On the Modern Day Pandora's Box : 1. Voyage across the Tides of Time - The Sea of Politics

This is the second instalment in Haroun's essay series on the impact of technology on modern life; you can find the introductory essay here: https://wbgslookingglass.blogspot.com/2022/01/on-modern-day-pandoras-box-0.html

HAROUN DUGSIE

Preparing the Journey

To begin our exploration, we must first define what politics means for our purposes. A common, (if not inaccurate), definition of politics is “studying and applying various methods and tactics used to obtain, secure, and utilise power; granting one dominion and control over others to achieve one’s own desires and whims”. Granted, this definition is, in and of itself, not necessarily a bad definition of politics, given the numerous examples throughout history that it reflects. But most of us, whether we are inherently aware of it or not, visualise and perceive politics as a Machiavellian game of life, full of immoral, devious, and manipulative people using and abusing means and methods maliciously to rob and hoard as much political power as they can. And given our vast collective human experience with various forms of infamous (political) figures, tyrannical regimes, and ineffective & inept governments across history, it isn’t (entirely) without justification that this perception arises, with political leaders as puppet-masters, their citizens as mere marionnettes being strung around and information puppetted like stick-and-carrots. But, upon closer examination, this perceived picture paints a seemingly bleak and dismal outlook and is heavily drawn from egregious errors and misconceptions about how politics is linked with human life across history. And even the term Machiavellian has now been tossed and thrown around as a buzzword for any immoral act or any act of scheming and manipulative plotting with a “the ends justify the means” mentality. So how do we actually define, without the various misconceptions and labels and negative connotations that colour it, the first field of many that we will be exploring in this essay series: the volatile field of politics and political theory?

Making the Maps 

Well, we could start by looking at what the word meant originally i.e. its etymology, and its roots, as a good starting point for defining politics without misconceptions or labels. The word “politics” has its roots and etymology in the Ancient Greek world where Homer used the word “polis”, (Πόλης), meaning “city stuff” and Aristotle used the word “Politiká”, (Πολιτικά), to refer and to mean “affairs of the city”. This etymological detail correlates with the historical context, as the first substantial form of politics and political theory comes from Ancient Greece, where we see both the etymological and historical roots and early concepts of politics being birthed and developed in that corner of the world.

 

Our exploration into Ancient Greek philosophy and political theory starts with the twin contributions of (arguably the most influential philosophers in human history) Plato and Aristotle. But before we look at Plato, or even before the two twin major philosophers of human history, we must consider when philosophy was first pre-Socratic in its approach. Before we even look at the arrival and influence of Socrates on the field of philosophy, and that of his two intellectual successors, who furthered and improved his work on the field of philosophy and birthed the field of political theory, we have to give an overview of the Ancient Greek history and a detailed timeline of events in the progression and development of Ancient Greek civilisation from a backwater city to a sprawling ancient empire. Ancient Greece became a civilisation where ideas about the world first exploded in both volume and intellectual insight. So how did Ancient Greece come to develop and progress its civilisation throughout its history?

If you enjoyed this article, please return for the next instalment in a few weeks' time.