Socrates must possess wisdom because smart people have been studying his teachings for over 2,000
years. Many people who are considered to be wise think that Socrates possessed wisdom. Dawson School has us study Socrates and must think it's important to learn the thoughts of Socrates. Socrates created the "Socratic Method" where one tries to understand things by asking questions. Socrates believed in gods but not necessarily the official gods of Athens. “I understand we can pray to gods that our sojourn will continue happy beyond the grave.” In other words Socrates believed in a life after death with a god who makes a judgment. On the last paragraph on page 53 Socrates
talks about the fact that his plain speaking caused him to be unpopular,
because nobody wants to hear the truth about whether they thought were true were actually true. In Socrates opinion he couldn't have intentionally have had a bad
influence on the young because because if only he has had a bad influence on the young then everyone else would have had to have had a good influence on the young. And this is clearly not the case. Instead he is like a trainer of horses, one of the few who have a good influence while others have a bad influence.
The Cold War was about America and Russia each trying to expand their empires. The war went on from 1945 to 1989. In 1989 the Russian empire collapsed under the strain of the struggle with the Americans in the cold war. In 1981 Walter Carp had written about the way the Peloponnese War was similar to the Cold War. Walter Carp said that the Athenians were like the Americans and that the Spartans were like the Russians. As in the cold war the enemies in the Peloponnesian War were ideological foes and for many years neither was physically capable of winning. The Spartans were an inward agricultural society whereas the Athens were a commercial fast moving and far ranging state. This was similar to Russia and America. He also suggested that Russia and America could learn something from the the Peloponnesian war, that American and Russia should both have been each happy with their existing empires and not tried to expand at the expense of the other's empire. When you make a mistake something will go wrong. It is better not to make a mistake and thus have everything go right. We can often learn learn to avoid mistakes by studying the past. In this case Russia tried to expand its empire and wound up losing its empire all together. By studying history we can learn lessons form past about which policies that are likely to work and which policies that are likely likely to fail.
Ancient Athens and Greece have made a deep influence
on many of the things that we take for granted in our world today. In many
countries today people are able to vote for or against the leaders who will run
their countries, a system first implemented by the Greeks in Athens. In Ancient Athens every citizen was equal
under the law. Athens had a very open society and did not restrict trade with
other countries. Historical Athens introduced
a wide variety of institutions that strongly influence our world today.
Athens introduced the idea that all men are treated
equally under the law. “When it is a question of settling private disputes,
everyone is equal before the law.” (Page 145, Section 37, 5-6.) In many other
systems then and now some people will have privileges that others don’t, people
are not treated equally by the law. In
such systems people who know they will not be treated fairly and equally under the
law will hesitate to enter into an agreement with somebody who is privileged
under the law. In the last few hundred years
this Athenian idea of equality under the law has gained wide acceptance as a
principle of good government. If
everyone is equal under the law then a person can be successful to the extent
of his abilities regardless of his position in society. The total wealth of a society where everyone
is equal will usually be greater than in a society where some people are
privileged.Countries where the law is
used to privilege some people over others will tend to be more unequal than in
countries where everyone is treated the same.
Today the Athenian creation called democracy is an
idea that has been spreading all over the world as a system of government. “Our
constitutions are called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a
minority but of the whole people.” (Page 145, Section 37, 4-6.) Slaves and women were not allowed to vote and
the Athenian version of democracy but all male Athenian citizens had a vote. But instead of electing rulers or
representative to enact laws every citizen was able to vote on everything. Non democratic systems of government assume
the elite know what’s best for the ordinary people and the ordinary people then
will have no choice in how they are ruled. In the democracy of ancient Athens
and in the democracy of today ordinary people do get to decide how they want to
be governed. An important characteristic of democracies is the ability to
peacefully throw out tyrants and otherwise change leadership when the people
are unhappy with the way they are being ruled. If the world had not widely
adopted this democratic idea of Athens then it would be a less happy place
today.
Ancient Athens was one of the first societies to
realize it would be better off if it allowed unrestricted free trade with other
nations. “Then the greatness of our city brings it about that all the good
things from all over the world flow in to us, so that to us it seems just as
natural to enjoy foreign good as our own local products.” (Page 146, Section
38, lines 6-9.) Many societies try to be self-contained and not trade ideas and
goods with other societies. The Athenians ran an open society importing and
exporting goods and services and allowing foreigners to come and go without
restriction. This allowed the introduction of the newest ideas and local manufactures
had to be efficient in order to survive imported competition from the other
cities. Athens was perhaps the first practitioner of globalization.
Compared to the people living in other parts of the
ancient world Athenian citizens were remarkably free. They created an
environment where people advanced on merit rather than hereditary qualities and
a number of ideas and cultural influences flourished and have been handed down
to our society today. Athenian Citizens
were treated equally under the law.Winston Churchill said in 1947 in the House of Commons “Democracy is worst
form of government except for all the others that have been tried” and it’s
worth noting that more and more governments today are trying democracy,
something that Athens invented long ago.A society has to have a lot of courage to adopt free trade since
domestic producers will be exposed to foreign competition but perhaps because
of their tradition of freedom the Athenians took a chance on having an open
society and greatly benefited from it.Quite a few countries and societies today have adopted many of the ideas
invented by the Athenians over 2,000 years ago.
