Results for political philosophy
On this page:
 
Political Dictionary:

political philosophy


The systematic elaboration of the consequences for politics of suggested resolutions of philosophical dilemmas (or of the intractability of those dilemmas). The greatest works of political philosophy try to present those consequences in relation to fundamental cosmological, ontological, and epistemological issues. They articulate a view of human nature which links the cosmological with the political. On a less grand scale, political philosophy explores the political implications of particular disputes, for example about the nature of the self (see communitarianism; freedom; liberalism; and autonomy), or about the notion of moral responsibility (see punishment). There is obviously a close connection between political philosophy and moral philosophy, because both involve exploring the nature of judgements we make about our values; consequently, when it was thought on epistemological grounds that it was not the place of philosophy to explore these normative matters, political philosophy was declared to be dead. Contemporary political philosophy flourishes because the epistemological argument once thought fatal to it has been rejected.

Political philosophy tries both to make sense of what we do, and to prescribe what we ought to do. Hence different conceptions of the nature of philosophy lead to different views of its status in relation to political activity. Many have contrasted the contemplative nature of philosophy with the active, practical character of politics, suggesting that the former provides a ‘higher’ form of activity which is in danger of corruption by the latter. Others have sought to ensure that their political practice is built upon a coherent philosophical foundation. When Marx complained that philosophers had only interpreted the world, but that the point was to change it, he was proposing not the abandonment of philosophy, but a more adequate conception of it.

Both philosophy and political analysis raise issues which are timeless, but both have a history and both will, at a particular time, be engaged by contemporary circumstances or intellectual preoccupations. Perhaps the most abiding question in political philosophy is whether mankind has a nature, and, if so, what follows for political organization. Some answers to that question put human nature in a historical context. Perhaps the most abiding political issue is the legitimacy of government. But although these problems have constantly to be addressed, the situation and experience of those struggling to respond to them necessarily differ. For example, how is the experience of totalitarianism to be described, understood, or explained? Political philosophy may thus be approached historically, and with an emphasis on the context of an author's work, and analytically, with a critical approach to its internal coherence or inexplicit assumptions. Contemporary political philosophy also has its context, of course, while earlier writers struggled to find eternal truths, so these approaches are properly complementary in the exploration of the political consequences of the human condition.

— Andrew Reeve

 
 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: political philosophy

Branch of philosophy that analyzes the state and related concepts such as political obligation, law, social justice, and constitution. The first major work of political philosophy in the Western tradition was Plato's Republic. Aristotle's Politics is a detailed empirical study of political institutions. The Roman tradition is best exemplified by Cicero and Polybius. St. Augustine's City of God began the tradition of Christian political thinking, which was developed by Thomas Aquinas. Niccolò Machiavelli studied the nature and limits of political power. Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan (1651) raised the problem of political obligation in its modern form. Hobbes was followed by Benedict de Spinoza, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the exposition of a social-contract theory. This was rejected by David Hume and also by G.W.F. Hegel, whose Philosophy of Right (1821) was fundamental for 19th-century political thought. Hegel's defense of private property stimulated Karl Marx's critique of it. John Stuart Mill developed Jeremy Bentham's utilitarian theory of law and political institutions, so as to reconcile them with individual liberty. In the 20th century John Dewey sought to counteract the dehumanizing aspects of modern capitalist society through a freer form of education. Until the end of the Cold War, the field of political philosophy was characterized by a division between Marxists and more traditional liberal thinkers, as well as by disagreements between left- and right-leaning liberals, such as John Rawls and Robert Nozick (1938 – 2002), respectively. From the 1970s, feminist political philosophy drew attention to the apparent gendered nature of many concepts and problems in Western political philosophy, especially autonomy, rights, liberty, and the public-private distinction.

For more information on political philosophy, visit Britannica.com.

