Polis to Cosmopolis in the Early Greek Philosophy Paper Example

Polis in the early Greek philosophy meant a city. It also meant a body of citizens referring to ancient Greek City states. Plato in his book, The Republic, was derived from the word Polis. Plato expresses his thoughts on the best government of the Polis. According to him, the ideal form of government aims at the common good of the people. The best ruler for a Polis is the Philosopher king and he ought to keep the polis headed in the right direction. The city-states system in Greek was characterized by a direct democracy. Over time, intellectuals such as Plato started questioning the principles of democracy in which the Polis was based on. With this wave of philosophical developments, new schools of thought were developed to challenge the world order in the era of classical Greek. It is the rise of intellectuals such as Plato who steered the paradigm shift from polis to Cosmopolis.

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The collapse of Classical Greece came after a century of warfare which saw the end of City-states in Greek. The principles of direct democracy were no longer convincing to the intellectuals in Greek such as Plato and Socrates. They accepted and embraced the idea of a monarchy through the leadership of a Philosopher King (Walker, 2003). With the disappointment after the killing of his teacher, Socrates, in the era of democracy in Athens, he saw that it was a democracy that led to his teacher's tragic end.

In the polis system, every person had direct participation in the economic, political, spiritual and social affairs. People met in public settings and gave suggestions on how well the city-states should run("Lecture 9: From "Polis" to "Cosmopolis" -- Alexanderand Hellenistic Greece, 323-30 B.C," n.d.). Furthermore, the private and public life of individuals in Polis were fused. The duty to the city-state was seen as a virtuous attribute by the citizens. However, these views were later to well fit for amateur and not for intellectuals. Professionals advocated for the separation of private and public life (Walker, 2003). Furthermore, they saw that the individual's duty was not to the state but to himself. More attention was now paid to individualism and introspection. As a result, the universal principles of truth were opposed in favor of traits of individuals("Lecture 9: From "Polis" to "Cosmopolis" -- Alexanderand Hellenistic Greece, 323-30 B.C," n.d.). It is this wave that saw many people in the 4th century more concerned with their personal affairs rather than the affairs of the Polis. Later in the 5th Century, there was much criticism of the polis, especially through comedies.

Faith in the polis was lost as it could not train its citizens to be virtuous. Socrates spent his life trying to find questions to mysteries in life. He sought to find an accurate definition of beauty, virtue, justice, the best form of government, good life. In his endeavor, he asked so many people questions on how they understood these concepts("Lecture 9: From "Polis" to "Cosmopolis" -- Alexanderand Hellenistic Greece, 323-30 B.C," n.d.). To his disappointment, none of the citizens in Athens was to give an accurate definition of Virtue that could survive the rest of his questioning. With this discovery, Socrates saw that democracy had failed in training the citizens to be virtuous. It is based on his findings that Plato later comments that it's only a virtuous person who can teach others how to be virtuous(Walker, 2003). The virtuous person, according to Plato was the philosopher king.

Plato rejected the idea of democracy and the polis in his book Republic. In this book, Plato was seeking to define what an ideal state is. The idea behind the book in itself was a clear indication that the state was not ideal and that he sought to identify what an ideal state should be. He challenged the idea of the exiting city-states, and in his view, he saw that the only way to attain an ideal society is through the training of citizens to be virtuous("Lecture 9: From "Polis" to "Cosmopolis" -- Alexanderand Hellenistic Greece, 323-30 B.C," n.d.). Since not everyone was virtuous, the responsibility of teaching people to be virtuous was left to the philosopher king; that who had already escaped the cave of illusion and had seen the light of reality.

The history of Greek after the death of Alexander the great was full of strife and warfare. Different generals were in conflict seeking to control the empire of Alexander by 275 BC, Alexander's kingdom had collapsed and disintegrated into three different dynasties. They were Macedonia, Egypt, and Western Asia. Later, a fourth kingdom, the southern Asia Minor was later incorporated as a Hellenistic monarchy.

Hellenistic Greece was dominated by a culture of urbanization. Culture, trade, and government were centered on the cities that had been founded by Alexander the Great. An example of such an urban center is Alendaria in Egypt, with a population of more than 500,000 citizens("Lecture 9: From "Polis" to "Cosmopolis" -- Alexanderand Hellenistic Greece, 323-30 B.C," n.d.). In other words, the fall of Amenders Empire paved way for the Mediterranean world Hellenization. Cultures that were not previously Greek, such as that of Alexandria in Egypt, became greeker like as they adopted their temples and the system of education. This was because the Greeks had exported their culture to other regions(Walker, 2003). These regions gradually adapted to the Greek spirit: sending the children of the nobles to the temples for education. In other words, these regions were Hellenized. This is what marked the shift from polis to Cosmopolis.

