What can we learn from Ancient Philosophy?

My interest in learning and understanding philosophy occured in the early teenage years. Being quite familiar with some of the famous philosophers and their theories, there is always an appearance of one question, which I can't have an exact or direct answer to. The question is "Why so often, we rarely see the application of philosophical theories in combination with politics?".

Being a student of Diplomacy and International Relations, I often correlate my reasoning to certain issues or problems, that are happening in the world, with the answer that correlates with history. Of course, I do not like to ignore that fact that it is important to look at all of the factors, which are part of certain issues or concerns in the modern day world. It is just for me, where I usually start from the very early stages, in order to understand the whole picture. However, using philosophy as a tool to analyze problems that are happening in today's world, might be a little bit complicated. In the study of philosophy itself, there are many theories that may go against each other so often, in which there are so many layers and complex questions. Therefore, there may never be such a thing as "correct answer" while looking at philosophical theories. It is not math nor general science. I believe this may be one of the reasons, why the application of philosophy can be useful to analyze and solve the problems in the modern day world.

However, I still do certainly believe that as a society, we may ignore too much of certain aspects of philosophy. In this case,we can fully say that we choose to ignore the principles of “political philosophy”, and not use it as a tool to look and simply discuss certain issues. Some of the earliest political theories originated from the ancient philosophers, such as Confucius, Plato, and Augustine, and they will be mentioned in this article. While looking and discussing these philosophers, I will elaborate on what we can learn from them or what we already may know. The main source of my analysis and reading is from “How to Think Politically” by Graeme Gerrard and James Bernrard Murphy, to which I give big credits to.

“The challenge of a Confucian life is to become a certain kind of person: someone who appetites, passions, thoughts and deeds are all harmonized by a fundamental attitude of goodness to all living things” (p. 15, Chapter 1). Sounds quite implicit and complicated. However, stating by Gerreard and Murphy, a person shall understand himself and his “aesthetic”, in order be harmonized with everything around him. Therefore, “the solemn duty of a ruler is to lead by his own example, which is more significant than any law or policy” (p.18, Chapter 1). By stating this manner, we may already understand some of Confucius’ offering and advice. In order to become fully aware and knowledgeable of one's beliefs, one shall deeply be involved in it. It does not necessarily mean that we have to stand stubbornly on one belief the entire life, but we have to understand and be committed to what we are attracted to. Let’s say, if I am a politician, I have to be portrayed as someone, on whom people can rely on and trust to take such a role. It does not only take to be only part of one thing, but also in this role, I have to be able to face all downs and falls.

Plato, being one of the earliest political philosophers in history, has believed that the study “is good both for each individual person and for the city - state as a whole” (p.23, Chapter 2). As well, he has stated that there shall be forever existing unfairness and ugliness in the political arena, “unless rules become philosophers and philosophers become rulers' (p.23, Chapter 2). Plato as well stated the significance of providing a better law and regulations, and brought an example of a state as a patient, and politicians are doctors: “Do we want our doctors to treat us according to some medical rulebook or to customize our treatments according to knowledge of our individual illness?” (p.25 -26, Chapter 2).

Therefore, we can always look at the aspects of different political philosophy theories as the way to analyze issues and concerns in today’s world. We can always try to understand and learn about myself more, as well as look for a better way to pick the right political figures in order to help and stand for us. The main key to that is always questioning the actions and situation that are happening around us, and what we can do to fix them. However, we should not ignore that there is always a chance for evil actions, as it might be impossible to get rid of them.