 
History 1450-1789: Political Philosophy

At the dawn of early modern Europe, political philosophy had been largely shaped by the categories and language of Aristotelian thought as integrated into the Christian Scholastic framework during the preceding two centuries. According to Christian Aristotelians, political "science" constituted the highest form of practical knowledge, but ultimately was subordinate to the still higher forms of theoretical excellence and transcendent truth to be found in the pursuit of philosophical and theological wisdom. Scholastic political philosophy thus promoted government that comported with the virtue and salvation (and thus happiness) of members of the community. The Latin recovery of the main social writings of Aristotle (the Nicomachean Ethics and Politics as well as the Economics of Pseudo-Aristotle) in the mid-thirteenth century provided the framework within which medieval Christian political ideas were ultimately crystallized and systematized.

The history of political philosophy during the fifteenth and subsequent centuries should be recounted against this Scholastic backdrop, negatively as well as positively. Despite a renewal of Scholastic energy in the midst of the Counter-Reformation fervor of the sixteenth century, the political ideas associated with Christian Aristotelianism served as targets of widespread attack throughout the early modern era. Yet at the same time, themes familiar to readers of medieval Scholastic writings recurred and refused to disappear entirely.

Humanism

Repudiation of Scholasticism commenced with the Italian Renaissance. The republican doctrines commonly associated with the so-called civic humanists of the Renaissance (especially in Italy) were not inherently antagonistic to Aristotle. Indeed, Latin translations of the Politics and the Economics produced by one of the pillars of Renaissance humanism, Leonardo Bruni (c. 1370–1444), converted Aristotle into an intellectual figure amenable to civic humanist values. Yet the humanists consciously rejected the methods of the Scholastics as well as the general perception of their civic disengagement. Without disputing or denigrating the Christian aim of salvation, the civic humanists stressed sacrifice for the sake of one's fellow citizens and city as the fullest expression of a virtuous earthly life. Many famous humanists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries themselves served as secretaries and diplomats in the service of Italian cities, so that their glorification of citizenship reflected their own civic commitments. Drawing upon the rhetorical style of the ancients, they praised urban life in general as well as the mores and physical assets of their own cities in particular. The humanists realized that the quality of civic life depended heavily upon the wealth generated by trade, commerce, and other economic activities. Hence, they lauded the enterprise of merchants and manufacturers, to the extent that Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459) contended that industriousness and self-acquired possessions constituted the foundation of morality and the greatness of the city.

There has been a tendency for scholars to equate Italian humanist political thought almost entirely with the civic version of humanism. Yet many leading humanists showed a notable preference for monarchy and even universal empire. Thus, Bartolomeo Sacchi, known as Platina (1421–1481), and Giovanni Pontano (1426–1503), among others, wrote treatises de principum (of principle) that praised kingship and advised rulers how to conduct themselves and display their majesty. Like-wise, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405–1464), who became the humanist pope Pius II (reigned 1458–1464), composed a defense of Roman imperial authority that nonetheless borrowed directly from the political concepts and categories familiar to humanism. It would be disingenuous to claim that such writings were somehow less authentically representative of humanist thought than tracts reflecting the urban ethos.

The migration of humanism over the Alps during the course of the sixteenth century underscores the adaptability of humanist learning to political affairs. The so-called northern humanists concentrated (sometimes critically) on the issues shaping the courtly life of the monarchies that ruled the emergent national territorial states of early modern Europe. In his pursuit of a spiritually revitalized Christian commonwealth, Desiderius Erasmus (1466?–1536) offered advice about the education of the Christian prince. Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) imagined a New World utopia where the ills of his modern, supposedly "civilized" society—war, greed, abuse of power—were unknown and human beings lived communally without conflict arising from political and economic inequality. Jean Bodin (1530–1596) proposed a definition of sovereignty as absolute and indivisible, so that the ruling power possessed sole final authority over the legislative, judicial, administrative, and military functions associated with the state. In formulating this conception of sovereignty, Bodin explicitly challenged many of the central tenets of Aristotle's political science, such as the distinction between the governance of the family and the rulership of the state.

