Free Speech And Democracy In Ancient Athens

Author : Arlene W. Saxonhouse
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 247 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2005-12-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781139447423

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Free Speech and Democracy in Ancient Athens by Arlene W. Saxonhouse Pdf

This book illuminates the distinctive character of our modern understanding of the basis and value of free speech by contrasting it with the very different form of free speech that was practised by the ancient Athenians in their democratic regime. Free speech in the ancient democracy was not a protected right but an expression of the freedom from hierarchy, awe, reverence and shame. It was thus an essential ingredient of the egalitarianism of that regime. That freedom was challenged by the consequences of the rejection of shame (aidos) which had served as a cohesive force within the polity. Through readings of Socrates's trial, Greek tragedy and comedy, Thucydides's History, and Plato's Protagoras this volume explores the paradoxical connections between free speech, democracy, shame, and Socratic philosophy and Thucydidean history as practices of uncovering.

Author : Ineke Sluiter,Ralph Rosen
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 462 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2017-07-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9789047405689

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Free Speech in Classical Antiquity by Ineke Sluiter,Ralph Rosen Pdf

This book contains a diverse collection of essays on the notion of “Free Speech” in classical antiquity. The essays examine such concepts as “freedom of speech,” “self-expression,” and “censorship,” in ancient Greek and Roman culture from historical, philosophical, and literary perspectives.

Author : John R. Wallach
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2018-01-25
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781108422574

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Democracy and Goodness by John R. Wallach Pdf

Proposes a new democratic theory, rooted in activity not consent, and intrinsically related to historical understandings of power and ethics.

Author : Jacob Mchangama
Publisher : Hachette UK
Page : 430 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2022-02-08
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781541620339

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Free Speech by Jacob Mchangama Pdf

“The best history of free speech ever written and the best defense of free speech ever made.” —P.J. O’Rourke Hailed as the “first freedom,” free speech is the bedrock of democracy. But it is a challenging principle, subject to erosion in times of upheaval. Today, in democracies and authoritarian states around the world, it is on the retreat. In Free Speech, Jacob Mchangama traces the riveting legal, political, and cultural history of this idea. Through captivating stories of free speech’s many defenders—from the ancient Athenian orator Demosthenes and the ninth-century freethinker al-Rāzī, to the anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells and modern-day digital activists—Mchangama reveals how the free exchange of ideas underlies all intellectual achievement and has enabled the advancement of both freedom and equality worldwide. Yet the desire to restrict speech, too, is a constant, and he explores how even its champions can be led down this path when the rise of new and contrarian voices challenge power and privilege of all stripes. Meticulously researched and deeply humane, Free Speech demonstrates how much we have gained from this principle—and how much we stand to lose without it.

Author : Demetra Kasimis
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2018-08-16
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107052437

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The Perpetual Immigrant and the Limits of Athenian Democracy by Demetra Kasimis Pdf

Argues that immigration politics is a central - but overlooked - object of inquiry in the democratic thought of classical Athens. Thinkers criticized democracy's strategic investments in nativism, the shifting boundaries of citizenship, and the precarious membership that a blood-based order effects for those eligible and ineligible to claim it.

Author : Josiah Ober
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 409 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2009-10-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781400820511

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Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens by Josiah Ober Pdf

This book asks an important question often ignored by ancient historians and political scientists alike: Why did Athenian democracy work as well and for as long as it did? Josiah Ober seeks the answer by analyzing the sociology of Athenian politics and the nature of communication between elite and nonelite citizens. After a preliminary survey of the development of the Athenian "constitution," he focuses on the role of political and legal rhetoric. As jurymen and Assemblymen, the citizen masses of Athens retained important powers, and elite Athenian politicians and litigants needed to address these large bodies of ordinary citizens in terms understandable and acceptable to the audience. This book probes the social strategies behind the rhetorical tactics employed by elite speakers. A close reading of the speeches exposes both egalitarian and elitist elements in Athenian popular ideology. Ober demonstrates that the vocabulary of public speech constituted a democratic discourse that allowed the Athenians to resolve contradictions between the ideal of political equality and the reality of social inequality. His radical reevaluation of leadership and political power in classical Athens restores key elements of the social and ideological context of the first western democracy.

