The birth of political thought has long been associated with the development of either the polis ... more The birth of political thought has long been associated with the development of either the polis as a new form of political organization in Greece, or of democracy as a new form of government in Athens. This article suggests that this view ought to be expanded. Between the late 6th and 4th centuries BC, the Greek polis of Athens established large, participatory democratic institutions. But the transformation that the polis underwent did not merely affect political structures: in this period, Athens transitioned from an undeveloped, limited access, 'natural state' toward a developed open access society-a society characterized by impersonal, perpetual, and inclusive political, economic, legal and, social institutions. Those who witnessed this transformation first-hand attempted to grapple, often critically, with its implications. We show that Thucydides, Plato, and other Greek political thinkers devoted a considerable part of their work to analyzing the polis' tendency toward not only political, but also economic, social, and legal inclusion. Without understanding this larger picture, we cannot adequately explain the development of Greek political thought.
This paper suggests that equilibrium theory can explain Sparta’s regime stability, along with di... more This paper suggests that equilibrium theory can explain Sparta’s regime stability, along with distinctive features of the social system of ancient Sparta, namely the coordinated social uses of systematic violence, the public facade of material equality among the citizen population, the maintenance of a self-enforcing regime of austerity by an extensive body of citizens, and the severe demographic decline that led to Sparta’s eventual loss of standing in the Greek world
By offering out-of-sample observations, pre-modern case studies can provide unique insights into ... more By offering out-of-sample observations, pre-modern case studies can provide unique insights into the process of economic development. We focus on the case of ancient Athens in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. During that time, Athens moved beyond the logic of rentseeking and rent-creation that grips natural states, displaying many features of development present in the modern world. Athenian development rested on a set of institutions different from those prevalent in the modern world: in particular, Athens lacked liberal democratic institutions and strong central governments with high state capacity. The findings yield a twofold conclusion: first, modern theories centered on the recent experience of contemporary nation-states impose too narrow a frame on the phenomenon of development. Second, by analyzing in depth one case study, we reconstruct a different path toward development.
PHILOSOPHY AND PUBLIC ISSUES/FILOSOPHIA E QUESTIONI PUBBLICHE, 2019
What did ordinary Athenians think that demokratia meant? First and foremost, "celebration of join... more What did ordinary Athenians think that demokratia meant? First and foremost, "celebration of joint action."
Based on a model of income distribution, it appears that late-classical Athens experienced histor... more Based on a model of income distribution, it appears that late-classical Athens experienced historically low inequality, caused in part by democracy, through the mechanism of progressive taxation of the wealthy. Progressive taxation lowered the income of the wealthiest. At the other end of the spectrum, tax revenues were (in part) redistributed to poorer Athenians, through pay for military service, pay for civic service, and other welfare distributions.
How much has democracy to do with the development of urban architecture in the ancient Greek worl... more How much has democracy to do with the development of urban architecture in the ancient Greek world? In this chapter we tlook at a category of architecture that (so we will argue) helped sustain democracy (if not liberal democracy3) across the Greek world in the late- and postclassical periods, that is, the massive stone and brick fortifications that framed urban spaces. We will make what we suppose is a counterintuitive claim: in late-classical and Hellenistic Greek antiquity, big investments by city-states (Greek poleis) in military architecture (especially monumental city walls and outworks, but also fortified villages, garrison forts, watchtowers in the countryside) were closely related to the spread of democracy across the ecology of city-states and contributed materially to the stability of democracy within those states.
The Greek historian, Herodotus, offers his readers an implicit theory of ethics and politics that... more The Greek historian, Herodotus, offers his readers an implicit theory of ethics and politics that conjoins an account of optimal human happiness with individual and collective rationality in respect to choice-making and the effective management of useful information. Herodotus' implicit theory explains the emergence of Athens as a prominent polis in the generation following the democratic revolution of 508 BCE. A democratic culture centered on equality in respect to public speech enabled the public deliberations that resulted in the decision by the Athenian citizen assembly to confront the invading Persians at sea, using a recently constructed fleet of oared warships. Herodotus shows his readers that the Athenian decision, and therefore the subsequent Greek victory at Salamis, depended on the high level of trust among relatively prosperous and relatively poor Athenian citizens, and a shared willingness to listen to a range of informed views. He points out that the Athenian assembly's decision was a pivot in the history of Greece, leading to victory in the Persian Wars and enabling the establishment of Athens' Aegean empire.
