그리스 정치철학에서 도시국가와 세계공동체의 이해

Abstract

The political thought examined here belongs to the beginning of the Hellenistic period in the history of Greek thought. At that time a decisive evolution took place: the transition from the concept of the city-state to the idea of a world-community. Aristotle's political thought is so closely linked to the city-state that it is barely intelligible outside of this connection. Over against this tradition there is the universalism of Zeno. At the end of the 4th century BC the pattern of the city-state had been gradually abandoned and people adopted the great project of the Stoic thinkers, who proclaimed an all-inclusive society in which gods as well as human beings would be incorporated. The rupture of the barriers between Greeks and Barbarians certainly contributed to the promotion of the project of a cosmopolitan society. But what was the philosophical foundation of the fusion? This argument could not be found in the thought of Aristotle. Hence a new approach was necessary. I will try to find some insights into the mutual relations of human beings all over the world, as well as a new doctrine of the gods and their interest in the destiny of humanity.