It is noteworthy that northern humanism spoke with a decidedly legal accent. A large number of the most prominent of the northern humanists received education in the law and often served as members of university law faculties. This legal inflection rendered humanist doctrines considerably more applicable to the political practices of the northern monarchies, which were organized around systems of royal courts and, increasingly, of legislative pronouncements. The emerging character of state power in sixteenth-century Europe may also help to account for the diffusion of the "Machiavellian" doctrine of ragione di stato or raison d'état (reason of state). From soon after the death of Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) until the era of the French Revolution, Machiavellism formed a central feature of political theory, as well as of literary culture more generally.

Whether Machiavelli would have recognized himself in the Machiavellism of later times is an open question. The historical Machiavelli seems to have been a dedicated republican whose civic humanism, although tinged with the realism of a career politician, remained grounded in the values and principles espoused by the literature of Florentine political thought that preceded him. His Discorsi sopra la Prima Deca di Tito Livio (1514?–1518?) and other political writings testify to this consistent streak of republicanism. However, it was Il Principe (1513–1514), a short work that he seems to have composed in great haste, that earned him his later reputation. In it, Machiavelli overturns many of the standard conventions about the personal qualities necessary for rulers to conduct themselves effectively. He argues that politics is principally guided by considerations of self-interest. Hence, political success requires the capacity to use violence against one's enemies, to engage in systematic deception, and to violate the tenets of religion—in sum, to do whatever is required to "maintain one's state." While he by no means rejects the practice of virtue in its ordinary sense when this does not interfere with the prince's goals, Machiavelli insists that the ruler can only be assured of his supremacy when he possesses virtú, construed as the ability to adapt to political circumstances rapidly and without reference to moral standards or religious pieties.

The Primacy of Power

Machiavelli's emphasis on political success as the only standard for politicians appeared to substitute power for civic virtue as the decisive issue of public life. The political justification of violent acts, even those such as murder that are clearly criminal, became synonymous with his name. Subsequent authors who wrote in this intellectual vein were often called Machiavellians, but they generally rejected the label in preference to the phrase "reason of state." This nomenclature seems to have crystallized by 1589, when Giovanni Botero (1540–1617) published Della Ragione di Stato. "Reason of state" was primarily applied to international relations, which supposedly constituted a special sphere of human conduct. Advocates of "reason of state" hold that appeals to justice or other moral values in dealings between states have no efficacy. Rather, force, treachery, deception, and similar uses of power, regardless of moral worth, are considered legitimate in gaining the upper hand in intrastate rivalries. The appeal to the primacy of power fundamentally transformed political discourse in early modern Europe and paved the way for many forms of so-called political realism, seemingly devoid of moral content.

A clear example of this interest in power is found in the writings of Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), especially his masterpiece, the Leviathan (1651). An avowed opponent of Aristotelianism and the Scholastic approach in natural philosophy as in political affairs, Hobbes proposed to create an entirely "scientific" and "mathematical" foundation for the study of human nature and of government. According to Hobbes, all human motivation may be reduced to the twin principles that people desire self-preservation and that they fear pain and especially violent death. Thus, he insists that our moral concepts and our political institutions are correctly arranged only when they are strictly derived from this postulate with Euclidean precision. The Leviathan itself purports to offer such a derivation.

Like Bodin, Hobbes insisted that the only justifiable form of sovereign authority is absolute and indivisible. Hobbes ascribed to human beings natural liberty and equality, which license them to undertake any actions necessary in order to preserve themselves and to avoid pain. He believed that the pursuit of self-preservation by free and equal creatures left to their own devices (the "state of nature") logically leads to unceasing conflict and unremitting fear. Frustrated in their realization of their basic desires, human beings voluntarily exchange their chaotic natural freedom for peace and order by means of a social contract, the terms of which call upon the parties to renounce all liberties and rights they possess by nature (with the exception of self-preservation itself). Any contract that permits the retention of some rights and thus a limitation on the sovereign's absolute authority will fail to achieve the peace sought and will eventually slip its members back into the state of nature. Power thereby replaces virtue as the central concern of the "science of politics."