Social scientists and political theorists have recently come to realize the potential importance ... more Social scientists and political theorists have recently come to realize the potential importance of the classical Greek world and its legacy for testing social theories. Meanwhile, some Hellenists have mastered the techniques of contemporary social science. They have come to recognize the value of formal and quantitative methods as a complement to traditional qualitative approaches to Greek history and culture. Some of the most exciting new work in social science is now being done within interdisciplinary domains for which recent work on Greece provides apt case studies. This book features essays examining the role played by democratic political and legal institutions in economic development; the potential for inter-state cooperation and international institutions within a decentralized ecology of states; the relationship between state government and the social networks arising from voluntary associations; the interplay between political culture, informal politics, formal institutio...
This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the growing popularity of Greek democracy as a top... more This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the growing popularity of Greek democracy as a topic in school and university curricula. It argues that that the modern penchant for reading the meaning of democracy through the lens of the authoritative institutions of government has had a substantial impact on the way ancient Greek democracy has been understood. It suggests that the study of the ancient Athenian democracy should be conducted with a cultural/ideological approach rather than a constitutional approach.
Abstract: Opposing the tendency to read Thucydides as a strong realist, committed to a theory of ... more Abstract: Opposing the tendency to read Thucydides as a strong realist, committed to a theory of behavior that assumes rationality as expected utility maximization, Ned Lebow and Clifford Orwin (among others) emphasize Thucydides ������� attentiveness to deviations from rationality by individuals and states. This paper argues that Thucydides grasped the principles underlying contemporary prospect theory, which explains why people over-weight potential losses. Thucydides offers salient examples of excessive risk-aversion and ...
The relationship between participatory democracy (the rule of and by a socially diverse citizenry... more The relationship between participatory democracy (the rule of and by a socially diverse citizenry) and constitutional liberalism (a regime predicated on the protection of individual liberties and the rule of law) is a famously troubled one. The purpose of this essay is to suggest that, at least under certain historical conditions, participatory democracy will indeed support the establishment of constitutional liberalism. That is to say, the development of institutions, behavioral habits, and social values centered on the active participation of free and equal citizens in democratic politics can lead to the extension of legally enforced immunities from coercion to citizens and noncitizens alike. Such immunities, here called “quasi-rights,” are at least preconditions for the personal autonomy and liberty in respect to choice-making that are enshrined as the “rights of the moderns.” This essay, which centers on one ancient society, does not seek to develop a formal model proving that d...
The question of what the ancient Greeks can tell us about democracy can be answered by reference ... more The question of what the ancient Greeks can tell us about democracy can be answered by reference to three fields that have traditionally been pursued with little reference to one another: ancient history, classical political theory, and political science. These fields have been coming into more fruitful contact over the past 20 years, as evidenced by a spate of interdisciplinary work. Historians, political theorists, and political scientists interested in classical Greek democracy are increasingly capable of leveraging results across disciplinary lines. As a result, the classical Greek experience has more to tell us about the origins and definition of democracy, and about the relationships between participatory democracy and formal institutions, rhetoric, civic identity, political values, political criticism, war, economy, culture, and religion.
A satisfactory model of decision-making in an epistemic democracy must respect democratic values,... more A satisfactory model of decision-making in an epistemic democracy must respect democratic values, while advancing citizens’ interests, by taking account of relevant knowledge about the world. Analysis of passages in Aristotle and legislative process in classical Athens points to a “middle way” between independent-guess aggregation and deliberation: an epistemic approach to decision-making that offers a satisfactory model of collective judgment that is both time-sensitive and capable of setting agendas endogenously. By aggregating expertise across multiple domains, Relevant Expertise Aggregation (REA) enables a body of minimally competent voters to make superior choices among multiple options, on matters of common interest. REA differs from a standard Condorcet jury in combining deliberation with voting based on judgments about the reputations and arguments of domain-experts.
