PSCI 231: Classical Political Thought: Books and Ebooks

"Alfarabi (ca. 870-950) founded the great tradition of Aristotelian/platonic political philosophy in medieval Islamic and Arabic culture. In this second volume of political writings Charles E. Butterworth presents translations of Alfarabi's Political Regime and Summary of Plato's Laws, accompanied by introductions that discuss the background for each work and explore its teaching. In addition, the texts are carefully annotated to aid the reader in following Alfarabi's argument. Arabic-English and English-Arabic glossaries allow interested readers to verify the way particular words are translated. Throughout, Butterworth's method is to translate consistently the same Arabic word by the same English word, rendering Alfarabi's style in an unusually faithful and yet approachable manner. Political Regime consists of two parts. One focuses on nature and natural existing things, as well as the principles beyond nature that guide the existing things. In the second part, the exposition centers on human beings and their place in the larger cosmic whole, as well as on how a proper organization of human life in political association provides the conditions whereby human beings might achieve their purpose."

Euthyphro is a Socratic dialogue whose events occur in the weeks before the trial of Socrates, between Socrates and Euthyphro. The dialogue covers subjects such as the meaning of piety and justice.
Apology is the Socratic dialogue that presents the speech of legal self-defense, which Socrates presented at his trial for impiety and corruption, in 399 bc. The dialogue is a defence against the charges of "corrupting the youth" and not believing in the gods in whom the city believes.
Crito depicts a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito regarding justice, injustice, and the appropriate response to injustice. Socrates thinks that injustice may not be answered with injustice, and refuses Crito's offer to finance his escape from prison.
Meno introduces Socrates' positive ideas: the immortality of the soul, the theory of knowledge as recollection, the method of hypothesis, and, in the final lines, the distinction between knowledge and true belief.
Phaedo is one of Plato's best-known dialogues. The philosophical subject of the dialogue is the immortality of the soul. It is set in the last hours prior to the death of Socrates.

This comprehensive volume contains much of the important work in political and social philosophy from ancient times until the end of the nineteenth century. The anthology offers both depth and breadth in its selection of material by central figures, while also representing other currents of political thought. Thucydides, Seneca, and Cicero are included along with Plato and Aristotle; Al-Farabi, Marsilius of Padua, and de Pizan take their place alongside Augustine and Aquinas; Astell and Constant are presented in the company of Locke, Rousseau, and Wollstonecraft.

De Officiis (On Duties) was Cicero's last philosophical work. In it he made use of Greek thought to formulate the political and ethical values of Roman Republican society as he saw them, revealing incidentally a great deal about actual practice. Writing at a time of political crisis after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44BC, when it was not clear how much of the old Republican order would survive, Cicero here handed on the insights of an elder statesman, adept at political theory and practice, to his son, and through him, to the younger generation in general. De Officiis has often been treated merely as a key to the lost Greek works that Cicero used. This volume aims to render De Officiis, which was such an important influence on later masterpieces of Western political thought, more intelligible by explaining its relation to its own time and place. A wholly new translation is accompanied by a lucid introduction and all the standard features of Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, including a chronology, select bibliography, and notes on the vocabulary and significant individuals mentioned in the text.

Traditional Eurocentric thought assumes that Greece was the origin of civilization. This book dispels this and other myths by showing that there is a body of knowledge that preceded Greek philosophy. The author documents how the great pyramids were built in 2800 B.C., 2,100 years before Greek civilization. The popular myth of Hippocrates being the father of medicine is dispelled by the fact that Hippocrates studied the works of Imhotep, the true father of medicine, and mentioned his name in his Hippocratic oath. Eleven famous African scholars who preceded Greek philosophers are profiled: Ptahhotep, Kagemni, Duauf, Amenhotep, Amenemope, Imhotep, Amenemhat, Merikare, Sehotepibre, Khunanup, and Akhenaten. These scholars' ideas on a variety of topics are discussed, including the emergence of science and reason, the moral order, books and education, and the clash of classes.