Political Science

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Political Science

Introduction

Cicero wrote these letters to his son Marcus, which was, upon observation, understood not only aimed at his son, but the whole world and the community in general. He was forced out of his retired by the atrocious conditions; the Roman Empire had fallen down to. He had sent these letters to Marcus who was currently learning philosophy, in Athens, or rather not learning philosophy and instead spending his time drinking and carousing. As much as these were instructions for Marcus, they are for men in general. Cicero in his book Obligation: De Officiis means four kinds of virtues that need to be pre-dominant in the people. Unfortunately in the modern world, not a single of those virtues is evident in the people. The politicians of any country are basically spokespeople of their respective areas or group of people. It can be said that they are a representation of their half/side of the people (Strachan & Leigh, 1936, pp. 90). They need to exhibit these qualities, so that they are effective role model for the people. Sadly, they are the furthest away from any of the virtues. The four virtues mentioned are as follows

Temperance

Justice

Wisdom/prudence

Fortitude

Discussion

Even though Cicero would not appreciate people possessing only one of the virtues, he was of the opinion they should possess them all. Of the four virtues mentioned, in my opinion the most important virtue which a politician needs to possess is Justice. Cicero discusses Justice very thoroughly in his book Obligation: De Officiis, starting from the 7th Chapter and continuing through the 19th Chapter. (Please refer to all the quotes in the appendices, according to the serial mentioned, Appendices quote 1)

In the beginning, according to Cicero (Appendices quote 2)

This is the first line Cicero has to say about justice. When analyzing it, according to the workings of the current world, one can observe huge failings even when complying with this simple line. Justice dictates that there should be harm, yet in the modern world, unprovoked violence or even verbal abuse wreaks havoc everywhere. Politicians are engaged in slander campaigns against each other for no other reason except to secure their own popularity. This is an injustice, which Cicero has mentioned later. Appendices quote 3

There is civil unrest among the people for reasons no bigger than just being of different colors. There is no harm to an individual if another individual of a different, color, race or religion is living in the same vicinity as him. Yet racism is a huge problem in the world. The only reason it has managed to become an issue is that this definition was ignored.

The second part when Cicero mentions for Justice is the inviolability of private property. Appendices quote 4

The Covetousness, according to him, is the biggest sin which a person can possess. It is the main reason why there are problems and even wars between people (Yates, 1974, Pp. 65-70). For instance, taking the example of history, the ...