Polıtıcal Thought

Yanıt Açıklaması: Ancient Greek civilization is well-known for its specific political, social, economic, and cultural habitat that is known as “polis”. Polis is both the name of a social milieu and its political institution. This in fact underlines an important initial point that political administration is not something detached from the social life. On the contrary, it is an indispensable part of it in ancient Greece.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Ideas which medieval political thinkers owe to Aristotle (or which could be claimed to be reinforced by Aristotle) might be summarised as the following list: 1. It is natural for human beings to form cities. Political city life is natural to human kind. 2. The city or state exists not just for security and trade, but to foster the “good life”, the life according to virtue. 3. Women should, in general, be ruled by men. The inferiority of women was already the general opinion, but Aristotle reinforced it, not only by what he said in the Politics but also by his biological theories. 4. The good forms seek “the common good”. The best is kingship, the worst tyranny. “The common good” became a basic conception in medieval political philosophy. 5. The “ideal polity” was not a topic of pre-Aristotelian medieval thought, but it became a common theme.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The Christian theologians of late antiquity are referred to as the Fathers of the Church (Kilcullen- Robinson 2017: 6). The most influential of them in medieval Europe was Augustine; others included Ambrose, Cyprian, and Gregory (ibid). Many of the Fathers were influenced by the Platonism and Stoicism, as every educated person became acquainted with in the ancient world. Augustine, who was particularly influenced by Neoplatonism, especially by Plotinus, could be seen as a milestone on the path from The Fathers of the Church to early scholastics (ibid). Augustine’s major work, The City of God (De Civitate Dei) will be the object of focus under this title because it is a work whose influence is not limited to that of medieval political thought.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The stratum of Perioikos was more crowded than the stratum composed by Spartans. They were living at the outside lands of Sparta. They were entitled to hold their own lands but had to pay a fee for that. They did not have a political right for joining in administrative duties of the state. They were sometimes used as soldiers, but as a separate unit of army from the Spartans.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Epicurus was a materialist philosopher, who followed Democritus. He developed an ethical philosophy, consistent with the materialist philosophy of nature.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Al-Fârâbî argues directly that true philosophy “was handed down to us from the Greeks from Plato and Aristotle alone”. According to Al-Fârâbî, human beings collaborate as societies “in order to preserve [themselves] and to attain [their] highest perfections”. Without this, he emphasizes, “man cannot attain the perfection, for the sake of which his inborn nature [fitra] has been given to him”. In function of their size, associations can or cannot furnish the basis for a “perfect [kâmil] society”. This way of perfection attributes a goal to society, namely, true felicity (sa‘âdah). On Al-Fârâbî’s view, a city “… in which people aim through association at cooperating for the things by which felicity in its real and true sense can be attained, is the virtuous city [madina fâdıla], and the society in which there is a cooperation to acquire felicity is the virtuous society [ijtima‘ fâdıl]”. Al-Fârâbî also shares with Aristotle the claim that attaining the highest possible degree of perfection entails happiness; moreover, happiness is one of the key concepts of his thought. Al-Fârâbî’s conception of happiness is rather different from that of Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia, because ultimate happiness, for Al-Fârâbî, is a state associated with the afterlife, when, the soul has separated from the body-regarding his conception of the soul. But how is ultimate happiness attained? Al-Fârâbî proposes an answer in line with the Ancient Greek thought; pointing out to a faculty which provides human beings with provision on one hand, and, basically formats reason on the other. As also understood from the information given, the correct answer is D. According to Al-Fârâbî, human beings collaborate as societies “in order to preserve [themselves] and to attain [their] highest perfections. On Al-Fârâbî’s view, the society in which there is a cooperation to acquire felicity is the virtuous society. Al-Fârâbî also shares with Aristotle the claim that attaining the highest possible degree of perfection entails happiness but Al-Fârâbî’s conception of happiness is rather different from that of Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia, because ultimate happiness, for Al-Fârâbî, is a state associated with the afterlife, when, the soul has separated from the body-regarding his conception of the soul.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Most of the political writers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were involved in controversy about the extent and limits (or absence of limits) of papal authority; and, this situation made room for the distinction between secular and sacred authorities as well as for the quest for a secular order; the examples of which are to be found in the texts of Marsilius of Padua and William of Ockham.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Renowned scholar Leo Strauss had a considerable level of impact upon the interpretation of political classics in the post-war era. Explicitly criticising historicism and positivism, he recommended reading between the lines and unorthodox ways of interpretation according to the standards of his own time.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The fundamental aspect which makes room for the existence of the organization of state-or mulk, according to Ibn Khaldûn- is asabiyyah. The following signify the determining role of asabiyyah on ‘umrân: 1. States-especially the great ones- depend upon ruling through lineage and/or alliance; 2. The great state is the one in which rulers succeed one another in a long period of time; this is the fundamental rule in sovereignty and applies until the decay; 3. The rightful ownership is taken from the hands of those who lost it through the asabiyyah possessed.

Yanıt Açıklaması: According to Weber, who is considered the founder of sociology, the features "state" includes are physical force, territory, right to use violence and power.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Avicenna is considered to be a descendant of Al- farabi as he continued the Neoplatoic emanationist scheme of existence. In contrast with the classical Muslim theologians, he rejected creation ex nihilo and argued that cosmos has no beginning but is a natural logical product of the divine One; which would later be attacked by Al-Ghaza^li^. The super- abundant, pure Good- i.e. the One cannot fail to produce an ordered and good cosmos that does not succeed him in time. The cosmos succeeds God merely in logical order and in existence.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Socrates is a philosopher dealing with theoretical issues Socrates was seeking being a good human (Xenophon) Socrates was seeking being a good citizen (Xenophon) Socrates was not interested in dealing with logic (Xenophon) Socrates was a high-level metaphysician (Plato)

Yanıt Açıklaması: All are true for Polybius.

Yanıt Açıklaması: In the philosophy of law, civil law is used as a term standing for positive law, that is, law made and legitimised by the approval of the members of a community/society. Thus, the correct answer is D.

Yanıt Açıklaması: It always should be kept in mind that the Platonic philosophy is based on a non-egalitarian belief.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The members of the Polis, in other words citystate, consist of polites, namely the citizens; and the citizens of the polis consist of free Greek men among which foreigners, women, and slaves are not included. The citizenship status was not given to those who were foreigners, women, and slaves in ancient polis of Greece.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Ideas which medieval political thinkers owe to Aristotle (or which could be claimed to be reinforced by Aristotle) might be summarised as the following list: 1. It is natural for human beings to form cities. “Political” [i.e., city] life is natural to human kind. 2. The city or state exists not just for security and trade, but to foster the “good life”, the life according to virtue (Politics III.9, 1280 a32–b35). 3. Women should, in general, be ruled by men (Politics I.5, 1254 b13). The inferiority of women was already the general opinion, but Aristotle reinforced it, not only by what he said in the Politics but also by his biological theories. 4. The good forms seek “the common good”, i.e., the good of both ruler and ruled. The best is kingship, the worst tyranny. “The common good” became a basic conception in medieval political philosophy. 5. The “ideal polity” was not a topic of pre-Aristotelian medieval thought, but it became a common theme.

Yanıt Açıklaması: According to Ibn Khaldun, mulk is a necessary condition for establishment of social lives in towns and cities. Thus, the correct answer is C

Yanıt Açıklaması: In The Muqaddimah, the term ‘umran’ bears several meanings such as to settle down, building up a construction, visiting a location, and taking care of a given place, but not evacuating a location. Thus, the correct answer is D.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Christianity is indifferent to the concept of slavery.