Hobbes also identifies religion as an especially fertile source of political conflict. To remedy the divisive consequences of religion, he offers the rather extreme solution in the second half of Leviathan of strictly limiting the autonomy of ecclesiastical officials and offices and reinterpreting Christian theology in a manner consonant with his conceptions of human nature and sovereignty. While Hobbes's Erastian proposals were highly unusual, his comments about the corrosive effects of religion on public order were widely echoed among other early modern philosophers. The success of Protestant reformers during the early sixteenth century in challenging the Roman Church's monopoly over the interpretation of Christian doctrine and the maintenance of clerical obedience generated waves of violent persecution and suppression of religious dissent as well as forceful resistance by the oppressed confessions. Catholic princes and cities burned reformers of all stripes; Protestant rulers and communities did the same to Catholics as well as to members of other reforming sects. The state as an agent of confessional enforcement only reinforced the impression that effective use of coercion and violence (even if in the name of the salvation of souls) were the real qualifications for political leadership.

The controversial role of religion in public life in turn spawned major contributions to political philosophy. Authors began to argue for toleration of differences of conviction and rite. Sébastien Castellion (1515–1563) argued that coercion is an inappropriate tool for effecting a change of religious views since Christian belief must be held with sincere conviction. Hence, clerics and magistrates must refrain from persecution of convinced Christians who cling to doctrines that do not coincide with official teachings. Many important European philosophers came to the support of some principle of religious toleration. Without doubt, the most famous advocate of tolerance proved to be John Locke (1632–1704), who proposed to extend respect for liberty of conscience and worship to many Christian (and perhaps some non-Christian) confessions in his Epistola de Tolerantia (1689; A letter concerning toleration). Locke proposed that the magistrate should not concern himself with caring for the condition of human souls. Rather, political authority ought to be confined to the maintenance of public tranquility and the defense of individual rights. Locke was not, however, the first (or even the most extreme) defender of toleration during the seventeenth century. In the writings of Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), the right to liberty of thought and belief without interference from a sovereign power or a church was enunciated. According to Spinoza, no such "external" authority enjoyed the prerogative of determining the truth or falsity of one's ideas. Similarly, Pierre Bayle (1647–1706) condemned the persecution of religious diversity, claiming that it encouraged hypocrisy and eroded social order. Bayle maintained that an erring conscience, if it be held in good faith, merited protection just as surely as a correct one. He even extended this principle to atheists, a view that Locke adamantly rejected.

Theory of Resistance

Locke also stood at the culmination of another important line of early modern thought concerning the rights of populations to refuse obedience to tyrannical rulers, especially in matters of religion. Reforming Christians of a Calvinist persuasion led the way in articulating a theory of resistance to illegitimate applications of power. Initially, John Knox (c. 1513–1572) and other British exiles propounded the view that government has a responsibility to God to eliminate all forms of idolatry (the cipher for Catholicism). If the ruler refuses to act on this duty, then lesser magistrates and even the common people must step in to suppress idolaters and their sympathizers, that is, Catholic priests and their royal protectors. The Huguenot reformers of France developed this basic insight into a general account of resistance to an oppressive regime that aids, abets, and even guides the violent persecution of religious minorities. Authors including François Hotman (1524–1590) and Théodore de Bèze (1519–1605) produced a sizable literature combining traditional Christian prohibitions against popular rebellion with the view that so-called "intermediary" magistrates, officials in service to a prince, are obliged to repel and contravene commands by their superiors that require religious persecution.

In his Second Treatise of Government (published in 1689), Locke in many ways extended the application of Calvinist resistance theory. Arguing that a ruler who systematically violates the natural rights of subjects to life, liberty, and estate violates the bond of trust that authorizes his office, Locke insists that no one is obligated to obey his commands. If the magistrate attempts to coerce their obedience, members of civil society may legitimately use force against him, just as they would in the case of robbery or assault. Locke's argument is framed carefully so as to remain consistent with the general Christian view that active revolt against duly constituted authorities violates divine law. For Locke, it is the ruler who breaches the public trust, not the disobedient subjects.

