QUESTIONS:

MODULE 1

1. What are the fundamental aspects of Plato's ideal state?
2. What are the major ideas of Aristophanes and Socrates?
3. Examine Aristotle's view on education and its role in polity?
4. What is the origin and nature of Aristotle's best state?
5. What in the views of Cicero constitute the nature and meaning of law?
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MODULE 2

1. What is St. Augustine's views in the relationship between the church and state?
2. Why did feudalism last for a very long time?
3. Identify and discuss the essential kernels of St. Aquinas Philosophy.

MODULE 3

1. Briefly discuss Machiavelli's ideas on the prince and state power?
2. What are the contribution of jean bodin to political philosophy?
3. Tacitly describe the Hobessian notion of social contact?
4. Highlight the significant attributes of Hobbes concept of sovereignty.
5. To what extent did Locke's experiences influence his political theory? give reasons for your answer?
6. What are the main logic of Locke's version of social contract?

ANSWER:

MODULE 1

1.Plato describes how such a state would be organized, who would govern it, what sort of education the children would have, and so on. Sir Karl Popper argued in The Open Society and Its Enemies that Plato’s ideal state is totalitarian, with little freedom of expression allowed, little diversity, and a perverse commitment to a Spartan-like regimentation of social life.

2. In 423 B.C. the popular poet Aristophanes entered his play, The Clouds, in the Great Dionysian, the biggest dramatic festival at the time held in Athens.
 He is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes.

3. Put simply, these kinds of knowledge are distinguished by their aims: theoretical knowledge aims at contemplation, productive knowledge aims at creation, and practical knowledge aims at action.

4. Like all other communities, the state must exist for an end, and the end of the state is the highest good of man, which for Aristotle means the life of virtue and contemplation.

5. Those views on nature’s way and natural law are expressed and explicated in the texts of Cicero appearing in the Documents’ section of this website.
MODULE 2

1. Although the concept of separation has been adopted in a number of countries, there are varying degrees of separation depending on the applicable legal structures and prevalent views toward the proper relationship between religion and politics.

2. The adjective feudal was coined in the 17th century, and the noun feudalism, often used in a political and propaganda context, was not coined until the 19th century.

3. The Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the question of the relation between faith and reason, calling into question the modus vivendi that had obtained for centuries.

MODULE 3

1. Machiavelli was only interested in directly discussing the elements of power. When Machiavelli mentioned "fancies", he was referring to the theories set prior to his own.

2.The bitter experience of civil war and its attendant anarchy in France had turned Bodin’s attention to the problem of how to secure order and authority.

3. While it might seem that there are strong incentives for social anarchy without an outside objective (and perhaps supernatural) source of morality, according to some philosophers

4. In it individuals are in a constant fear for their possessions and lives. People are insecure and don't trust each other. Hobbes gives the answer for bringing back peace and security in people's lives.

5.Locke is also renown for his writings on toleration in which he espoused the right to freedom of conscience and religion (except when religion was deemed intolerant!), and for his cogent criticism of hereditary monarchy and patriarchalism.

6. Property plays an essential role in Locke's argument for civil government and the contract that establishes it. According to Locke, private property is created when a person mixes his labor with the raw materials of nature.