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.