The political philosophy of the eighteenth century witnessed the extension of the themes of constitutional limitation of power and the protection of individual freedom that had been pioneered in earlier centuries. In his De l'esprit des lois (1748; The spirit of the laws), Charles-Louis de Secondat, marquis de Montesquieu (1689–1755), examined issues surrounding the distribution of authority that had been previously left aside, including the separation of powers and the nature of political representation. Montesquieu thereby supplied many of the missing pieces of the puzzle of how power might be constrained.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) raised more fundamental questions about the project in which modern political philosophy had been engaged. Reversing the standard view that civilized society had led to the enhancement of human liberties and capacities, Rousseau pointed out how humanity had in fact become enslaved by political, cultural, legal, and economic practices and institutions. Only the creation of a communal life, and an attendant system of law and government, consonant with the general will of all citizens, could rectify the oppressive character of modern civilization. Hence, Rousseau pioneered a synthesis between individualistic and republican conceptions of political power and its purposes, which pointed toward to the extension of democratic rights that would occur in succeeding centuries.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Franklin, Julian H., ed. Constitutionalism and Resistance in the Sixteenth Century: Three Treatises by Hotman, Beza, and Mornay. Translated by Julian H. Franklin. New York, 1969.

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Edited by Edwin Curley. Indianapolis, 1994.

Kohl, Benjamin G., and Ronald G. Witt, eds. The Earthly Republic: Italian Humanists on Government and Society. Manchester, U.K., 1978.

Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government. Edited by Peter Laslett. Cambridge, U.K., 1988.

Machiavelli, Niccolò. The Chief Works and Others. Translated and edited by A. Gilbert. Durham, N.C., 1965.

Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat, marquis de. The Spirit of the Laws. Edited by Anne M. Cohler, Basia Carolyn Miller, and Harold Samuel Stone. Cambridge, U.K., 1989.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Basic Political Writings. Translated and edited by Donald A. Cress. Indianapolis, 1987.

Secondary Sources

Franklin, Julian H. Jean Bodin and the Rise of Absolutist Theory. Cambridge, U.K., 1973.

Kelley, Donald R. Foundations of Modern Historical Scholarship: Language, Law, and History in the French Renaissance. New York, 1970.

Pagden, Anthony, ed. The Languages of Political Theory in Early-Modern Europe. Cambridge, U.K., 1987.

Skinner, Quentin. The Foundations of Modern Political Thought. 2 vols. Cambridge, U.K., 1978.

——. Visions of Politics. 3 vols. Cambridge, U.K., 2002.

Tully, James. An Approach to Political Philosophy: John Locke in Contexts. Cambridge, U.K., 1993.

Van Gelderen, Martin, and Quentin Skinner, eds. Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage. 2 vols. Cambridge, U.K., 2002

Viroli, Maurizio. From Politics to Reason of State: The Acquisition and Transformation of the Language of Politics, 1250–1600. Cambridge, U.K., 1992.

——. Machiavelli. Oxford, 2000.

—CARY J. NEDERMAN

 
Wikipedia: political philosophy

Political philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should take and why, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown—if ever. In a vernacular sense, the term "political philosophy" often refers to a general view, or specific ethic, belief or attitude, about politics that does not necessarily belong to the technical discipline of philosophy.

Three central concerns of political philosophy have been the political economy by which property rights are defined and access to capital is regulated, the demands of justice in distribution and punishment, and the rules of truth and evidence that determine judgments in the law.

History of political philosophy


Antiquity

Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), from a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics secured the two Greek philosophers as two of the most influential political philosophers.
Enlarge
Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), from a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics secured the two Greek philosophers as two of the most influential political philosophers.

As an academic discipline, Western political philosophy has its origins in ancient Greek society, when city-states were experimenting with various forms of political organization including monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. One of the first, extremely important classical works of political philosophy is Plato's The Republic, which was followed by Aristotle's Politics. Roman political philosophy was influenced by the Stoics, and the Roman statesman Cicero wrote on political philosophy.

Independently, Confucius, Mencius, Mozi and the Legalist school in China, and the Laws of Manu and Chanakya and in India, all sought to find means of restoring political unity and stability; in the case of the former three through the cultivation of virtue, in the last by imposition of discipline. In India, Chanakya, in his Arthashastra, developed a viewpoint which recalls both the Legalists and Machiavelli. Ancient Chinese and Indian civilization resembled Greek in that there was a unified culture divided into rival states. In the case of China, philosophers found themselves obliged to confront social and political breakdown, and seek solutions to the crisis that confronted their entire civilization.

