In The Republic and The Laws by Cicero - Essay Example

11th May Introduction In our search to understand the meaning of democracy, there is much that we can learn from Cicero. In The Republic and the The Laws (1690), Cicero points a positive picture of people and nature. This paper brings out the arguments of three philosophers including Cicero, Locke and Kant and how the idea of reason and democracy relate to each other. The word democracy has its origins from the area around the Mediterranean Sea and is associated with the ancient Greek culture. The word “democracy is a combination to Greek words “demo” meaning “the people” and “kratein” meaning to rule, literally meaning rule by the people. According to Cicero 3 all human beings are the same. We all have the urge to be together. We cannot live in isolation and that we come together in communities from a desire to be together both for fulfillment of our nature as social beings and for company. As Aristotle has said, “man is social being”. He argues that nature has endowed humans with reason so that we can understand the natural urge and guide our actions in order for us to live together. For Cicero, not only are all humans one species, but also all communities with “an innate desires on the part of human beings to form communities.” He agrees with Aristotle that humans are political or social animals. But that nature has given to mankind “… a compulsion to do good and … a desire to defend the well being of the community…” (Marcus 4). What this means is that as human beings we have constructive toward each other and are urged by nature to seek the well being not just of themselves but of the whole community. The opposite of this is selfishness and for Cicero this is acting against human nature. Cicero even marvels at the power of human reason. “Reason in fact … the one thing in which we are superior to the beast which enables us to make valid deductions, to argue, refute, debate, solve problems, draw conclusion … that certainly is common to all of us (John 4). It is this common reason that allows each individual to examine nature and come to understand what nature urges him or her to do. This is his basis for universal understanding of the institution, it is better to live with other people. He takes a stand that Law is the highest reason, implanted in nature, which prescribes those things which ought to be done and forbids the contrary (John 10). For Cicero, “The highest reason inherent in nature which enjoins what out to be done and forbids that opposite” Living by this natural law is what he calls justice and this justice comes from nature. The right reason is natural law and that justice is living in accordance with natural law, whereas, the written law is not the same as the natural law. People at all times try to be just, but there is another force, corruption which is infectious. He states that corruption brought by bad habits is so great that it extinguishes the sparks given y nature and allows corresponding vices to spring up and flourish. He does not explain the causes of bad habits, but points to self interests as “source of everything pernicious (ibid). From the argument of Cicero, we are able to establish the basis of why people live in a society. A society being defined as a group of people who share a common culture. So, if a person or people have the natural urge to live is society together and all have sufficient reason to know and understand their natural urge, they can work together and establish laws and institutions that will make their living together possible – if they are guided by right reason – natural law, they will be just. The constitution of a society can be in the hands of and under the power of the people. We are by nature born for justice and that what is justice is based not on opinion but on nature” Locke’s political theory, on the other hand, was founded on social contract theory. He believed that human nature is characterized by reason and tolerance and that human nature allowed men to be selfish. In a natural state, all people were equal and independent and that everyone had a natural right to defend his “Life, health, Liberty or Possessions” this became the basis for the phrase in the American Declaration of Independence ‘Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ (Chernoff 11). As stipulated by John 3 the right to defend in the state of nature was not enough so people established a civil society to resolve conflict in a civil way with help from the government in a state of society. Locke also advocated for governmental separation of powers and believed that revolution is not only a right but an obligation in some circumstances. These ideas came to have a profound influence on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutions of the United Sates (John 4). For Kant, enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity”. That is the immaturity is self-inflicted not from a lack of understanding, but from the lack of courage to use one’s reason, intellect, and wisdom without the guidance of another -our fear of thinking for ourselves. He exclaims that the motto of enlightenment is “sapere aude”- Dare to be Wise! The German word “Tutelage” or “nonage” (the condition) of not [being] of age. Kant whose moral philosophy is centered on the concept of autonomy distinguishes between a person who is intellectually autonomous and one who keeps him/herself in an intellectually heteronymous state that is dependent and immature state. Kant understands that the majority to be contend to follow the guiding institutions of society, such as the church and the monarchy and unable to throw off the yoke of their immaturity due to lack of resolution to be autonomous. It is difficult for individuals to work their way out of this immature, cowardly life because we are so uncomfortable with the idea of thinking for ourselves. Kant says that even if we throw off the spoon-fed