Dignity, as equal high standing characterized by nonhumiliation and noninfantilization, is democr... more Dignity, as equal high standing characterized by nonhumiliation and noninfantilization, is democracy's third core value. Along with liberty and equality, it is a necessary condition for collective self-governance. Dignity enables robust exercise of liberty and equality while resisting both neglectful libertarianism and paternalistic egalitarianism. The civic dignity required for democracy is specified through a taxonomy of incompletely and fully moralized forms of dignity. Distinctive features of different regimes of dignity are modeled by simple games and illustrated by historical case studies. Unlike traditional meritocracy and universal human dignity, a civic dignity regime is theoretically stable in a population of self-interested social agents. It is real-world stable because citizens are predictably well motivated to defend those threatened with indignity and because they have resources for effective collective action against threats to dignity. Meritocracy and civic digni...
Abstract: Several distinctive, and initially puzzling features of Nikophon's law on silver c... more Abstract: Several distinctive, and initially puzzling features of Nikophon's law on silver coinage (Rhodes/Osborne 25) become clear in light of the Athenian state's attempt to drive down transaction costs in order to maintain Athenian public revenues and private profits in the post-imperial era. I suggest that the law was explicitly intended to even the playing field of trade by ensuring non-citizens access to an impartial system of coin verification (the dokimastai), and to dispute resolution mechanisms (the People's courts). Nikophon's law ...
The birth of political thought has long been associated with the development of either the polis ... more The birth of political thought has long been associated with the development of either the polis as a new form of political organization in Greece, or of democracy as a new form of government in Athens. This article suggests that this view ought to be expanded. Between the late 6th and 4th centuries BC, the Greek polis of Athens established large, participatory democratic institutions. But the transformation that the polis underwent did not merely affect political structures: in this period, Athens transitioned from an undeveloped, limited access, 'natural state' toward a developed open access society-a society characterized by impersonal, perpetual, and inclusive political, economic, legal and, social institutions. Those who witnessed this transformation first-hand attempted to grapple, often critically, with its implications. We show that Thucydides, Plato, and other Greek political thinkers devoted a considerable part of their work to analyzing the polis' tendency toward not only political, but also economic, social, and legal inclusion. Without understanding this larger picture, we cannot adequately explain the development of Greek political thought.
This paper suggests that equilibrium theory can explain Sparta’s regime stability, along with di... more This paper suggests that equilibrium theory can explain Sparta’s regime stability, along with distinctive features of the social system of ancient Sparta, namely the coordinated social uses of systematic violence, the public facade of material equality among the citizen population, the maintenance of a self-enforcing regime of austerity by an extensive body of citizens, and the severe demographic decline that led to Sparta’s eventual loss of standing in the Greek world
By offering out-of-sample observations, pre-modern case studies can provide unique insights into ... more By offering out-of-sample observations, pre-modern case studies can provide unique insights into the process of economic development. We focus on the case of ancient Athens in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. During that time, Athens moved beyond the logic of rentseeking and rent-creation that grips natural states, displaying many features of development present in the modern world. Athenian development rested on a set of institutions different from those prevalent in the modern world: in particular, Athens lacked liberal democratic institutions and strong central governments with high state capacity. The findings yield a twofold conclusion: first, modern theories centered on the recent experience of contemporary nation-states impose too narrow a frame on the phenomenon of development. Second, by analyzing in depth one case study, we reconstruct a different path toward development.
PHILOSOPHY AND PUBLIC ISSUES/FILOSOPHIA E QUESTIONI PUBBLICHE, 2019
What did ordinary Athenians think that demokratia meant? First and foremost, "celebration of join... more What did ordinary Athenians think that demokratia meant? First and foremost, "celebration of joint action."
Based on a model of income distribution, it appears that late-classical Athens experienced histor... more Based on a model of income distribution, it appears that late-classical Athens experienced historically low inequality, caused in part by democracy, through the mechanism of progressive taxation of the wealthy. Progressive taxation lowered the income of the wealthiest. At the other end of the spectrum, tax revenues were (in part) redistributed to poorer Athenians, through pay for military service, pay for civic service, and other welfare distributions.
