Athenian Democracy

The Classics major in me (after all these decades!) can't help pointing out an interesting post by Ilya Somin, Democracy and Political Knowledge in Ancient Athens - Why Ancient Athenian Voters Were Not as Ignorant as We Have Been Taught to Think, which in turn discusses what looks like a fascinating book, Josiah Ober's Democracy and Knowledge: Innovation and Learning in Classical Athens.

Here's a taste of Prof. Somin's post on the book:

Ober shows that ancient Athens was relatively successful in dealing with the problem of political ignorance in large part because of the ways in which it differed from modern representative democracy. In today's democracies, voters have strong incentives to remain "rationally ignorant" because there is very little chance that their votes will actually affect the outcome of an election. In ancient Athens, by contrast, there were only a few thousand voters, and, at any given time, some 30 percent of them (according to data I calculated from information in Ober's book) were serving in public office under Athens' system of allocating many government positions by lot (most of these offices were not full-time jobs). This ensured that individual voters had a much greater chance of affecting the outcomes of key decisions, and also that a large number could have an impact on policy in ways that go beyond voting, which further increased the incentive to become well-informed.

In addition, ancient Athenian government had far fewer and less complex functions than the modern state, which reduced the amount of knowledge voters needed to make informed decisions. In striking contrast to the modern world, most Athenian voters actually had direct personal experience with the main functions of government, which put them in a better position to assess its performance. By far the most important activity of Athenian government was the waging of war. Many, if not most, members of the Athenian electorate (which was, of course, limited to adult male citizens) probably had themselves served in the army or navy. Ancient military strategy and tactics were simple enough that common soldiers and sailors could assess the performance of generals more easily than today.

I would add only this. In Athens, if you voted for war, you were going to war. Nothing serves better to focus the mind.

The reference to Donald Kagan at the end of Prof. Somin's post reminds me to remind you, once again, to view or listen to Prof. Kagan's wonderful Introduction to Ancient Greek History course. Superb.

A Tale of Two Professors

I've mentioned it several times before, so I won't beat a dead horse, but I've finished listening to Donald Kagan's Introduction to Greek History course, and it's superb. Highly recommended. Professor Kagan is a delight. Authoritative and impassioned, he is also modest, gracious (giving credit to Victor Davis Hanson for several key insights) and self-deprecating.

Two lectures into Prof. Steven Smith's course on Political Philosophy, I'm less impressed -- sorry, Rene! A good deal of it is probably me. Prof. Smith's style just annoys me. But substantively I was also not that impressed with his treatment of the Apology, which I know pretty well. The Athenians didn't put Socrates to death because he was advocating a "rational vision" over a "poetic vision" (or some such nonsense). They convicted him because he was a pain in the ass who for decades harassed people in the agora and made them look like idiots. Anyone who has read the Euthyphro (for example) knows perfectly well why most Athenians believed Socrates was a Sophist, and a particularly dangerous one at that. When they saw him coming, most probably crossed to the other side of the street, much like you do to avoid a potentially aggressive panhandler.

Academic Earth

At Wig-Wags, Rene Tyree has a fantastic tip on a site called Academic Earth, which has downloadable lectures by leading academics. Since Rene focuses on David Blight's course on the Civil War Era and Reconstruction, let me recommend another: Donald Kagan's course on Ancient Greek History.

Professor Kagan has been a leading scholar on Ancient Greece for the past thirty plus years. His four-volume study of the Peloponnesian War, first published in the 1970s, remains the leading work on the subject. To top it all off, Professor Kagan has been known on the Yale campus for decades as one of the school's finest and most entertaining lecturers. Over the years, his introductory Greek History course has routinely been packed to the rafters -- and that despite the subject matter, the professor's rigorous grading, and his outspoken conservative political views, which have sometimes been controversial in Yale's left-wing culture.

History: Who Needs Facts?

The other day, I commented on an excellent American history/civics quiz.

At Civil War Bookshelf, Dimitri has found an article on it: "Students Know Less After 4 College Years." Dimitri rightfully highlights the following blather from Eric Foner:

A professor of American history at Columbia University, Eric Foner, said that a multiple-choice exam testing factual knowledge of history could exaggerate student ignorance of American history.

"The study of history has changed enormously," Mr. Foner said. "It's become much more broad and diverse. The study of facts about particular battles has diminished, but maybe students are in a better position to answer questions about the abolition of slavery."

Somehow, I suspect that Donald Kagan would disagree.

I can't help but note, by the way, that Dimitri pointedly failed to reveal whether he took the quiz and, if so, how he did. What's the story, Dimitri? How'd you do?

Has Anyone at the American Prospect Ever Read Donald Kagan?

I have little -- make that nothing -- to add, but I just can't help pointing out a recent post at Daniel Drezner's blog concerning Thucydides: "Has Anyone at the American Prospect Ever Read Thucydides?"

Well, perhaps I'll add one thing. One Thomas Geoghegan is quoted as stating, "Donald Kagan, the father of Robert and Fred, has written four or five volumes on The Peloponnesian Wars, all to illustrate how the neocons should see the world."

It turns out that Mr. Geoghegan has not read Donald Kagan either. I've read Professor Kagan's four volumes on the Peloponnesian Wars (the link is to the first volume), several times. They are not political tracts. They belong to genre called "history," and they are superb.