Was the creation of Democracy in Athens another example of human beings responding to stimuli in their surroundings or was it an exercise in free will?
I believe that democracy in Athens was something they chose to do themselves. The two principles that make up democracy are equality and freedom. Having equal access to power is something I'm sure everyone wants. Athens started with a monarchy, then slowly went to democracy. They were probably sick of one man or one family making all the decisions. When their democracy started they created an assembly of at least 6,ooo citizens. They all came together, put in their opinions and made choices on declaring war and appointing generals. They granted citizenship and decided on foreign policies. In my opinion this is much better to have the voices heard of 6,ooo people instead of just one. This had to be by choice.
The Athenian government was a direct democracy. Any citizen could speak to the group to persuade them to do as they were thinking. I believe that it was their own choice to have a democracy government, rather than have one ruler like they had before. Everyone had a say in the voting, except for the poor people, but the poor didn't have to pay taxes so it evened out for them in the end. The council would meet several times a month. They had an eclectic variety of powers such as declaring war or deciding troop strengths.
i think that mostly it was their choice to have a democracy. i think that they wanted to actually have one person rule all the people. i think it got really confusing for all the people when so many people wanted different things. so i think by them having a democracy it helped them quite a bit. if one person made all the decisions then everyone wasn't all in an uproar. i think solon did the right thing. i think when he decided they were going to go into a democracy was one of the best things he could have done while he was alive. if you think maybe if he wouldn't have made the people in Athens go into a democracy we wouldn't have one today.
That answer gives historical details but doesnt quite answer the question, we know what happened but why did it happen? Was it choice or a response to the environment?
Democracy is freewill. You have the freedom to decide who you want to run in government. You also have the rights, freedom of speech, and many other freedoms. You can say what you want when you. Freedom of press. You can put what you want on paper and show people or post what you want to say on the internet. We as humans have rights. That means we have the right to say what we want or choose what we want
I believe that the Greeks responded to one person's action to change the government into a democracy. They chose to participate in the changing of government because they knew they had nothing to lose. Their democracy was started by choosing random people to hold positions of power, allowing people of all types to have a say in the government. They chose to revolt against Isagorus, so nothing was stopping the people to take control for themselves.
In 705 BC, the archon was limited to a 10 year rule. This meant that no one person could control for their entire life. However, during this time, many farmers became in debt and were slaves. Solon stopped this slavery and did away with these debts. Solon developed a fairer system of government by electing 400 officials other than the poor. Since he didn't elect the poor, they didn't have to pay any taxes. Cleisthenes divided them into 10 tribal groups and granted all males over 20 the right to vote. This voting helped to shape the democracy in Athens. Areopagus was the supreme rule group in Athens and this is what was stopping democracy. With its fall, democracy could take over. A lottery system was used to appoint government officials so it kept the officials random, and stopped one from getting too powerful. So what I am saying is that they chose to go to a democracy because they were tired of one person's rule.
I think the creation of democracy in Athens was free will because their way of government started to change over time. The people choose to change their government to a direct democracy. The ruler was usually a king, then it changed to a archon. At first, an archon was pretty much the same thing as a king, but then they shortened the term the archon could rule. When the farmers into debt-slavery, Solon came into power and he forgave all debts, and he developed a council of 400 hundred people chosen from all over Athens except the poorest people. The people got a taste for freedom and they liked it. When Isagorus went into power, they revolted, on their own free will, and over-threw him. They brought back Cleisthenes and he developed democracy. -lrpd2
It was an exercise in free will. People got sick of former government, giving one person too much power. Athenians dealt with a certain government for so long that didn't give many people a say in government either. With the creation of democracy, it gave the people of Athens "Popular Assembly", which gave all males over the age of 21 the power to vote. Democracy also separated power, not giving it all to just one ruler. They didn't just go along with the idea, as would people responding to a specific stimulus. Democracy was a much needed change that the people of Athens wanted. Although it's obviously a controversial subject.
