Lydia N. Yu Jose
Discussion by: BELER, ROMANO KRIS G.
According to Aristotle a human being is political animal he is not human but beast or God if he could live outside the state (state = small city state; example: Athens) this is said so for during that time the population is not that big compare to the present and with this it is not hard for them to participate in politics. During that time almost everything was political. Let’s now consider the present time where we are living in the Nation- States with bigger population. Can we still say that politics affects us? We may say that politics does not affect us or we can avoid it. At the time we reach legal age we may choose to vote or not. But then from the time of our birth till our death politics affect us. We say that POLITICS affects us but then What is politics? Many philosophers and political scientist try to give their own version of defining politics. For Michael Oakeshott politics is the affairs of the state, for David Easton it is the authoritative allocation of values in society. For some philosopher such as Dahl, Crick etc. it is different but all of them believed that politics is a Relational Activity. From our previous professor we define politics as a social activity that deals with scarcity and diversity that leads to conflict which is the heart of politics. (injectko after nitoung different approaches to define politics by: Heywood)
Three basic attitudes towards politics : active participation, rejection and indifference. Active participation means the involvement of the citizens,it is the accountability of the citizens. During the time ancient Greece there was active involvement and direct rule by citizens. But according to Plato every citizen is part of the state but not everyone can rule because of this he proposed the nocturnal council/watchdog (at present time this is the three branches and the ombudsman). Aristotle opposed this idea for he was concerned about the rule of law what was more important for him is that no one is above the law even the ruler. Rejection and Indifference it can be classified into Skeptics, Cynics, Stoics(submissive and rebellious). When we say skeptics it is the people, who does not care about state affairs as long as the state protect them and their property, cynics on the other hand are the people who believed that there progress is at there hand. Stoics submissive, people who just accept what was given as long as he knows to distinguish what is wrong from right. (itoungmgataongginagawaungsinasabingestadonghindinagrereklamo). On the contrary is the rebellious type this is the people who fight for what is dictated by his conscience. (itoungmgataonglumalabankahitnaikamatay pa nila as long as they are fighting for what is his/her conscience is dictating them). Does the size of the political unit matter? No, it is dependent on the quality of the citizens.
Participation and Democracyin a state like Philippines who claims to be democratic where in it is ruled by the people with this definition participation of the citizens is a must. The presence of election is a minimal requirement for democracy. It is not enough to vote for it should be guarded. The result must be true, clean and honest. Participating is not limited in election process we could participate even in writing to our representative, expressing our opinion in the letter to the editor of newspaper, rallies etc. Democracy requires participation and it has to be patient, free and peaceful participation. The presence o violence to settle conflict kills the idea of democracy and politics.
Note:
I did not mention all definition of politics by diff. philosophers.
My discussion does not include scope of politics, political science and definition of terms for I don’t know how to connect
Further information will be added as long as I see the power point and read the discussion of Ella. (just in case it will be chosen)
Conclusion of the discussion will be given after the I read the content of ppt and Ella’s paper.(just in case it will be chosen)
Criticizing, Editing and revision of the discussion is very much accepted and encourage.
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