How much has democracy to do with the development of urban architecture in the ancient Greek worl... more How much has democracy to do with the development of urban architecture in the ancient Greek world? In this chapter we tlook at a category of architecture that (so we will argue) helped sustain democracy (if not liberal democracy3) across the Greek world in the late- and postclassical periods, that is, the massive stone and brick fortifications that framed urban spaces. We will make what we suppose is a counterintuitive claim: in late-classical and Hellenistic Greek antiquity, big investments by city-states (Greek poleis) in military architecture (especially monumental city walls and outworks, but also fortified villages, garrison forts, watchtowers in the countryside) were closely related to the spread of democracy across the ecology of city-states and contributed materially to the stability of democracy within those states.
The Greek historian, Herodotus, offers his readers an implicit theory of ethics and politics that... more The Greek historian, Herodotus, offers his readers an implicit theory of ethics and politics that conjoins an account of optimal human happiness with individual and collective rationality in respect to choice-making and the effective management of useful information. Herodotus' implicit theory explains the emergence of Athens as a prominent polis in the generation following the democratic revolution of 508 BCE. A democratic culture centered on equality in respect to public speech enabled the public deliberations that resulted in the decision by the Athenian citizen assembly to confront the invading Persians at sea, using a recently constructed fleet of oared warships. Herodotus shows his readers that the Athenian decision, and therefore the subsequent Greek victory at Salamis, depended on the high level of trust among relatively prosperous and relatively poor Athenian citizens, and a shared willingness to listen to a range of informed views. He points out that the Athenian assembly's decision was a pivot in the history of Greece, leading to victory in the Persian Wars and enabling the establishment of Athens' Aegean empire.
Social scientists and political theorists have recently come to realize the potential importance ... more Social scientists and political theorists have recently come to realize the potential importance of the classical Greek world and its legacy for testing social theories. Meanwhile, some Hellenists have mastered the techniques of contemporary social science. They have come to recognize the value of formal and quantitative methods as a complement to traditional qualitative approaches to Greek history and culture. Some of the most exciting new work in social science is now being done within interdisciplinary domains for which recent work on Greece provides apt case studies. This book features essays examining the role played by democratic political and legal institutions in economic development; the potential for inter-state cooperation and international institutions within a decentralized ecology of states; the relationship between state government and the social networks arising from voluntary associations; the interplay between political culture, informal politics, formal institutio...
This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the growing popularity of Greek democracy as a top... more This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the growing popularity of Greek democracy as a topic in school and university curricula. It argues that that the modern penchant for reading the meaning of democracy through the lens of the authoritative institutions of government has had a substantial impact on the way ancient Greek democracy has been understood. It suggests that the study of the ancient Athenian democracy should be conducted with a cultural/ideological approach rather than a constitutional approach.
Abstract: Opposing the tendency to read Thucydides as a strong realist, committed to a theory of ... more Abstract: Opposing the tendency to read Thucydides as a strong realist, committed to a theory of behavior that assumes rationality as expected utility maximization, Ned Lebow and Clifford Orwin (among others) emphasize Thucydides ������� attentiveness to deviations from rationality by individuals and states. This paper argues that Thucydides grasped the principles underlying contemporary prospect theory, which explains why people over-weight potential losses. Thucydides offers salient examples of excessive risk-aversion and ...
The relationship between participatory democracy (the rule of and by a socially diverse citizenry... more The relationship between participatory democracy (the rule of and by a socially diverse citizenry) and constitutional liberalism (a regime predicated on the protection of individual liberties and the rule of law) is a famously troubled one. The purpose of this essay is to suggest that, at least under certain historical conditions, participatory democracy will indeed support the establishment of constitutional liberalism. That is to say, the development of institutions, behavioral habits, and social values centered on the active participation of free and equal citizens in democratic politics can lead to the extension of legally enforced immunities from coercion to citizens and noncitizens alike. Such immunities, here called “quasi-rights,” are at least preconditions for the personal autonomy and liberty in respect to choice-making that are enshrined as the “rights of the moderns.” This essay, which centers on one ancient society, does not seek to develop a formal model proving that d...
