Early history Thought about the State and how the State was formed from the Greek era to BC
When did the Science of State (thinking about the state and law) arise ?
The existence of thoughts about the state and law does not coincide with the existence of a state, the existence of the state precedes it, so clearly the existence of thoughts about the state and law is not as old as the existence of the state.
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Long before the thought of the state and law, the state existed, we remember, for example, the existence of states: Babylonia, Egypt and Assyria.
These countries existed around the XVIII century BC, with a very absolute government system.
But besides that, in the waking era of human civilization there were also kings who ruled with kindness, namely by giving laws that guaranteed the rights of their citizens.
The king who did this presumably was the king of Babylonia named Chammurabi who ruled around the year 1800 BC who reportedly unified his originally divided country.
If the above says that the existence of thoughts about the state and law is not as old as the state itself.
Situation Ancient times
This situation can be explained that in ancient times (ancient) kings ruled arbitrarily because their power was absolute, people did not have time to question the state, why certain people were in power, while other people were subject to it, what was the basis for the power of the ruler and so on.
This imperfection emphasizes that at that time people did not have the freedom to express their thoughts and opinions freely.
But even so, we should not assume that in ancient times there was no knowledge, because at that time there were various kinds of knowledge, for example astrology, health science, science of morality, philosophy, shipping science and so on.
But there is no independent science as it is known today, let alone an orderly and systematic one. Because in ancient times, all the talk was just mixed up.
For example, a science that talks about philosophy, morality, health, shipping and so on.
Moreover, state science as we are talking about today, it is clear that there is not yet.
In that ancient era, there was no state science that questioned all state conditions.
Because this is a science that is dangerous to the power of the rulers and can threaten the position and authority of the state rulers.
Even though the ruler in ancient times was a ruler whose power was absolute, the authority to determine the life and death of a person.
So control all aspects of life in the country, both life that is outward (worldly), and life that is religious in nature.
Thus it is not surprising that the ruler then presses, prohibits thoughts about the state and law.
So because state science concerns authority rather than rulers, and the basis of authority comes from the ruler, state science or ideas about the state and law can only emerge and develop if the state structure, society has allowed freedom of thought and expression.
Remember that science can only arise and develop if there is freedom of thought and expression, whereas this freedom really depends on the way or system of state government.
If the idea of a state and law does not precede or coincide with the existence of a state or the formation and growth of civilization, because it is a social symptom (a social phenomenon) which appears after centuries after the state or civilization existed, then the idea of a state and law is we will only meet it in places (in countries) where the constitutional system provides the possibility for citizens to freely express their thoughts and opinions, critically.
This situation, according to state history, occurred first in the ancient Greeks in the fifth century BC, namely in Athens.
So it was the ancient Greeks who first started to think about the state and law, and thus freedom to think and express opinions critically and honestly starting with the ancient Greeks.
If so, what would have caused such a situation? Many factors influence it, namely :
- There is a religious nature that does not recognize God's teachings which are established as rules (canon).
- The country's geography led to trade and overseas so that the Greeks had time to meet and exchange ideas with other nations.
- The form of the state, namely the Republic-Democracy, so that the people govern a little with their own responsibilities.
- Consciousness of the Greeks as a whole.
- All of these (numbers 1 to 4) made the Greeks as people of thought and as a state.
So thus thinking philosophically and critically has started in ancient Greece, namely in Milete, one of the cities in Greece.
But at that time Western philosophy was developing, and its attention was initially devoted solely to the cosmos, to the shape and arrangement of the universe.
Whereas now that attention is directed to human society and everything connected with it.
It is necessary to pay attention to how the history of thought about the state and law of the ancient Greeks began.
After King Pericles died in 429 BC in Athens, radicalism began to rule, democracy became a problem for many people, and asked for an immediate solution.
Thus came the age of the great Greek philosophers.
Many young people ask for assertiveness and leadership, because they will soon be taking part in the government of the country, many people who want to fulfill this desire solely for their own interests.
From afar, they come to offer their services, ready to describe things that are heard as long as they are rewarded for their services, ready to describe things that are heard as long as they are given appropriate compensation.
Their country of origin is mostly Asia Minor, the border area of Eastern civilization and Greece.
Their name, is the Sofist, but unfortunately they will get a bad name later, because of their way of thinking.
They measure everything on themselves, so they increase the uncertainty and they justify everyone, so that objectivity is completely lost.
Such a way of thinking, which seemed to fit the relationship between the king and his subjects in the Eastern kingdoms, was at odds with the national mind of the Greek (Athenian) democracies which sought good guidelines for the government of their country.
With a great ancient Greek poet, namely Socrates, who always exchanged ideas with the Sophists, began to develop awareness of the public mind of the Greeks.
Instead, Socrates is always looking for objective measures of good and bad, beautiful and ugly, law and not law and so on.
These will all be discovered, because the human soul and soul are part of the universe.
They only establish what is the problem by pointing out to the circumstances that what is right for one is not the case for the other, so that in this way conflicts and disputes are magnified, with no effort to seek and reach a general solution to the problem.
This is the case with the insights they give.
According to their opinion, the law is the right of the strongest which it enforces on others for its own benefit.