Author : Han Baltussen,Peter J. Davis
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2015-07-27
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780812291636

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The Art of Veiled Speech by Han Baltussen,Peter J. Davis Pdf

Throughout Western history, there have been those who felt compelled to share a dissenting opinion on public matters, while still hoping to avoid the social, political, and even criminal consequences for exercising free speech. In this collection of fourteen original essays, editors Han Baltussen and Peter J. Davis trace the roots of censorship far beyond its supposed origins in early modern history. Beginning with the ancient Greek concept of parrhêsia, and its Roman equivalent libertas, the contributors to The Art of Veiled Speech examine lesser-known texts from historical periods, some famous for setting the benchmark for free speech, such as fifth-century Athens and republican Rome, and others for censorship, such as early imperial and late antique Rome. Medieval attempts to suppress heresy, the Spanish Inquisition, and the writings of Thomas Hobbes during the Reformation are among the examples chosen to illustrate an explicit link of cultural censorship across time, casting new light on a range of issues: Which circumstances and limits on free speech were in play? What did it mean for someone to "speak up" or "speak truth to authority"? Drawing on poetry, history, drama, and moral and political philosophy the volume demonstrates the many ways that writers over the last 2500 years have used wordplay, innuendo, and other forms of veiled speech to conceal their subversive views, anticipating censorship and making efforts to get around it. The Art of Veiled Speech offers new insights into the ingenious methods of self-censorship to express controversial views, revealing that the human voice cannot be easily silenced. Contributors: Pauline Allen, Han Baltussen, Megan Cassidy-Welch, Peter J. Davis, Andrew Hartwig, Gesine Manuwald, Bronwen Neil, Lara O'Sullivan, Jon Parkin, John Penwill, François Soyer, Marcus Wilson, Ioannis Ziogas.

Author : Robert J. Bonner
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 206 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2022-05-27
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780520317727

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Aspects of Athenian Democracy by Robert J. Bonner Pdf

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1933.

Author : Robert Johnson Bonner
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 214 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 1933
Category : Athens (Greece)
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Aspects of Athenian Democracy by Robert Johnson Bonner Pdf

Author : Nancy Evans
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 295 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : History
ISBN : 9780520262027

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Civic Rites by Nancy Evans Pdf

"Civic Rites clearly demonstrates the complete interdependence of religion and democracy in Athens, illustrating just how much the ancient Athenians' view of the relationship between these powerful forces differs from that in twenty-first century, Western democracies. Evans has provided a systematic, thorough, and lively treatment, liberating readers from modern expectations and offering a new window onto Athenian society."_Loren J. Samons, author of What's Wrong with Democracy? From Athenian Practice to American Worship "It is a double task the author has undertaken: to demonstrate the interdependence, nay, integration of politics and religion in the high days of 'democratic' Athens and to bring this special form of 'democracy' home to a contemporary non-specialist public. She brilliantly succeeds in both, presenting a clear and poignant narrative with graphic details. Civic Rites is a novel and fascinating course through a seemingly well-known field."_Walter Burkert, author of Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth "In equal measures intelligent, accessible, and well-informed, this book provides a contemporary introduction to classical Athenian religious practices and their manifold cultural significance. Evans interweaves overviews of political, economic, and social history with engaging descriptions of several major Attic rites. This book will interest specialists while providing students with an illuminating pathway into the familiar yet alien world of ancient Greek religion."_Deborah Boedeker, Brown University "With vivid, elegant writing and compelling imagination, Nancy Evans recreates the complex interaction of religion and politics in the ancient Athenian Democracy. Deftly interweaving chapters on cult and on political developments, she shows the general reader an Athens that is stranger to modern sensibilities than we often realize, and yet one from which we can learn many things about democratic life. A wonderful achievement."_Martha Nussbaum, author of The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy

