POLITICAL SCIENCE 2310

FIRST EXAMINATION

February 21, 2005

PART 1: Answer each of the following questions in the space provided

1. At the beginning of Antigone, what is Ismene's argument that they should obey Creon's edict to leave Polyneices' body unburied?

They should obey out of fear of Creon’s power.

2. What evidence is there in Antigone that all of the sentries guarding Polyneices' body were motivated primarily by a concern for "the safety of one's own sweet skin"?

When they discovered that someone had tampered with Polyneices’ body they played a game of chance to see who had to go tell the king. No one wanted to go.

3. According to Creon's argument to Haemon, why should all laws always be enforced rigidly?

Disobedience could lead to more disobedience and eventually to anarchy, and there is no greater evil than anarchy.

4. In terms of power and authority, why (according to her statement) would Antigone have obeyed Creon had it been her husband's body that was lying unburied?

Since she could replace a husband, it would not be worth standing up to the city’s power. She would have obeyed out of fear of power.

5. What was the informal accusation against Socrates, and why was it of concern to the Athenians?

Socrates investigates the things in the heavens and the things beneath the earth, and makes the worse argument appear stronger. Athenians believed that such people were atheists who questioned the city’s fundamental moral beliefs.

6. What does a careful reading of the oracle story suggest about Socrates' belief in the gods of Athens, and how do you know it?

Socrates says that he went out to refute the god, thereby showing his willingness to question religious belief.

7. According to class, why is Socrates able easily to make Meletus contradict himself on the religion charge?

Meletus was counting on the prejudice against him to get Socrates convicted.

8. According to Socrates, why would it harm him to be exiled from Athens?

There is no where else he could engage in his questioning, and developing the mind is the greatest good for human beings.

9. What was the goal behind Lycurgus' monetary policy?

To make Spartans more virtuous by taking away the opportunity for luxury.

10. According to Aristotle, why is politics the "master science"?

Politics has the comprehensive power to shape human life.

PART 2: ESSAY Using the space provided, write a clear, well organized essay on the

following topic:

TOPIC: Socrates as Person and Citizen

The correct answer to a question in class was that according to Aristotle's analysis, Socrates would be considered a bad citizen of Athens. But in the Apology Plato makes Socrates claim to be the greatest benefactor to his fellow Athenians. Explain how both of these things could be the case at the same time. How does Aristotle define a good citizen, and how does Socrates meet or fail to meet that definition (and, carefully, how do you know)? Then, according to the Apology, how does Socrates benefit others and, importantly, what does he say is the true reason he does what he does? What does the case of Socrates and the argument of the Apology say about whether one can be simultaneously a fully good person and a fully good citizen?

It is possible for Socrates to be a bad citizen of Athens while being at the same time a good person who benefits other human beings. Indeed, according to both Aristotle and Plato, any one who is the second of those things is almost necessarily the first as well.

Aristotle’s descriptive definition of citizenship is that what makes one a citizen varies from regime to regime according to the laws of the community. That variation in definition of citizenship reflects a variation in the goals of different communities: different communities defined citizenship differently so as to be able effectively to reach their goals. A good citizen in whatever community is someone who plays his or her particular part well in helping the community of reach its goals, whatever they may be. It seems clear from the Apology that Socrates simply does not do that. Rather than accepting the goals of Athens and helping the community to reach them, Socrates actively questions those goals, both political and moral, and challenges those who speak for them and pursue them, as shown with his questioning of the politicians and poets in the oracle story and by Socrates’ own statements that he challenges his fellow citizens to question their view of how life ought to be lived.

But according to Socrates and Plato that very questioning is highly beneficial both to Socrates and to his fellow citizens. In challenging them to think about their lives, he encourages them to develop a fuller understanding of what their happiness involves, and, thus, to live better, more fulfilled, lives. Indeed, according to Socrates of this questioning itself, in that it develops the mind, is the greatest good for human beings. Thus, in order to be a fully good person both Plato and Aristotle would agree that one needs to raise questions about the meaning of virtue, something which involves questioning the goals of the regime. Indeed, this tension is explicitly confirmed when Plato make Socrates say that someone who insisted on justice in all things could not survive politically in Athens or elsewhere because of the nature of politics. Aristotle’s analysis confirms that judgment, concluding that the sole case in which one could be both a fully good person and a fully good citizen at the same time is when one is acting as ruler in the best regime and therefore has the job of as citizen of questioning the meaning of virtue.