Why might logic and public speaking have been emphasized more in athens than in other city-states?

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Abstract

The Greek word stasis meant 'faction', 'civil war' but also 'political standing'. This seems a strange contradiction, particularly since we credit the Greeks with having invented politics. This strange contradiction is partly explained by the nature of the Greek polis, which was not a State, but rather what anthropologists call a stateless community. The latter is a relatively unstratified egalitarian community characterized by the absence of public coercive apparatuses. However, though stateless, the Greek polis was also different from stateless communities studied by anthropologists as it was not tribal. The fear of stasis was directly related to the absence of public means to check seditious factions or to deal with divisions which might be the outcome of having political standings. However, the absence of central authority, social hierarchy and kinship identity, gave room for much individual deliberation and made politics indispensable. Thus the Greeks indeed invented politics, yet the Greek concept of politics was different from the modern one in being predominantly ethical, that is, in seeking to curb 'political standings' by morality, education and self restraint.

Journal Information

History of Political Thought (HPT) is a quarterly journal which was launched in 1980 to fill a genuine academic need for a forum for work in this multidisciplinary area. Although a subject central to the study of politics and history, researchers in this field had previously to compete for publication space in journals whose intellectual centres of gravity were located in other disciplines.

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History of Political Thought © 1998 Imprint Academic Ltd.
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What was the primary factor that established the need for public speaking in ancient Greece?

Pericles' democracy established the need for training in public speaking. Greek assemblies debated old and new laws on a yearly basis.

Where did ancient Greeks give speeches?

The Pnyx was the official meeting place of the Athenian democratic assembly (Ancient Greek: ekklesia).

What factors caused Athens to establish itself as a leading trade center?

The building of a port at nearby Piraeus helped Athens become the leading trade center in the fifth-century b.c. Greek world. A government that enforces recognized limits on those who govern and allows the voice of the people to be heard through free, fair, and relatively frequent elections.

Why did other Greek city states resent Athens's power?

Why did other Greek city states resent Athens power? Other Greek city states resented Athens power because Athens was a democratic government.