Ideas of social order in the ancient world

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Ideas of social order in the ancient world

Vilho Harle

(Contributions in political science, no. 383)

Greenwood Press, 1998

Available at  / 10 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Harle focuses on the perennial issue of social order by providing a comparative analysis of ideas on social order in the classical Chinese political philosophy, the Indian epic and political literature, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, the classical Greek and Roman political thought, and early Christianity. His analysis is based on the religious, political, and literary texts that represent their respective civilizations as both their major achievements and sources of shared values. Harle maintains that two major approaches to establishing and maintaining social order exist in all levels and types of social relations: moral principles and political power. According to the principle-oriented approaches, social order will prevail if and when people follow strict moral principles. According to the contending power-oriented approach, orderly relations can only be based on the application of power by the ruler over the ruled. The principle-oriented approaches introduce a comprehensive civil society of individuals; the power-oriented approaches give major roles to the city-state, its government and relationships between them. The question of morality can be recognized also within the power-oriented approaches which either submit politics to morality or maintain that politics must be taken as nothing else than politics. This book is a contribution to peace and international studies as well as political theory and international relations.

Table of Contents

Foreword by John Galtung Preface Introduction Research Design International Theory and Social Order in Civilizational Thought Comparison of Civilizational Thought: The Cases and the Method Principle-Oriented Patterns of Social Order Moral Principles as the Basis of Social Order Dharma and Caste as the Basis of Social Order Asha and Contract as the Basis of Social Order Torah and National Identity as the Basis of Social Order Power-Oriented Patterns of Social Order The Ideal Community as the Basis of Social Order The Wise King as the Basis of Social Order Education as the Basis of Social Order Heroism as the Basis of Social Order Coercive Power as the Basis of Social Order Peaceful External Relations as the Basis of Social Order The Politics of Exclusion as the Basis of Social Order Power Politics as the Basis of Social Order Conclusions: Comparison of the Ideas of Social Order Appendix Bibliography Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

Related Books: 1-1 of 1

Details

Page Top