In a way, the creation of democracy in Athens is just part of the equation of humans in government. With a monarchy or a oligarchy, Athens would just keep overthrowing the leaders who made empty promises, didn't represent a group of people, or tried to sell them out to other city states. Athens had a tendency to allow one person to get too much power and destroy any equality others had established... The only way to have a sound government would be if the people as a whole could run the government. However, the ability for the people to run the government wouldn't be possible without slaves that came from the previous forms of government. The members of the assembly wouldn't have time to come to discussions if they didn't have slaves at home running their houses, farms, or shops. If there were no slaves, only the rich would be able to attend meetings, and once again one group would obtain too much power. The was Athens was responding to stimulus allowed them to make democracy. If if was free will, they would have most likely established this a long while before this.
The creation of democracy in Athens can be looked at as both stimuli to surroundings but also as an exercise of free will. Obviously somewhere in Athens history somebody started changing the way their government was run. This obviously was a sign of somebody practicing free will. But the transformation of Athens becoming a democracy from a monarchy was a slow process. I believe that along the way somebody showed free will to make a change, and after that everybody started following what was common and over time Athens form of government changed with them.
What if I were to argue that democracy is a result of small populations in city states and that since they were essentially all neighbors, democracy was an unavoidable government they had to turn to. Following Cleisthenes promises to the people and the history of social division between rich and poor, was there really any choice?
According to a literary work by Heroditus, Isagoras gave the names of seven hundred families to Cleomenes to banish. Isagoras also tried to "dissolve the Council, entrusting the offices of government to Isagoras' faction." Prior to this, Solon had made many changes to the government making it so that the poor and middle class had a say in what was going on in the government. In response to the question I ask one to you: Why wouldn't someone fight to keep something great that just happened to them? No one likes it when someone takes away something good. The banishment of seven hundred families was the trigger for the revolution. It was the point at which the people began to say, "Isagorus has gone far enough."
The people of Athens exercised their free will when creating democracy. The poor revolted against the dictatorship of Isagorus and instead of appointing another king or tyrant, they set up a system where everyone had a say. All human choices are by free will or nothing would ever change in the world.
The argument of human beings responding to stimuli can be valid, also. I've heard many times that history repeats itself and that is true in many senses. No situation is exactly the same so there could be factors in Athens that weren't present in other areas where the people appoint a new king.
A lot of people think that democracy is something that people of their free will chose to do. But personally, in the case of Athens, I think that the rulers were the ones who started and had people do democracy and that it wasn't the choice of the Athenians because two of the rulers, Solon and Cleisthenes, were the ones who gave the poor people of Athens their freedom from debt slavery and gave them a say in the government. They wanted the poor to have a voice in the government and to help make the decisions. The rulers of the Athens city state eventually made themselves powerless because of the accomplishments they gave the Athenians the power to vote and choose in government. So even though democracy turns out to be a good thing, it wasn't started by the Athenians but started by the rulers.
I think that the democracy was based upon free will. Cleisthenes promised more freedom and speech in the government. When Isagoras started erasing what Solon had and this ended up leading to a revolt. When Cleisthenes came back he made people more into the government. He would have people from all social classes involved. Everything would be more equal because it was much easier. He had an assembly that would have men have at least one vote. Since it is free will he arranged that his family had the majority of the vote. The assembly made all the people come together which would make the city more equal. He had more ways of making political decisions so he felt like that everybody could be equal. This has to be free will because this is just one person wanting to do something and make things his way and kinda better. It is free will because he wanted it for him and the city and to make it better, but it wasn't the greatest as people thought.
Democracy all starts with Isagoras becoming tyrant with Spartan help and then destroys the assembly for poor people and they all riot and trap Isagoras in Acropolis. Suddenly Cleisthenes got mad and basically started a form of democracy. He brings the assembly back for everyone, and they all have a say in everything now. I think the people in Athens were just following Cleisthenes' idea to have the assembly. But after awhile the people got used to having a say in their government and liked it so it could've gone to free will from there. Now that they knew they could have a say in what happens where they live, the Democracy fully starts. The topic could be argued both ways but I feel as if someone had to start the change before other people followed.
Human beings used a combination of both responding to stimuli and exercising their free will. They were responding to what was happening around them, but the idea of democracy is free will. Solon helped create a level playing field for everyone by ending debt slavery and giving a voice to the poor. This gave the people to have free will, but the creation of it was more them responding to what was happening in their surroundings. They wanted change, and needed it if they didn't want to live how they had been. They were able to be considered equal and have freedom in what they chose to do and what their decisions would be. At any time anyone could change and do something, but they would make their decisions based on the stimuli surrounding them, so it's predictable what could happen by majority.
