Thucydides on the Problem of the Imagination in the Athenian Democracy

• In Event: Plato, Thucydides, and the Uses of Political Discourse

Abstract

In his Politics, Aristotle argues that “the tyrant desires that his subjects shall be incapable of action, for no one attempts what is impossible, and they will not attempt to overthrow a tyranny if they are powerless” (1314a). Among many other things, this statement implies that our ability to act politically is strongly connected to our understanding of our powers, capabilities, and the feasibility of our goals. These understandings, however, are dynamic and changing. We, as individuals and collectives, constantly do things that were previously thought to be impossible, unthinkable, and unimaginable. The human faculty of imagination—one of the primary forces behind this dynamic aspect of our political life—will stand at the heart of this paper. Specifically, this paper will examine what Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War can teach us about the role of imagination in politics in general, and in the Athenian democracy in particular. It argues that although Thucydides himself does not speak explicitly in terms of the imagination, a close reading of his work reveals the central role of imagination in the History and its unique contribution to the rise and fall of Athens.

I begin by outlining an original theory of two of the elements of the imagination—the constitutive and creative—and their distinctive role in politics. The constitutive imagination operates to establish and secure legitimacy, order, and stability and is required by every society that wishes to maintain a stable identity and endure through time. The creative imagination, on the other hand, represents the human innovative capacity, and humans’ ability to redefine their own conditions of existence.

Based on this typology, I turn to the History to explore the political roles of the imagination in the Athenian democracy. I begin with the Corinthian speech and the contrast it draws between the national character of Athens and Sparta. I argue that this speech provides us with two ‘ideal types’ of political imagination. Sparta, on the one hand, is depicted as purely relying on the constitutive imagination: ossified, immobile, and resistant to any kind of innovation. Athens, on the other hand, embodies the creative imagination alone: restless, constantly innovating, and unable to codify changes.

Next, I examine whether the Corinthians accurately capture the Athenian political imagination. Analyzing Pericles’ Funeral Oration, I argue that while Pericles acknowledges and praises the creative imagination of the Athenian democracy, his speech promotes and defends a much more limited role of the creative imagination in politics. In fact, the funeral oration appears as providing a powerful constitutive imagination, one that is based on traditions, values, and institutions, and is able to constrain and check the endless innovation of the creative imagination. Thus, the Athenian demos appears as providing the creative force for the democracy, whereas Pericles provides the constraints that are necessary for its normal functioning.
This analysis, together with a consideration of the practices of Periclean leadership and Thucydides’ assessment of Pericles, suggest that the Athenian democracy embodied a unique combination of the creative and constitutive elements of the imagination. This creative-constitutive imagination contributed to its meteoric rise and incredible success, but also contained the seeds of its fall. In the rest of the paper, I argue that in highlighting the creative-constitutive nature of the Athenian imagination, Thucydides’ History sheds light on the problem of imagination in the Athenian democracy. While the creative-constitutive imagination can be extremely productive, it is nonetheless hard to achieve and maintain, since such a balance between the two elements of the imagination requires a Pericles-like figure. However, how can we make sure that such a figure exists and is in power, and what ought we to do if and when ‘a Pericles’ is nowhere to be found?
The final two sections of the paper examine three significant instances that illustrate the severity of this problem. The first explores two moments in which the constitutive imagination collapses: the plague in Athens and the civil war in Corcyra. In both of these cases, a catastrophe—natural in one case, man-made in the other—leads to a complete collapse of the imaginary foundations of social order and reveals their fragility. The second focuses on the Sicilian expedition. Here, I analyze the debate around the expedition to demonstrate the challenge of balancing the creativity of the demos with a strong constitutive imagination following the death of Pericles. I argue that the Athenians, unable to find this balance, finally resemble the ideal type of a purely creative imagination described by the Corinthians and lead themselves to the catastrophic expedition and ultimately the loss in the war.

Author

• Avshalom M Schwartz, Stanford University