The question of what the ancient Greeks can tell us about democracy can be answered by reference ... more The question of what the ancient Greeks can tell us about democracy can be answered by reference to three fields that have traditionally been pursued with little reference to one another: ancient history, classical political theory, and political science. These fields have been coming into more fruitful contact over the past 20 years, as evidenced by a spate of interdisciplinary work. Historians, political theorists, and political scientists interested in classical Greek democracy are increasingly capable of leveraging results across disciplinary lines. As a result, the classical Greek experience has more to tell us about the origins and definition of democracy, and about the relationships between participatory democracy and formal institutions, rhetoric, civic identity, political values, political criticism, war, economy, culture, and religion.
A satisfactory model of decision-making in an epistemic democracy must respect democratic values,... more A satisfactory model of decision-making in an epistemic democracy must respect democratic values, while advancing citizens’ interests, by taking account of relevant knowledge about the world. Analysis of passages in Aristotle and legislative process in classical Athens points to a “middle way” between independent-guess aggregation and deliberation: an epistemic approach to decision-making that offers a satisfactory model of collective judgment that is both time-sensitive and capable of setting agendas endogenously. By aggregating expertise across multiple domains, Relevant Expertise Aggregation (REA) enables a body of minimally competent voters to make superior choices among multiple options, on matters of common interest. REA differs from a standard Condorcet jury in combining deliberation with voting based on judgments about the reputations and arguments of domain-experts.
Dignity, as equal high standing characterized by nonhumiliation and noninfantilization, is democr... more Dignity, as equal high standing characterized by nonhumiliation and noninfantilization, is democracy's third core value. Along with liberty and equality, it is a necessary condition for collective self-governance. Dignity enables robust exercise of liberty and equality while resisting both neglectful libertarianism and paternalistic egalitarianism. The civic dignity required for democracy is specified through a taxonomy of incompletely and fully moralized forms of dignity. Distinctive features of different regimes of dignity are modeled by simple games and illustrated by historical case studies. Unlike traditional meritocracy and universal human dignity, a civic dignity regime is theoretically stable in a population of self-interested social agents. It is real-world stable because citizens are predictably well motivated to defend those threatened with indignity and because they have resources for effective collective action against threats to dignity. Meritocracy and civic digni...
Abstract: Several distinctive, and initially puzzling features of Nikophon's law on silver c... more Abstract: Several distinctive, and initially puzzling features of Nikophon's law on silver coinage (Rhodes/Osborne 25) become clear in light of the Athenian state's attempt to drive down transaction costs in order to maintain Athenian public revenues and private profits in the post-imperial era. I suggest that the law was explicitly intended to even the playing field of trade by ensuring non-citizens access to an impartial system of coin verification (the dokimastai), and to dispute resolution mechanisms (the People's courts). Nikophon's law ...
In the modern world, access-limiting fortification walls are not typically regarded as promoting ... more In the modern world, access-limiting fortification walls are not typically regarded as promoting democracy. But in Greek antiquity, increased investment in fortifications was correlated with the prevalence and stability of democracy. This paper sketches the background conditions of the Greek city-state ecology, analyzes a passage in Aristotle's Politics, and assesses the choices of Hellenistic kings, Greek citizens, and urban elites, as modeled in a simple game. The paper explains how city walls promoted democracy and helps to explain several other puzzles: why Hellenistic kings taxed Greek cities at lower than expected rates; why elites in Greek cities supported democracy; and why elites were not more heavily taxed by democratic majorities. The relationship between walls, democracy, and taxes promoted continued economic growth into the late classical and Hellenistic period (4 th-2 nd centuries BCE), and ultimately contributed to the survival of Greek culture into the Roman era, and thus modernity. We conclude with a consideration of whether the walls-democracy relationship holds in modernity.
Schumpeter's highly influential theory of democracy, developed in Capitalism, Socialism and Democ... more Schumpeter's highly influential theory of democracy, developed in Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, is less a market-based theory of party competition than it is a theory of strong leadership, conceptualized as warfare. As such, it is a weak foundation for rebuilding a democratic theory of party politics. Moreover, Schumpeter's demolition of the " Classical Doctrine of Democracy " knocks down a straw-man theory: a hybrid of Bentham's utilitarianism and Rousseau's communitarianism that few contemporary theorists of democracy would be willing to defend.