The democracy that was created through Cleisthenes rule was both an exercise of free will as well as responses to stimuli. The people of Athens decided that they were fed up with Isagoras' crap and revolted to end his rule. In my mind, that was an exercise of free will. They wanted change, so they went and got it. At the same time, it could be argued that it was a response to a stimulus because they revolted due to how they were being treated. I agree. To say that it's one or the other... I don't think I can really set it in stone. I think it was a combination of both. Maybe a "manipulation of free will" so to speak.
Democracy in Athens, in my opinion was a response to stimuli in their society. There were reasons for the people in that society to react to what was happening around them, such as treatment of women, the status of the poor, and living in a tyranny. After living with that for so long, anyone no matter who you are would have some sort of reaction based on the stimuli. They had to have came to realize that with the option of having equality, their life would be so much more beneficial to everyone living in their society. Given the option of a better life, anyone would take it even if it was a complete lie because there wasn't really anything worse that could happen. There wasn't all that much to lose. If you would put the same criteria into life today or any other time period or era, people would react in somewhat of the same ways. Free will exists, but people of that time didn't know what it was or how to use their own. It's safe to say that we as humans today don't what our own free wills mean.
Isagoras uproots the government and by banishing all of his opposition, he makes the government smaller. In seizing power of a smaller government and creating more of a social "thumb tack" he made himself weak. His biggest mistake was banishing the council of 400 and eliminating the voice of the majority, or the poor. Their voice in the government had only been a whisper, and more than anything it was a binky for them that kept them contented. In removing their binky they opened the eyes of the people to their ability to physically seize control of the government and really make a difference. They cornered him and executed all of his supporters after forcing him and the spartans to sign a treaty. This is in fact a predictable solution to the problem, and there were definite stimuli that lead to the birth of their Democracy. But you have to accept that without free will, democracy couldn't have been born. Given a situation, people will usually discern which choice is most beneficial to them and in that way people are predictable but there are no certainties.
Democracy in Athens was something that the people were convinced to like. In 507Bc, Isagoras and Cleisthenes were rivals for power. Isagoras becomes a tyrant with the help of the spartans. Isagoras started to destroy everything, including the poor people's say in anything. He tried to uproot many citizens and dissolve the council. The council and the citizens revolted his attempts. He tried to make their government an oligarchy, which angered the people. Isagoras and his supporters were then forced out. The people them welcomed back Cleisthenes, hoping for a drastic change in government. Cleithenes brought an equal government with him. They people immediately loved his style. He gave almost every group of people some sort of power. What I'm trying to say is that the people didn't really choose to have a democracy. They got sick of Isagoras' tyranny and loved the next government thrown at them.
The Democracy that was created in Athens was definitely in response to the people’s reactions to what was happening in their surroundings in addition to the free will decisions made by their ancestors many years prior. The citizens of Athens were unhappy with Isagoras because he didn’t enable the poor to have a voice in the government. He destroyed the assembly for the poor, which enabled them to have affective opinions in government. After that they recalled Cleisthenes to power. Cleithenes wanted equality and provided the poor, the majority of the people, with more rights than Isagorus did. The Democracy was created because of the opinions of Cleisthenes and the wants of the people.
i think it's both i think they were convinced into democracy but they did it on their own free will! they were informed about what a democracy would be like, but since the Greeks all wanted a democracy on there own free will.
I believe that democracy in Athens was of free will because it started out as a monarchy and then was changed by one or a few people to change the way of their people. They realized that when Isagoras was a tyrant and the people of Athens over threw him, they realized that it was time for a change in their life and way of government. In their democracy the rich people of Athens had a say in what went on in their city because they paid taxes and the poor had little or no say because they didn't pay the taxes to the higher classes. Cleisthenes wanted the citizens to have their rights and to have a say in what the government did and the laws of the city.
I feel that Athens needed a democracy. It was unavoidable. In the early years before Solon there was no power at all to the poor. They were only slaves and indebted to the rich. When Solon came along he saw that things needed change. He was the first to have the Greek society take a large step forward and give some power to the poor. As the power to everyone slowly became more equal, more people probably saw a need to have a democracy. They probably thought that more people were needed in power to keep equality among everyone.