The early Christian philosophy of Augustine of Hippo was by and large a rewrite of Plato in a Christian context. The main change that Christian thought brought was to moderate the Stoicism and theory of justice of the Roman world, and emphasize the role of the state in applying mercy as a moral example. Augustine also preached that one was not a member of his or her city, but was a citizen of the City of God. Augustine's The City of God is an influential work of this period that refuted the thesis, after the First Sack of Rome, that the Christian view could be realized on Earth at all - a view many Christian Romans held.

Medieval Islam

The rise of Islam, based on both the Qur'an and Muhammad strongly altered the power balances and perceptions of origin of power in the Mediterranean region. Early Muslim philosophy emphasized an inexorable link between science and religion, and the process of ijtihad to find truth - in effect all philosophy was "political" as it had real implications for governance. This view was challenged by the Mutazilite philosophers, who held a more Greek view and were supported by secular aristocracy who sought freedom of action independent of the mosque. By the medieval period, however, the Asharite view of Islam had in general triumphed. Islam was widely exposed to the writings of both Plato and Aristotle, though the only known Greek political treatise that Islam encountered was Plato's Republic. The West and Christianity, on the other hand, were exposed to both the Republic and Aristotle's Politics.[citation needed] Some believe this may be a reason why the Middle East and the West developed different political systems and ideologies in later times.[citation needed]

Islamic political philosophy, was, indeed, rooted in the very sources of Islam, i.e. the Qur'an and the Sunnah, the words and practices of Muhammad. However, in the Western thought, it is generally known that it was a specific area peculiar merely to the great philosophers of Islam: al-Kindi (Alkindus), al-Farabi (Abunaser), İbn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Bajjah (Avempace), Ibn Rushd (Averroes), and Ibn Khaldun. The political conceptions of Islam such as kudrah, sultan, ummah, cemaa -and even the "core" terms of the Qur'an, i.e. ibada, din, rab and ilah- is taken as the basis of an analysis. Hence, not only the ideas of the Muslim political philosophers but also many other jurists and ulama posed political ideas and theories. For example, the ideas of the Khawarij in the very early years of Islamic history on Khilafa and Ummah, or that of Shia Islam on the concept of Imamah are considered proofs of political thought. The clashes between the Ehl-i Sunna and Shia in the 7th and 8th centuries had a genuine political character.

The 14th century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun is considered one of the greatest political theorists. The British philosopher-anthropologist Ernest Gellner considered Ibn Khaldun's definition of government, "an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself", the best in the history of political theory.[1]

Muslim political philosophy did not cease in the classical period. Despite the fluctuations in its original character during the medieval period, it has lasted even in the modern era. Especially with the emergence of Islamic radicalism as a political movement, political thought has revived in Muslim world. The political ideas of Abduh, Afgani, Kutub, Mawdudi, Shariati and Khomeini has caught on an ethusiasm in especially Muslim youth in 20th century.

Medieval Europe

Medieval political philosophy in Europe was heavily influenced by Christian thinking. It had much in common with the Islamic thinking in that the Roman Catholics also subordinated philosophy to theology. Perhaps the most influential political philosopher of the medieval period was St. Thomas Aquinas who helped reintroduce Aristotle's works, which had only been preserved by the Muslims, along with the commentaries of Averroes. Aquinas's use of them set the agenda for scholastic political philosophy, and dominated European thought for centuries.

