History of Political Philosophy

Today, I am going to look at history of western political philosophy. It was originated in ancient Greek society where city-states were trying to use various ideas such as Monarchy, Tyranny, Aristocracy, Oligarchy and Democracy. A city-state means a region controlled exclusively by a city. Historically, it refers to the polis of ancient Greece like Athens, Sparta and Corinth. In modern world, Singapore, Monaco and Vatican are city-states. Additionally, Hamburg and Bremen in Germany, Hong Kong and Macao in China are also included in the category of city-states. Then, what are Monarchy, Tyranny, Aristocracy, Oligarchy and Democracy? Monarchy is a form of government that has a monarch as head of state. It is from the Greek μονος which means "one", and αρχειυ, "to rule". Second, Tyranny is a government in which a single ruler is given with absolute power. Next, Aristocracy is a form of government where power is inherited, and split between a small number of families. The term was stem from Greek "aristos" meaning the "best" and "kratein" "to rule" and so aristocracy originally meant "rule by the best". Oligarchy can be put into "rule by the few" in Greek. It is government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families. In terms of Democracy, it is translated into Greek "rule by the people". Demos means "people", and kratos means "rule". By the way, One of the first, Plato's "the republic", politeia in Greek and 国家 in Japanese, is very important classical works of political philosophy. Politeia in Greek was derived from the word polis (city-state). I am going to do research on "the Republic" later.
Now, that's all for today. Thank you for coming to read my blog.

See you,

Misaki