I think it was them responding to their surroundings. They changed because life was hard with one person ruling and controlling the whole colony. In a Democracy everyone can choose what goes down! They get to choose their own path of life, not one person gets to choose they changed because 1 person should not be controlling a whole colony.
Democracy in Athens was a crucial stage in which all of the members had to do themselves. Having equal power during this period of time, was very abrupt and needed severely circumstantial change in this society. Everybody would like to have equal success to power, but if all of the people did, their would be changes being made all the time, that could better the union or even worsen it. They would eventually develop a form of democracy, that the people would form together with their opinions and so made choices, The civilization would be much greater if their were many people for choices, other than just one.
Democracy is the belief in government with decisions decided by the people or elected representatives. No community wants to be controlled by other people especially by just one selected group because they are higher up in social class, like in monarchy. There were probably also events that occurred influencing their decision. By creating Democracy it made things easier because they would then have simple rules and it would make the area come to more of an understanding, but it would also cause controversy. This was probably decided by free will because they wanted things to be decided equally instead of just one person having total say over whatever happens. I think that this was all done in free will.
Democracy in athens was an exercise in free will to me because they had gone so long being ruled by the same type of government and by one person. They had just over thrown a tyranny and they wanted to give something new a chance because the poor especially have suffered for so long. The people in Athens created a democracy and it has benefited us because we now have a good system of government only if it is used properly even though technically we are not a democracy anymore but a republic.
I believe that democracy at this time was freewill. Things were coming together and changing a lot. This democracy was something that people were meant to like. When the democracy started there was some of about 6,000 citizens that came together. Instead of listening to one person there was 6,000 people that exchanged opinions and ideas. These people had a variety of choosing of declaring war and troop strengths.
I believe that the creation of democracy in Athens was a choice by the Athenians. Athens started as a monarchy. Isagoras came to power and was taking the poor peoples' homes away so they all got upset. Cleisthenes came to power and started to reform the government. Instead of having four families in control, he put ten families in control in order of where they lived. THe Athenian people wanted more people in power so Cleisthenes did that. He ended tyranny and made everybody happy.
The creation of democracy in Athens was chosen by the people. The poor especially would have chosen this because they want things to be equal and to be treated good. The rich people most likely didn't want it because they would rather treat the poor like crap, but there were more poor people than rich so they could overthrow the rich or if they voted then it would be obvious that the poor would win. 2 K PD 7-8
Well I understand that democracy in Athens was something they decided to do on there own. They wanted to have just one person rule over everyone, instead of having numerous people rule over them. They also wanted to exercise the use of free will. in my opinion its much better to have other people rule instead of just one person.
At that time for Athens it was very difficult. No right plan of government or ruling was considered. The people, rich and poor, had to be scared. The thought of democracy had too be just one of many other ways for a, "right" system. Cleisthenes having a little guideline of ruling and all the freedom led to the idea of democracy. Most likely, like all the other citizens he was sick of monarchy and tyranny. All the citizens had too agree on this dilemma of ruling.. The fact that it stuck all this time, is just that it worked out, and everyone was cool with it. If it didn't there would be another over ruling, wars, and one new leader with another idea.
Democracy in athens is what the people decided to do. The poor will lean towards democracy because they have little say in government. Also so they will have freedom as the rich. With athens having a single ruler they got tired of getting lied to with the tyranny.
In Athens the creation of democracy was at free because and the government started to change over time. The two major parts that make up democracy are freedom and equality and I think they decided that idea was good. I think they got sick of people having to much power and overthrowing governments.
from what i have read Cleisthenes imposed this "new political landscape it would seem that he was almost forced to take this choice because he would have been overthrown otherwise he was still able to do what he wanted and from what i see the people had very little say in the actual process. It was a good decision and there might have been some freedom to chose but i dont think much
I think that democracy was something that the people chose themselves. They chose it on their own free will. So that they could vote for who they wanted to be in charge of them. Instead of having an monarchy with one person in charge.
It was extremely interesting for me to read the blog. Thanks for it. I like such topics and everything that is connected to them. I would like to read a bit more soon.