The characterization of the world of the ancient Greek city states as relatively poor and economi... more The characterization of the world of the ancient Greek city states as relatively poor and economically static has been refuted by recent advances in Greek economic history. The Greek world grew dramatically, compared to other premodern societies, both in population and per capita consumption from the age of Homer to that of Aristotle. By the fourth century BCE the city-‐state ecology was densely populated and median consumption was well above bare subsistence. Athenian income inequality can be roughly measured using income and population estimates from late fourth century BCE. This paper argues that, at least in Athens, economic growth was accompanied by historically low levels of income inequality. Both economic growth and low inequality are explained by the development of citizen-‐centered political institutions. Growth, inequality, and institutions were important parts of the historical context in which Plato and Aristotle wrote. Attending to that context may elucidate some aspects of Greek political philosophy. The causes and consequences of political and material inequality and its relationship to economic growth are central questions for historians, social scientists, and political philosophers alike. 1 Classical Greek social theorists, notably Plato and Aristotle, were much concerned with these issues-‐-‐ as their successors have been in the early modern and modern eras. The literature on Greek political theories of equality, to which the other papers in this collection contributes, is, however, relatively little concerned with the actual conditions of material welfare and inequality in the Greek world. Recent work on the development of the ancient Greek economy clarifies the material conditions under which classical political thought developed, and to which the classical philosophical tradition responded. While estimating rates of growth, urbanization, per capita income, wealth distribution, and so on will not explain either the richness or the direction of classical political philosophy, a consideration of these issues can help us to better understand the situation in which Plato and Aristotle (among others) wrote, the background conditions they expected their original readers to take for granted, and
Introductory essay for the Proceedings of a conference on Ancient Greek History and Contemporary ... more Introductory essay for the Proceedings of a conference on Ancient Greek History and Contemporary Social Science, held at the University of Edinburgh, November 2015. Forthcoming from Edinburgh UP.
A discussion the historiography of my dissertation advisor, Chester G. Starr, with special refere... more A discussion the historiography of my dissertation advisor, Chester G. Starr, with special reference to his important 1961 book, Origins of Greek Civilization. Some new insight into the background of the book comes from unpublished group of letters from Starr's wife, Gretchen Starr, to her mother.
Abstract: Standard models of electoral preference-aggregating democracy and deliberative democrac... more Abstract: Standard models of electoral preference-aggregating democracy and deliberative democracy have recently been supplemented by a conception of epistemic democracy focusing on the aggregation and management of useful knowledge (Anderson 2006). But how is knowledge best aggregated in a democratic decision-making system?
Although archaic/classical-‐era Sparta shared many features in common with other Greek city-‐st... more Although archaic/classical-‐era Sparta shared many features in common with other Greek city-‐states, Sparta was atypical in certain ways. Among features of Spartan society regarded as striking by historians, ancient and modern, were the stability of the constitutional system, which seemed impervious to the regime changes that affected many other Greek states; the strict caste system, whereby some native residents were hereditary state-‐owned slaves, whereas other natives lived entirely by the fruits of the slaves' labors; the systematic use of violence against slaves by their masters, justified by an annual declaration of war; norms of austerity and equality in respect to public consumption, along with substantial and growing inequality in wealth; sudden collapse from leading Greek-‐world state to minor regional state. These various features are related and they can explained by a positive theory of political economy.
A meditation on the death of Alexander the Great at Babylon, 323 BCE. Written for a collection of... more A meditation on the death of Alexander the Great at Babylon, 323 BCE. Written for a collection of essays in which historians were asked to describe a moment in history that they wished they could have witnessed.
A "what if?" type counterfactual, written mostly for fun. The career of Mark Antony, with a specu... more A "what if?" type counterfactual, written mostly for fun. The career of Mark Antony, with a speculation of how history might have been different if he had won the battle of Actium in 31 BCE
A what if? type counterfactual, written mostly just for fun. The early career of Alexander the Gr... more A what if? type counterfactual, written mostly just for fun. The early career of Alexander the Great, speculating on how history would be different had he been killed (as he nearly was) at the Battle of the Granicus River, early in his career.
