Rise and Fall, Outline Power Point
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Transcript of Rise and Fall, Outline Power Point
8/2/2019 Rise and Fall, Outline Power Point
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The Rise and Fall of
Athenian Civilization:A Cautionary Tale in the Era of
Globalization
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I. What is a truly free people? What is a great society?
a. Why do we need to articulate a vision of the good life and the good society?
b. Isn’t this simply a pipedream, an unattainable goal? Won’t it simply lead tofrustration and social unrest? Won’t it lead people to undermine law andorder and ignore their leaders because they think they deserve better?
c. Adults need a vision of the good life as a guide for every decision they
make. Citizens need a collective vision of a great society to guide every
decision they make. Private life and public life are inseparable.
d. It is false to believe that “If you can dream it, you can become it.”
e.
But it is also true that “If you do not dream it, you will never become it.” f. You have to have a vision to make yourself and your society the best they
can be, to lead them toward a greater realization of the good life.
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Athens: A society based on a vision of the good life, both individually and collectively
Personal virtues
i. Self-control in relation to eating, drinking, sex
ii. Generosity: middle class, moderation in standard of living so thateveryone can attain the same level of prosperity; give excess money
away in ways that improve quality of life for all
iii. Courage: overcome fear of death (old age, war), fear of pain, fear of
loss of reputation: courage to speak one’s mind, to admit one is
wrong, and to learn from othersiv. Anger: appropriate, not overreact or under-react; no revenge; accept
unjust suffering when necessary, avoid unnecessary suffering for
oneself and others
v. Friendships: continual cultivation of virtue, encourage each other,
engage in activities that promote everyone’s well-being, keep eachother informed about public affairs
vi. Sociability: good will toward fellow citizens one does not know
vii. Self-knowledge: know one’s strengths and weaknesses, avoid pride,
thinking one knows more than one knows
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a. Justice: relationships with fellow-citizens one does not know
i. Distribute of social goods: wealth, power, status, education, unequalii. Rectify of wrongs: equals: punishing those who harm others unjustly
iii. Pleasure from profit: avoid greed and sloth; everyone does what they
are most skilled at, contribute talents to the common good
iv. Equity: good judgment about how to apply the laws, cases
b. Intellectual virtues
i. Natural curiosity: sciences
ii. Natural desire to understand the ultimate foundations of reality:
speculative reasoning
c. Our vision of the well-lived life: develop one’s natural capabilities d. Vision of a great society: establish institutions and a collective spirit that
motivates citizens to encourage each other to develop their capabilities
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I. Athens was more evolved and unique
a. Persians: barbarians: one leader, demi-god, blind obedience
b. Trojans: barbarians: dedicated to wealth, pleasure, self-destructed
c. Spartans: barbarians: institutions organized around the goal of educating
people to value being honored in war, promoted empire-building, political
power as the ultimate value
d. Athens: focus on the cultivation of the free minds of citizens, the full
development of their souls
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At the time of the Golden Age, Athens had developed a complex and comprehensive set
of institutions whose purpose was to nurture a truly free people
*Parthenon: Religion: spiritual humanism:
To be fully human is what the gods wantWe naturally desire to create something greater than ourselves, leave behind
a legacy that will sustain the great society, the rule of reason in human
affairs
Examples of creative endeavors that promote the rule of reason
Set of laws, institutions
Democracy by lottery: people take turns ruling and being ruled in turnTrial by jury: those who break laws are punished by a group of peers,
people regulate themselves, don’t need powerful authority figure
Written works: history, tragedy, epic poetry
Sculpture, paintings, music
A system of education from birth throughout life aimed at developing
human reason
A model for exercising the art of medicine that promotes the citizen’s abilit to keep themselves healthy by finding out what foods, drinks, and
exercise routines maintain inner harmony and long-term health
A model for exercising the art of rhetoric so that uneducated people can be
taught how to use their minds, be able to think clearly about private
and public affairs, can learn how to become good citizens
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Living one’s life in ways that engage people in the use of reason, leavingbehind a legacy of stories of the good life
Roof of temple follows shape of hills: culture completes nature, not at oddswith nature, not denigrate nature