41 comments:
I believe that democracy in Athens was something they chose to do themselves. The two principles that make up democracy are equality and freedom. Having equal access to power is something I'm sure everyone wants. Athens started with a monarchy, then slowly went to democracy. They were probably sick of one man or one family making all the decisions. When their democracy started they created an assembly of at least 6,ooo citizens. They all came together, put in their opinions and made choices on declaring war and appointing generals. They granted citizenship and decided on foreign policies. In my opinion this is much better to have the voices heard of 6,ooo people instead of just one. This had to be by choice.
-CEPd1
The Athenian government was a direct democracy. Any citizen could speak to the group to persuade them to do as they were thinking. I believe that it was their own choice to have a democracy government, rather than have one ruler like they had before. Everyone had a say in the voting, except for the poor people, but the poor didn't have to pay taxes so it evened out for them in the end. The council would meet several times a month. They had an eclectic variety of powers such as declaring war or deciding troop strengths.
AR Pd 2
i think that mostly it was their choice to have a democracy. i think that they wanted to actually have one person rule all the people. i think it got really confusing for all the people when so many people wanted different things. so i think by them having a democracy it helped them quite a bit. if one person made all the decisions then everyone wasn't all in an uproar. i think solon did the right thing. i think when he decided they were going to go into a democracy was one of the best things he could have done while he was alive. if you think maybe if he wouldn't have made the people in Athens go into a democracy we wouldn't have one today.
TSPd2
To GMPD1
That answer gives historical details but doesnt quite answer the question, we know what happened but why did it happen? Was it choice or a response to the environment?
Democracy is freewill. You have the freedom to decide who you want to run in government. You also have the rights, freedom of speech, and many other freedoms. You can say what you want when you. Freedom of press. You can put what you want on paper and show people or post what you want to say on the internet. We as humans have rights. That means we have the right to say what we want or choose what we want
MIF!
SSPD1
I believe that the Greeks responded to one person's action to change the government into a democracy. They chose to participate in the changing of government because they knew they had nothing to lose. Their democracy was started by choosing random people to hold positions of power, allowing people of all types to have a say in the government. They chose to revolt against Isagorus, so nothing was stopping the people to take control for themselves.
MWpd2
In 705 BC, the archon was limited to a 10 year rule. This meant that no one person could control for their entire life. However, during this time, many farmers became in debt and were slaves. Solon stopped this slavery and did away with these debts. Solon developed a fairer system of government by electing 400 officials other than the poor. Since he didn't elect the poor, they didn't have to pay any taxes. Cleisthenes divided them into 10 tribal groups and granted all males over 20 the right to vote. This voting helped to shape the democracy in Athens. Areopagus was the supreme rule group in Athens and this is what was stopping democracy. With its fall, democracy could take over. A lottery system was used to appoint government officials so it kept the officials random, and stopped one from getting too powerful.
So what I am saying is that they chose to go to a democracy because they were tired of one person's rule.
GMPd2
I think the creation of democracy in Athens was free will because their way of government started to change over time. The people choose to change their government to a direct democracy. The ruler was usually a king, then it changed to a archon. At first, an archon was pretty much the same thing as a king, but then they shortened the term the archon could rule. When the farmers into debt-slavery, Solon came into power and he forgave all debts, and he developed a council of 400 hundred people chosen from all over Athens except the poorest people. The people got a taste for freedom and they liked it. When Isagorus went into power, they revolted, on their own free will, and over-threw him. They brought back Cleisthenes and he developed democracy.
-lrpd2
It was an exercise in free will. People got sick of former government, giving one person too much power. Athenians dealt with a certain government for so long that didn't give many people a say in government either. With the creation of democracy, it gave the people of Athens "Popular Assembly", which gave all males over the age of 21 the power to vote. Democracy also separated power, not giving it all to just one ruler. They didn't just go along with the idea, as would people responding to a specific stimulus. Democracy was a much needed change that the people of Athens wanted. Although it's obviously a controversial subject.
HEPd1
In a way, the creation of democracy in Athens is just part of the equation of humans in government. With a monarchy or a oligarchy, Athens would just keep overthrowing the leaders who made empty promises, didn't represent a group of people, or tried to sell them out to other city states. Athens had a tendency to allow one person to get too much power and destroy any equality others had established... The only way to have a sound government would be if the people as a whole could run the government. However, the ability for the people to run the government wouldn't be possible without slaves that came from the previous forms of government. The members of the assembly wouldn't have time to come to discussions if they didn't have slaves at home running their houses, farms, or shops. If there were no slaves, only the rich would be able to attend meetings, and once again one group would obtain too much power. The was Athens was responding to stimulus allowed them to make democracy. If if was free will, they would have most likely established this a long while before this.