Popular-audience military history: Assessment of Spartan society and reasons for Sparta's ultimat... more Popular-audience military history: Assessment of Spartan society and reasons for Sparta's ultimate failure.
Whenever someone claims that the his-tory of" the Greeks" can teach us about ourselves, we should... more Whenever someone claims that the his-tory of" the Greeks" can teach us about ourselves, we should ask" which Greeks?" Most ancient Greek communities are frankly irrelevant to the considerations brought forward by Euben, Lebow, and other modern theorists who engage with Greek political culture. In the classical and Hellenistic periods there were roughly 1500 Greek poleis.
In the contemporary United States the image and experience of Athenian democracy has been appropr... more In the contemporary United States the image and experience of Athenian democracy has been appropriated to justify a profoundly conservative political and educational agenda. Such is the conviction expressed in this provocative book, which is certain to arouse widespread comment and discussion. What does it mean to be a citizen in a democracy? Indeed, how do we educate for democracy?
Query: What two things do Current Anthropology, Behavioral and Brain Science, and Politics and th... more Query: What two things do Current Anthropology, Behavioral and Brain Science, and Politics and the Life Sciences all have in common? Answer: They are interdisciplinary academic journals, and they share the common publishing format of target article, multiple comments, and rebuttal. Now Princeton University Press has produced a book that follows approximately the same framework, and the result is enlightening.
How do communities survive catastrophe? Using classical Athens as its case study, this book argue... more How do communities survive catastrophe? Using classical Athens as its case study, this book argues that if a democratic community is to survive over time, its people must choose to go on together. That choice often entails hardship and hard bargains. In good times, going on together presents few difficulties.
All human societies depend upon a level and scale of cooperation among non-kin individuals that i... more All human societies depend upon a level and scale of cooperation among non-kin individuals that is extremely high compared to that achieved by vertebrate species. Yet, again unlike other vertebrates, human societies vary greatly in respect to the extent of cooperation and how they organize cooperation.
Contemporary political philosophy recognizes two kinds of dignitythe Kantian conception of dignit... more Contemporary political philosophy recognizes two kinds of dignitythe Kantian conception of dignity as intrinsic worth beyond price (universal human dignity) and an older conception of dignity as high standing (which I call meritocratic dignity). In his Tanner Lectures, Jeremy Waldron (2009) pointed out the conceptual similarities between these two kinds of dignity and suggested that human dignity generalizes to all humanity the high standing formerly reserved for a privileged few. This seems to me important and right, as far as it goes. SEE NOW "DEMOCRACY'S DIGNITY" 2012
The Greeks and the Rational: The Discovery of Practical Reason, 2022
A sample from the book. My hypothesis is that ancient Greek theorists and lawmakers recognized th... more A sample from the book. My hypothesis is that ancient Greek theorists and lawmakers recognized the question of why and how people choose to cooperate as basic. They saw that it must be answered at the level of the individual’s motives for action. Inquiries by Greek thinkers into the rationality of choice-making led to new theories of motivation, action, and ethics, to new approaches to teaching and learning, and to the design of new institutions by political entrepreneurs. In brief, Greeks discovered practical reason and the discovery was quickly put to practical use.
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Papers by Josiah Ober
We will make what we suppose is a counterintuitive claim: in late-classical and Hellenistic Greek antiquity, big investments by city-states (Greek poleis) in military architecture (especially monumental city walls and outworks, but also fortified villages, garrison forts, watchtowers in the countryside) were closely related to the spread of democracy across the ecology of city-states and contributed materially to the stability of democracy within those states.
We will make what we suppose is a counterintuitive claim: in late-classical and Hellenistic Greek antiquity, big investments by city-states (Greek poleis) in military architecture (especially monumental city walls and outworks, but also fortified villages, garrison forts, watchtowers in the countryside) were closely related to the spread of democracy across the ecology of city-states and contributed materially to the stability of democracy within those states.