The transition from polis to Cosmopolis (Classical to Hellenistic philosophy) created a world of conflicting identities which eventually resulted in conflict. As opposed to the new Hellenistic philosophy, the advocated and embraced classical philosophy by the Socrates and the sophists in the 5th century was now opposed("Lecture 9: From "Polis" to "Cosmopolis" -- Alexanderand Hellenistic Greece, 323-30 B.C," n.d.). It was more oriented with people's relationships to the polis. In the new word city (Cosmopolis) had significant changes in people's worldview. The cities could no longer be run by citizens. The bureaucrats and officials now took charge of duties that were performed by citizens previously (Walker, 2003). As result, the citizens became subjects, losing their sense of importance. In other words, the people lost their identity under the bureaucratic kingdom.

Hellenistic Philosophy (Cosmopolis era)

The Hellenistic philosophy concerned itself with a new world-state that was less personal, larger and more complex. The philosophies saw the emergence of two schools of thought, the two therapies (Walker, 2003). The new era of individualistic age was less concerned with politics nature and their contribution and influence to it. Some scholars emerged who advanced and tough on the idea of individualism ("Lecture 9: From "Polis" to "Cosmopolis" -- Alexanderand Hellenistic Greece, 323-30 B.C," n.d.). Such philosophers included Epicurus (341-270).

According to Epicurus, he taught the value of passitivity of citizens to politics and their withdrawal from it. Furthermore, he taught that individual happiness was achievable elsewhere apart from the polis. As opposed to classical philosophy, withdrawal from the world and strive to study philosophy was seen as a way of avoiding physical and mental pain("Benjamin Gray: Polis and cosmopolis in later Hellenistic literature and civic rhetoric | Rethinking Late Hellenistic literature and the Second Sophistic," n.d.). This concept meant that a person ought to have enjoyed few companions and thus strive for inner peace. These ideas were taught in Epicurus founded a school of Epicureanism (Walker, 2003). One remarkable contribution he made was the founding of the atomic theory of Democritus. In the theory, the human major course of anxiety, the gods and their divinity, were challenged and he suggested that a world full of colliding atoms did not allow for any divine activity("Lecture 9: From "Polis" to "Cosmopolis" -- Alexanderand Hellenistic Greece, 323-30 B.C," n.d.). However, what he was more concerned with is to end the man's anxiety due to their afterlife existence and fate.

Another school of thought developed in the era of Cosmopolis was Stoicism founded by Zeno (c. 336-c.265 B.C). In his philosophy, he taught that man was less than one single divine plan (logos) ("Lecture 9: From "Polis" to "Cosmopolis" -- Alexanderand Hellenistic Greece, 323-30 B.C," n.d.). Furthermore, he argued that the world was comprised of a single society. This view was the perfect definition and reference of a cosmopolitan nature of the new era("Benjamin Gray: Polis and cosmopolis in later Hellenistic literature and civic rhetoric | Rethinking Late Hellenistic literature and the Second Sophistic," n.d.). He saw no difference between Greeks, barbarians, free men and slaves as to all; the reason was common to all. This concept meant that human beings were fellow citizens in a world society (a cosmopolis) (Walker, 2003). These two therapies; Epicureanism and Stoicism marked the change in the political and social life of man in the Hellenistic age.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is the contribution of intellectuals such as Plato who challenged the ideas of a city-state and the principles of democracy at large. They developed new philosophies that advocated for individualism and pursuit of personal happiness at the expense of the interests of the City state. These ideas of direct democracy and the polis were dominant in classical Greek. However, the change from classical Greek to Hellenistic Greek marked the change from polis to Cosmopolis. The new world order, taught by the two therapies in the Hellenistic philosophy, saw the world as a larger society that was one and this was the Cosmopolis.

References

Benjamin Gray: Polis and cosmopolis in later Hellenistic literature and civic rhetoric | Rethinking Late Hellenistic literature and the Second Sophistic. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/latehellenistic/benjamin-gray-polis-and-cosmopolis-in-later-hellenistic-literature-and-civic-rhetoric/index.html

Lecture 9: From "Polis" to "Cosmopolis" -- Alexanderand Hellenistic Greece, 323-30 B.C. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture9b.html

Walker, R. (2003). Polis, Cosmopolis, Politics. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 28(2), 267-286. doi:10.1177/030437540302800208