Shelby
The creation of democracy in Athens can be looked at as both stimuli to surroundings but also as an exercise of free will. Obviously somewhere in Athens history somebody started changing the way their government was run. This obviously was a sign of somebody practicing free will. But the transformation of Athens becoming a democracy from a monarchy was a slow process. I believe that along the way somebody showed free will to make a change, and after that everybody started following what was common and over time Athens form of government changed with them.
JS Pd 1
What if I were to argue that democracy is a result of small populations in city states and that since they were essentially all neighbors, democracy was an unavoidable government they had to turn to. Following Cleisthenes promises to the people and the history of social division between rich and poor, was there really any choice?
According to a literary work by Heroditus, Isagoras gave the names of seven hundred families to Cleomenes to banish. Isagoras also tried to "dissolve the Council, entrusting the offices of government to Isagoras' faction." Prior to this, Solon had made many changes to the government making it so that the poor and middle class had a say in what was going on in the government. In response to the question I ask one to you: Why wouldn't someone fight to keep something great that just happened to them? No one likes it when someone takes away something good. The banishment of seven hundred families was the trigger for the revolution. It was the point at which the people began to say, "Isagorus has gone far enough."
The people of Athens exercised their free will when creating democracy. The poor revolted against the dictatorship of Isagorus and instead of appointing another king or tyrant, they set up a system where everyone had a say. All human choices are by free will or nothing would ever change in the world.
The argument of human beings responding to stimuli can be valid, also. I've heard many times that history repeats itself and that is true in many senses. No situation is exactly the same so there could be factors in Athens that weren't present in other areas where the people appoint a new king.
JGPd2
A lot of people think that democracy is something that people of their free will chose to do. But personally, in the case of Athens, I think that the rulers were the ones who started and had people do democracy and that it wasn't the choice of the Athenians because two of the rulers, Solon and Cleisthenes, were the ones who gave the poor people of Athens their freedom from debt slavery and gave them a say in the government. They wanted the poor to have a voice in the government and to help make the decisions. The rulers of the Athens city state eventually made themselves powerless because of the accomplishments they gave the Athenians the power to vote and choose in government. So even though democracy turns out to be a good thing, it wasn't started by the Athenians but started by the rulers.
AWpd2
I think that the democracy was based upon free will. Cleisthenes promised more freedom and speech in the government. When Isagoras started erasing what Solon had and this ended up leading to a revolt. When Cleisthenes came back he made people more into the government. He would have people from all social classes involved. Everything would be more equal because it was much easier. He had an assembly that would have men have at least one vote. Since it is free will he arranged that his family had the majority of the vote. The assembly made all the people come together which would make the city more equal. He had more ways of making political decisions so he felt like that everybody could be equal. This has to be free will because this is just one person wanting to do something and make things his way and kinda better. It is free will because he wanted it for him and the city and to make it better, but it wasn't the greatest as people thought.
BWpd5
Democracy all starts with Isagoras becoming tyrant with Spartan help and then destroys the assembly for poor people and they all riot and trap Isagoras in Acropolis. Suddenly Cleisthenes got mad and basically started a form of democracy. He brings the assembly back for everyone, and they all have a say in everything now. I think the people in Athens were just following Cleisthenes' idea to have the assembly. But after awhile the people got used to having a say in their government and liked it so it could've gone to free will from there. Now that they knew they could have a say in what happens where they live, the Democracy fully starts. The topic could be argued both ways but I feel as if someone had to start the change before other people followed.
MHpd5.
Human beings used a combination of both responding to stimuli and exercising their free will. They were responding to what was happening around them, but the idea of democracy is free will. Solon helped create a level playing field for everyone by ending debt slavery and giving a voice to the poor. This gave the people to have free will, but the creation of it was more them responding to what was happening in their surroundings. They wanted change, and needed it if they didn't want to live how they had been. They were able to be considered equal and have freedom in what they chose to do and what their decisions would be. At any time anyone could change and do something, but they would make their decisions based on the stimuli surrounding them, so it's predictable what could happen by majority.
