtue of the differing methodologies of political realism and moral relativism that we shall refute the myth that the former originated in the latter. Note the focus of the question upon political realism and its origins, as opposed to a question which focuses upon whether the views of the Radical Sophists can be said to have derived from those of the early Sophists. This is quite deliberate, as it seems that the latter approach falls into the trap of 'putting the cart before the horses.' It is sometimes easy, although ultimately dishonest, to juggle a definition to support a given thesis, to define x as y to support the thesis 'all xs are y.' For example, Jaacqueline de Romilly 7 wishes to stress the influence of the Sophists in philosophy: Euthydemus is named as a Sophist, but receives only two mentions, being branded as 'less philosophical'.
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