Philosophy and History

Philosophy In his discourse, The Republic, Plato describes the "ideal state" as composed of three social classes: the merchant class, military class, and philosopher-kings. The merchant class maintains and provides service to the society by safeguarding the people's economic activities, while the military class provides the society's security needs. However, in order to establish a stable society, the class of philosopher-kings must govern, having the knowledge, skills, and talent to govern and lead over the society politically.

Moreover, the philosopher-king is appropriate for the role of a political leader because he (Plato assigns the role to men) possesses virtues of temperance, courage, wisdom, and justice.

These three classes provide balance in the society in terms of the security, prosperity, and leadership, thereby establishing what Plato calls the "ideal state." Aristotle's philosophy on happiness and the good life is illustrated in his discourse, the Nicomachean Ethics, wherein he posits that in humans achieve happiness based not only on his/her pure intent to be happy; rather, s/he takes into account both intellectual and moral values when studying the nature of happiness among humans.

According to him, the nature of happiness and good life is achieved through self-sufficiency: "[n]ow by self-sufficient we do not mean that which is sufficient for a man by himself, for one who lives a solitary life, but also for parents, children, wife, and in general for his friends and fellow citizens, since man is born for citizenship." Self-sufficiency, in this case, is the process wherein an individual achieves happiness not only on individual happiness, but also happiness achieved by other people through the individual.

In effect, Aristotle's concept of happiness and good life is based on collectivism (collective happiness) and not the western ideal of individualism. In The City of God, St. Augustine introduces the 'two cities' in which humanity first began: the earthly and heavenly cities. The earthly city, according to St.

Augustine, is characterized by "the love of the self, even to the contempt of God," while the heavenly city is a city created "by the love of God, even to the contempt of the self." Theologically, these definitions illustrate how the earthly and heavenly cities are categorized as such based on value and spiritual character of humanity.

Philosophically, the earthly city is synonymous with the dominance of humanity over the world, while the heavenly city is a world governed by a metaphysical entity called God, where people (society) obey and praise the goodness of God.

Politically, the earthly city is a place where rulers ("corruptible man") who "delights in its own strength" govern; the heavenly city, on the other hand, is the state of humanity when it was not still ridden with corruption and evil, a place where wisdom and respect dominates, and God takes precedence above all else. St. Augustine establishes the existence of God through reason and logic, arguing that God's existence is manifested through the human, or individual: the free will and divine grace that humans have been given upon their birth.

Similarly, St. Anselm attests to God's existence within humanity. However, while St. Augustine tried to establish God's existence through abstract concepts, St. Anselm did not attempt to prove God's existence; rather, he contends that God exists unquestionably, and questions regarding God's existence or non-existence is reason enough to argue that God is, in fact, bigger and more complex that human thought. Thus, God exists simply because he exists. Aristotle, on the other hand, resorts to both reason and empiricism as his tools in explaining and describing God's existence.

He agues that like St. Augustine's argument that God resides with humanity through free will and divine grace, God in Aristotle's view exists in Nature itself, which includes not only humans, but all living and non-living entities here on earth. The three religious philosophers, although they differ in explaining God's existence, had provided strong arguments in convincing people that indeed, God exists, whether it be through us, Nature, or simply because God exists in this world.

Under the Augustan Principate, Rome eventually emerged as the Great Empire all over the world. Rome's success as an empire was mainly due to Emperor Augustus' rehabilitation of Rome, Italy, and other provinces, which includes the following: (1) reduction of inefficiency and corruption in the government; (2) reducing the distinction between Romans and Italians, uniting the nation as a whole; and (3) ensuring peace and stability of the government by eliminating ambitious political leaders and individuals.

Because of these stringent measures, Emperor Augustus was able to build a rational, efficient, and stable government, which later developed as the Holy Roman Empire. However, due to changes in the social order within the empire, such as barbarian invasions, economic difficulties, dominance of the military, and political and civil disorders have contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire. Western Europe, when it regained social stability once again in the Middle Ages, was characterized by the major conflict existing between the Church and the State (Pope vs. Emperor/Kings).

Initially, the State governs society, including the Roman Catholic religion; however, as years passed, especially with the occurrence of the Investiture Struggle and period of the Crusades, the Church eventually overpowered the State, making it the new, powerful leader of Western society during the Middle Ages. In effect, social, political, and economic organizations during the period are influenced by the strong Christian leadership: Popes became the Kings/Emperors/leaders, religious artifacts and enterprise.