The democracy that was created through Cleisthenes rule was both an exercise of free will as well as responses to stimuli. The people of Athens decided that they were fed up with Isagoras' crap and revolted to end his rule. In my mind, that was an exercise of free will. They wanted change, so they went and got it. At the same time, it could be argued that it was a response to a stimulus because they revolted due to how they were being treated. I agree. To say that it's one or the other... I don't think I can really set it in stone. I think it was a combination of both. Maybe a "manipulation of free will" so to speak.
SW pd.5
Democracy in Athens, in my opinion was a response to stimuli in their society. There were reasons for the people in that society to react to what was happening around them, such as treatment of women, the status of the poor, and living in a tyranny. After living with that for so long, anyone no matter who you are would have some sort of reaction based on the stimuli. They had to have came to realize that with the option of having equality, their life would be so much more beneficial to everyone living in their society. Given the option of a better life, anyone would take it even if it was a complete lie because there wasn't really anything worse that could happen. There wasn't all that much to lose. If you would put the same criteria into life today or any other time period or era, people would react in somewhat of the same ways. Free will exists, but people of that time didn't know what it was or how to use their own. It's safe to say that we as humans today don't what our own free wills mean.
SW24
Isagoras uproots the government and by banishing all of his opposition, he makes the government smaller. In seizing power of a smaller government and creating more of a social "thumb tack" he made himself weak. His biggest mistake was banishing the council of 400 and eliminating the voice of the majority, or the poor. Their voice in the government had only been a whisper, and more than anything it was a binky for them that kept them contented. In removing their binky they opened the eyes of the people to their ability to physically seize control of the government and really make a difference. They cornered him and executed all of his supporters after forcing him and the spartans to sign a treaty.
This is in fact a predictable solution to the problem, and there were definite stimuli that lead to the birth of their Democracy. But you have to accept that without free will, democracy couldn't have been born. Given a situation, people will usually discern which choice is most beneficial to them and in that way people are predictable but there are no certainties.
Democracy in Athens was something that the people were convinced to like. In 507Bc, Isagoras and Cleisthenes were rivals for power. Isagoras becomes a tyrant with the help of the spartans. Isagoras started to destroy everything, including the poor people's say in anything. He tried to uproot many citizens and dissolve the council. The council and the citizens revolted his attempts. He tried to make their government an oligarchy, which angered the people. Isagoras and his supporters were then forced out. The people them welcomed back Cleisthenes, hoping for a drastic change in government. Cleithenes brought an equal government with him. They people immediately loved his style. He gave almost every group of people some sort of power.
What I'm trying to say is that the people didn't really choose to have a democracy. They got sick of Isagoras' tyranny and loved the next government thrown at them.
AMpd5
The Democracy that was created in Athens was definitely in response to the people’s reactions to what was happening in their surroundings in addition to the free will decisions made by their ancestors many years prior. The citizens of Athens were unhappy with Isagoras because he didn’t enable the poor to have a voice in the government. He destroyed the assembly for the poor, which enabled them to have affective opinions in government. After that they recalled Cleisthenes to power. Cleithenes wanted equality and provided the poor, the majority of the people, with more rights than Isagorus did. The Democracy was created because of the opinions of Cleisthenes and the wants of the people.
JM Pd5
i think it's both i think they were convinced into democracy but they did it on their own free will! they were informed about what a democracy would be like, but since the Greeks all wanted a democracy on there own free will.
dwmc.
I believe that democracy in Athens was of free will because it started out as a monarchy and then was changed by one or a few people to change the way of their people. They realized that when Isagoras was a tyrant and the people of Athens over threw him, they realized that it was time for a change in their life and way of government. In their democracy the rich people of Athens had a say in what went on in their city because they paid taxes and the poor had little or no say because they didn't pay the taxes to the higher classes. Cleisthenes wanted the citizens to have their rights and to have a say in what the government did and the laws of the city.
I feel that Athens needed a democracy. It was unavoidable. In the early years before Solon there was no power at all to the poor. They were only slaves and indebted to the rich. When Solon came along he saw that things needed change. He was the first to have the Greek society take a large step forward and give some power to the poor. As the power to everyone slowly became more equal, more people probably saw a need to have a democracy. They probably thought that more people were needed in power to keep equality among everyone.