dogma and formulas we have absorbed, we would still be stuck because we have never “cultivated our minds.” The key for throwing off this mental immaturity is reason. That there is hope for the entire public to become a force to free thinking individuals if they are free to do so, because, there will always be a few people, even among the institutional “guardians”, who think for themselves. They will help the rest of us to “cultivate our minds”. For Kant, a revolution may well put an end to autocratic despotism … or power-seeking oppression, but it will never produce a true reform in ways of thinking. Kant cautions that although the American Revolution had made a great impact in Europe, new prejudice will replace the old and become new leash to control the “great unthinking masses.”Immanuel Kant is the proponent of the Democratic peace theory or simply democratic peace. This is the theory that states that democracies don’t go to war with each other Although the philosophical idea has circulated since Immanuel Kant and Thomas Paine, it was not scientifically evaluated until the 1960s. Kant foreshowed the theory in his essay perpetual peace written 1795, although he thought that a world with only constitutional republics was only one of several necessary conditions for a perpetual peace. Kant’s theory was that a majority of the people would never vote to go to war, unless in self-defense. Therefore, if all nations were republics, it would end war because there would be no aggressors. In earlier but less cited works, Tomas Paine made similar or stronger claims about the peaceful nature of republics. Paine wrote in “Common Sense”, in 1776 The Republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) in peace” Paine argues that kings would go to war out of pride in situations where republics would not (Immanuel 9). A critical analysis of quotation H There are several assertions contained in the excerpt. One major assertion is that of being compassionate. The excerpt is from the charter for compassion. According to Chernoff 36 the word compassion is the act of suffering together with. It is the empathy and sympathy for the suffering of others. It forms part of what has been regarded as the Golden Rule – Do to others what you would have them do to you. Compassion may be viewed as love itself. For one to have compassion for others, it means that you have first to notice that they are suffering. For example, one has to be moved by the state of the homeless or abandoned street children by accepting the difficult condition they are undergoing in order to have compassion. Compassion is the cornerstone of our social interaction and humanism. In other words, compassion is the act of being moved by other people’s suffering so that we respond to their pain. In his analysis of the difference between empathy and compassion, Lampert 16 positions that empathy encompasses brain imaging using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) to pinpoint out what is happening in the brain when we are responding to another’s pain. To him this is not important but rather that is more imperative to look at the effects of compassion in terms of social, biological and personal effects. Secondly, that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is not right or ethical. Young people should be given accurate information about other religions, culture and traditions in order that they may learn to appreciate the different religious and cultural diversity so as cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings, even those regarded as our enemies. In our polarized world, we need to make compassion a clear force rooted in the principle determination of transcending selfishness. Compassion can break down political and religious boundaries. Due to our human interdependence, however, compassion then becomes an important virtue in human relationships and leads to a feeling of a fulfilled humanity. It is the way that leads to enlightenment and the creation of a just economy and peaceful global community. Language is an important aspect of how information can be transmitted. Language however, obfuscates the issue. One important assertion that I feel is important and valuable insight in providing guidance for governing societies and nations today is that of inculcating in our youths the different cultural and religious dogmas based on the fact that what you know cannot harm you but what you do not know and in our world today, ignorance has no defense. The issues of terrorism are one that has placed the global world in constant fear of attack. These are the groups of people that need to impress notion of compassion so that we may have a peaceful world. Conclusion From the above discussion it is clear that some people are utilitarian implying that they are obligated to do whatever will accomplish the greatest good for the greater number while others fall into Kant’s camp. According to Kant everyone is obligated to act only in ways that respect the human dignity and moral rights of all persons (Abadie 24). All over the world democracy and reason have continued to thrive in different ways. But the philosophy of these great thinkers has influenced and continues to influence growth of democracy all over the world. Works Cited Abadie, Alberto. Poverty Political Freedom, and the Roots to Terrorism. NBER Working paper Series, 2004, print. Chernoff, Fred. The study of Democratic Peace and Progress in International Relations. International Studies Review, 2004. Immanuel, Kant. 1784. What is Enlightenment? Available from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/kant-whatis.asp John, Locke. Property and Government: From Second Treatise on Government, 1690 print. Lampert, Khen. Traditions of Compassion: From Religious Duty to Social Activism. New York: Macmillan, 2006, print. Marcus, Cicero. On The Laws, c.50 BC. Available from http:// oll.libertyfund.org/ToC/0044-02.php Read More