Author : Josiah Ober
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2020-09-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691217970

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The Athenian Revolution by Josiah Ober Pdf

Where did "democracy" come from, and what was its original form and meaning? Here Josiah Ober shows that this "power of the people" crystallized in a revolutionary uprising by the ordinary citizens of Athens in 508-507 B.C. He then examines the consequences of the development of direct democracy for upper-and lower-class citizens, for dissident Athenian intellectuals, and for those who were denied citizenship under the new regime (women, slaves, resident foreigners), as well as for the general development of Greek history. When the citizens suddenly took power into their own hands, they changed the cultural and social landscape of Greece, thereby helping to inaugurate the Classical Era. Democracy led to fundamental adjustments in the basic structures of Athenian society, altered the forms and direction of political thinking, and sparked a series of dramatic reorientations in international relations. It quickly made Athens into the most powerful Greek city-state, but it also fatally undermined the traditional Greek rules of warfare. It stimulated the development of the Western tradition of political theorizing and encouraged a new conception of justice that has striking parallels to contemporary theories of rights. But Athenians never embraced the notions of inherency and inalienability that have placed the concept of rights at the center of modern political thought. Thus the play of power that constituted life in democratic Athens is revealed as at once strangely familiar and desperately foreign, and the values sustaining the Athenian political community as simultaneously admirable and terrifying.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 214 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2024-06-13
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Aspects of Athenian Democracy by Anonim Pdf

Author : Josine Blok
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 349 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2017-03-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9780521191456

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Citizenship in Classical Athens by Josine Blok Pdf

This book argues that citizenship in Athens was primarily a religious identity, shared by male and female citizens alike.

Author : Edward M. Harris
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 21 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2006-04-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9781139456890

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Democracy and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens by Edward M. Harris Pdf

This volume brings together essays on Athenian law by Edward M. Harris, who challenges much of the recent scholarship on this topic. Presenting a balanced analysis of the legal system in ancient Athens, Harris stresses the importance of substantive issues and their contribution to our understanding of different types of legal procedures. He combines careful philological analysis with close attention to the political and social contexts of individual statutes. Collectively, the essays in this volume demonstrate the relationship between law and politics, the nature of the economy, the position of women, and the role of the legal system in Athenian society. They also show that the Athenians were more sophisticated in their approach to legal issues than has been assumed in the modern scholarship on this topic.

Author : Josiah Ober
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 440 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2011-11-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781400822713

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Political Dissent in Democratic Athens by Josiah Ober Pdf

How and why did the Western tradition of political theorizing arise in Athens during the late fifth and fourth centuries B.C.? By interweaving intellectual history with political philosophy and literary analysis, Josiah Ober argues that the tradition originated in a high-stakes debate about democracy. Since elite Greek intellectuals tended to assume that ordinary men were incapable of ruling themselves, the longevity and resilience of Athenian popular rule presented a problem: how to explain the apparent success of a regime "irrationally" based on the inherent wisdom and practical efficacy of decisions made by non-elite citizens? The problem became acute after two oligarchic coups d' tat in the late fifth century B.C. The generosity and statesmanship that democrats showed after regaining political power contrasted starkly with the oligarchs' violence and corruption. Since it was no longer self-evident that "better men" meant "better government," critics of democracy sought new arguments to explain the relationship among politics, ethics, and morality. Ober offers fresh readings of the political works of Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle, among others, by placing them in the context of a competitive community of dissident writers. These thinkers struggled against both democratic ideology and intellectual rivals to articulate the best and most influential criticism of popular rule. The competitive Athenian environment stimulated a century of brilliant literary and conceptual innovation. Through Ober's re-creation of an ancient intellectual milieu, early Western political thought emerges not just as a "footnote to Plato," but as a dissident commentary on the first Western democracy.