Seyler pd.7-8
I think it was them responding to their surroundings. They changed because life was hard with one person ruling and controlling the whole colony. In a Democracy everyone can choose what goes down! They get to choose their own path of life, not one person gets to choose they changed because 1 person should not be controlling a whole colony.
THE BRINK pd.7-8
Democracy in Athens was a crucial stage in which all of the members had to do themselves. Having equal power during this period of time, was very abrupt and needed severely circumstantial change in this society.
Everybody would like to have equal success to power, but if all of the people did, their would be changes being made all the time, that could better the union or even worsen it.
They would eventually develop a form of democracy, that the people would form together with their opinions and so made choices, The civilization would be much greater if their were many people for choices, other than just one.
MJS Period 7
Democracy is the belief in government with decisions decided by the people or elected representatives. No community wants to be controlled by other people especially by just one selected group because they are higher up in social class, like in monarchy. There were probably also events that occurred influencing their decision. By creating Democracy it made things easier because they would then have simple rules and it would make the area come to more of an understanding, but it would also cause controversy. This was probably decided by free will because they wanted things to be decided equally instead of just one person having total say over whatever happens. I think that this was all done in free will.
PPPd7
Democracy in athens was an exercise in free will to me because they had gone so long being ruled by the same type of government and by one person. They had just over thrown a tyranny and they wanted to give something new a chance because the poor especially have suffered for so long.
The people in Athens created a democracy and it has benefited us because we now have a good system of government only if it is used properly even though technically we are not a democracy anymore but a republic.
I believe that democracy at this time was freewill. Things were coming together and changing a lot. This democracy was something that people were meant to like. When the democracy started there was some of about 6,000 citizens that came together. Instead of listening to one person there was 6,000 people that exchanged opinions and ideas. These people had a variety of choosing of declaring war and troop strengths.
DHHpd7-8
I believe that the creation of democracy in Athens was a choice by the Athenians. Athens started as a monarchy. Isagoras came to power and was taking the poor peoples' homes away so they all got upset. Cleisthenes came to power and started to reform the government. Instead of having four families in control, he put ten families in control in order of where they lived. THe Athenian people wanted more people in power so Cleisthenes did that. He ended tyranny and made everybody happy.
MR Pd. 7-8
The creation of democracy in Athens was chosen by the people. The poor especially would have chosen this because they want things to be equal and to be treated good. The rich people most likely didn't want it because they would rather treat the poor like crap, but there were more poor people than rich so they could overthrow the rich or if they voted then it would be obvious that the poor would win.
2
K PD 7-8
Well I understand that democracy in Athens was something they decided to do on there own. They wanted to have just one person rule over everyone, instead of having numerous people rule over them. They also wanted to exercise the use of free will. in my opinion its much better to have other people rule instead of just one person.
CSpd7
At that time for Athens it was very difficult. No right plan of government or ruling was considered. The people, rich and poor, had to be scared. The thought of democracy had too be just one of many other ways for a, "right" system. Cleisthenes having a little guideline of ruling and all the freedom led to the idea of democracy. Most likely, like all the other citizens he was sick of monarchy and tyranny. All the citizens had too agree on this dilemma of ruling.. The fact that it stuck all this time, is just that it worked out, and everyone was cool with it. If it didn't there would be another over ruling, wars, and one new leader with another idea.
Skippy, period 7.
Democracy in athens is what the people decided to do. The poor will lean towards democracy because they have little say in government. Also so they will have freedom as the rich. With athens having a single ruler they got tired of getting lied to with the tyranny.
-M.HigginGiggin
In Athens the creation of democracy was at free because and the government started to change over time. The two major parts that make up democracy are freedom and equality and I think they decided that idea was good. I think they got sick of people having to much power and overthrowing governments.
from what i have read Cleisthenes imposed this "new political landscape it would seem that he was almost forced to take this choice because he would have been overthrown otherwise he was still able to do what he wanted and from what i see the people had very little say in the actual process. It was a good decision and there might have been some freedom to chose but i dont think much
hspd7
I think that democracy was something that the people chose themselves. They chose it on their own free will. So that they could vote for who they wanted to be in charge of them. Instead of having an monarchy with one person in charge.
mc pd7-8
It was extremely interesting for me to read the blog. Thanks for it. I like such topics and everything that is connected to them. I would like to read a bit more soon.
Post a Comment