Athena: goddess of wisdom and war: only just wars (vs. Ares)Prefer diplomacy to war: rational resolution of conflicts honored bythe city more than facing danger in war
War for the sake of national security only, not empire-building
If victorious, no desire for revengeRule of Law: the way the gods want us to live
Rule and be ruled in turn: no one has absolute power, no one makesthemselves into a god
Use reason to determine best laws, how to enforce them
Dialogue: need to debate issues, understand different perspectives beforemaking final decisions*Parthenon: walk slowly upward, integrate nature and culture*Beauty, proportionality: natural response, columns, link appreciation of mathematics,
patterns in math to concrete embodied existence
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*Tragedy
Religious festivals: everyone came
Contest: citizens vote, majority determines winner
All members of community, even slavesLearn to think critically
Women portrayed as intelligent
Slaves portrayed as capable of empathy, deserve respect
Middle-class citizens as able to rule themselves sometimes and as making
mistakes other timesMiddle-class citizens get manipulated by corrupt rulers
Families who inherit more power and privilege abuse their privileged:
Athenians learn to identify corruption in rulers, to avoid believing rhetoric that
appeals to irrational emotions to get people to vote and act irrationally
Members of the most privileged families learn how to use and abuse power, recognize
that abuses only lead to more abuses, unnecessary suffering; irrational behaviordoes not pay
The education of a people for freedom: how to develop and maintain their collective
ability to rule themselves
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Patterns of human experiences that require rational choice in the face of the temptationto act irrationally
Youth: coming-of-age: transition from blind obedience to learning how to think foroneself
Middle-age: resisting the temptation to abuse one’s authority, to think the end justifiesthe means, to use and abuse others to maintain one’s own power
Old age: resisting the temptation to become bitter due to the many, many ways everyone
suffers unjustlyHaving good intentions but doing the wrong thingMust be educated: good intentions are not good enough
Must seek wisdom throughout life; continual dialoguePurgation of pity and fear: recognize human vulnerability, flush out self-pity
and fear so one can live a full life, take responsibility for one’s self and one’s city
Taverna: discuss the tragedy after the performance: learn what the characters didnot learn; prevent making same mistakes
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*Olympics
Need to train young people for possible war
Instead of blind obedience, Olympics
International cooperation, interactionObjective rules, collective judgments, apply rules
Sound mind in sound body: preventative medicine
*Hephaestus: craftsmanship: human capacity for creating beautiful artifacts
*Agora: marketplace
International trade
Dialogue with people from all over the world
Public square: debate current affairs: open, no censorship
*Poseidon: god of the sea
*Zeus: sound body, perfection of soul, thunderbolts
*Islands: scientific investigation; speculative reasoning, different schools
*Aspasia: women’s medicine, sophisticated health care, foreign women *Dialogue: ultimate value, the way reason/mind is educated, exercised
*Corinth:
Natural beauty, rugged terrain, leads to city-state, navy
Temple to Apollo: sailors, prostitutes, wealthy businessmen
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*Delphi: same principles as Athens*Culture and nature
Apollo and Python: matriarchy and patriarchy; tribal loyalties vs. ruleof law, reason is detached and objective, do not favor one’s ownInternational culture: Crete: MinoansApollo and Dionysius: Reason and Passion, 9 months, 3 monthsSuppliants
Purification: bathsKnow thyself
Nothing in excess“Answer” is a riddle: interpreted according to the desires of the
interpreter; reflects one’s own soul, not the priests’ Take responsibility for one’s own actions, interpretations
“If you go to war, a great empire will be destroyed.” Thought is an inner dialogue of the soul with itself: decision
*Theater: purgation of irrational emotions*Olympic stadium: sound mind in sound body*International law: written on stone
*Hygeia: health: mind, body
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Corruption of Athens*Melos: might makes right: Sparta vs. Athens*Parthenon: paid for by spoils of war and excess taxation of allies
Treat enemies unjustly, will take revenge if they can Treat friends unjustly, will rebel if possible
Athenians exercise absolute authority over others, hypocrites
Do not distinguish between just and unjust wars
Some Athenians have the souls of Spartans, value conquest and gloryfrom fighting in war more than cultivation of the soul
Public policy made by Assembly: foreigners paid large sums to teachrhetoric, how to persuade people to do whatever you want;ambitious citizens learned the skills, took over power
Trial by jury: ambitious and wealthy lawyers paid teachers of rhetoric,
learned how to manipulate jurors
Citizens expected to be manipulated, not educated; expected to voteon the basis of emotion, tribalism, not reason or justice
Citizens no longer really believed in the rule of law, being governedprivately and publicly by a detached and objective assessmentof what is best and most just for everyone, for a stable future
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*Those with more wealth and power used it to consolidate what they already had;
shrinking middle class, power struggles between the privileges families
*Teachers of rhetoric and students now believed that people are by natureirrational,want as much power as they can get, used to justify themselves, morality is
relative, no truth, justice, virtue, beauty by nature
*Natural love of beauty perverted:
Math teachers detached themselves from public affairs, disconnect education in
math from seeking to create order in one’s soul and society
Natural love of order in music perverted: more emotional music became morepopular, those who loved order obsessed about harmonies in music rather
than using music as a way to form a strong character
*Tradition of tragedy perverted
People preferred comedy to tragedy
People preferred to be entertained not educatedPeople did not learn lessons: assume irrational emotions are natural,
the poets magnify them for the sake of pleasure and entertainment
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*Olympics perverted
Military conquest valued in spite of Olympic tradition
Overspecialization: athletes have extremely regimented lives, not
overall wellness, audiences fat and out of shape, observers
Medicine: pander to irrational desires, fear of pain, fear of deathCreate medicines and remedies so that people can overeat,
drink too much, not exercise and still not get sick
Keep people alive whose bodies are trying to die
Keep people from experiencing natural pain
Rich spend money on “medicines” rather than on publicaffairs,
public life and the quality of public life
*Hephaestus: craftsmanship perverted
Instead of making beautiful artifacts, skills put to use making
military hardware, swords and shields
*Agora: international trade
Led to moral relativism: everyone has different beliefs, gods,
therefore there is not truth, we can’t know or see We should pursue what we can see, measure: power, wealth, status
Conversations in public square reinforced and reflected corruption of
spirit, loss of original ideal
*Poseidon: watches as Greeks defend themselves against Persians, just war,
then watches as Greeks destroy each other and themselves in unjust wars
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*Zeus: Athenians seek blind obedience to a literal understanding of the
stories of the gods and goddesses, intolerant of interpretations that
focus on the moral lesson rather than a literal truth*Athenians condemn those who seek a rational foundation for reality:
“atheists,” philosophers live on islands to prevent persecution
*Aspasia: women go to Aegina to run from male abuse, rape, prostitution
*Dialogue: more extreme positions, people not learning from each other,each is seeking his own power: the souls of the citizens no longer driven by the
desire for wisdom, instead driven by the desire for glory in war, excess wealth,
personal power, or “freedom” interpreted as the license to do whatever one
pleases, lack of self-control, rejection of restraint either by choice or by law*The society is losing its soul, its original vision
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*Corinth: when a vision is lost, another replaces it: Christians were sincere, exercised
the virtues the Athenians had originally promoted; any cultural tradition will be replaced
when the people no longer exercise the virtues it is based on, when citizens claim to beblindly obedient and really use their religion to pursue power, wealth, or status
*Delphi: priests recognized the corruption of Athens, preserved the tradition
*Socrates: Delphi: “Socrates is wisest” Socrates questioned authorities, those with
privilege, exposed corruption*Citizens accused Socrates of atheism and of corrupting the youth
*Citizens condemned Socrates to death by hemlock
*Taverna: I started a school to educate the next generation: don’t make the mistakes we
made; I wrote my dialogues to remind people of what a great vision and a greatsociety we had and how quickly we lost it
*Sunset: What legacy have I left behind? Will my readers understand the message?
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*Will human beings in the future understand, value, and pursue the ideal of thecultivation of the human soul in all the virtues: personal, social, political, and
intellectual? Or will they pursue glory in war, wealth, license to do whatever they want,
or personal power, leading to the destruction of their societies and eventually of
themselves or the next generation?
*Like the priests at Delphi, I leave you with this puzzle, this riddle: What will you do
with your life? What is the good life? What makes life worth living? What sort of life
leads most likely to a better life for our children and grandchildren? What sort of legacy
do you want to leave behind?