European Renaissance

During the Renaissance secular political philosophy began to emerge after about a century of theological political thought in Europe. While the Middle Ages did see secular politics in practice under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, the academic field was wholly scholastic and therefore Christian in nature. One of the most influential works during this burgeoning period was Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince, written between 1511-12 and published in 1532, after Machiavelli's death. That work, as well as The Discourses, a rigorous analysis of the classical period, did much to influence modern political thought in the West. A minority (including Jean-Jacques Rousseau) could interpret The Prince as a satire meant to give the Medici after their recapture of Florence and their subsequent expulsion of Machiavelli from Florence.[2] Though the work was written for the di Medici family in order to perhaps influence them to free him from exile, Machiavelli supported the Republic of Florence rather than the oligarchy of the di Medici family. At any rate, Machiavelli presents a pragmatic and somewhat teleological view of politics, whereby good and evil are mere means used to bring about an end, i.e. the secure and powerful state. Thomas Hobbes, well known for his theory of the social contract, goes on to expand this view at the start of the 17th century during the English Renaissance.

European Age of Enlightenment

Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People (1830, Louvre), a painting created at a time where old and modern political philosophies came into violent conflict.
Enlarge
Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People (1830, Louvre), a painting created at a time where old and modern political philosophies came into violent conflict.

During the Enlightenment period, new theories about what the human was and is and about the definition of reality and the way it was perceived, along with the discovery of other societies in the Americas, and the changing needs of political societies (especially in the wake of the English Civil War, the American Revolution and the French Revolution) led to new questions and insights by such thinkers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu and John Locke.

These theorists were driven by two basic questions: one, by what right or need do people form states; and two, what the best form for a state could be. These fundamental questions involved a conceptual distinction between the concepts of "state" and "government." It was decided that "state" would refer to a set of enduring institutions through which power would be distributed and its use justified. The term "government" would refer to a specific group of people who occupied, and indeed still occupy the institutions of the state, and create the laws and ordinances by which the people, themselves included, would be bound. This conceptual distinction continues to operate in political science, although some political scientists, philosophers, historians and cultural anthropologists have argued that most political action in any given society occurs outside of its state, and that there are societies that are not organized into states which nevertheless must be considered in political terms.

Political and economic relations were drastically influenced by these theories as the concept of the guild was subordinated to the theory of free trade, and Roman Catholic dominance of theology was increasingly challenged by Protestant churches subordinate to each nation-state, which also (in a fashion the Roman Catholic church often decried angrily) preached in the vulgar or native language of each region.

In the Ottoman Empire, these ideological reforms did not take place and these views did not integrate into common thought until much later. As well, there was no spread of this doctrine within the New World and the advanced civilizations of the Aztec, Maya, Inca, Mohican, Delaware, Huron and especially the Iroquois. The Iroquois philosophy in particular gave much to Christian thought of the time and in many cases actually inspired some of the institutions adopted in the United States: for example, Benjamin Franklin was a great admirer of some of the methods of the Iroquois Confederacy, and much of early American literature emphasized the political philosophy of the natives.[citation needed]

Industrialization and the Modern Era

Karl Marx and his theory of Communism developed along with Friedrich Engels proved to be one of the most influential political ideologies of the 20th century.
Enlarge
Karl Marx and his theory of Communism developed along with Friedrich Engels proved to be one of the most influential political ideologies of the 20th century.

The industrial revolution produced a parallel revolution in political thought. Urbanization and capitalism greatly reshaped society. During this same period, the socialist movement began to form. In the mid-19th century, Marxism was developed, and socialism in general gained increasing popular support, mostly from the urban working class. By the late 19th century, socialism and trade unions were established members of the political landscape. In addition, the various branches of anarchism and syndicalism also gained some prominence. In the Anglo-American world, anti-imperialism and pluralism began gaining currency at the turn of the century.

World War I was a watershed event in human history. The Russian Revolution of 1917 (and similar, albeit less successful, revolutions in many other European countries) brought communism - and in particular the political theory of Leninism, but also on a smaller level Luxemburgism (gradually) - on the world stage. At the same time, social democratic parties won elections and formed governments for the first time, often as a result of the introduction of universal suffrage.

In response to the sweeping social changes that occurred in the years after the war, ultra-reactionary ideologies such as fascism began to take shape. In particular, the rise of the Nazis in Germany would later lead to the Second World War.

All political thought was deeply affected by the Great Depression, which led many theorists to reconsider the ideas they had previously held as axiomatic. In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal. In Europe, both the extreme left and the extreme right gained increasing popularity.

Contemporary political philosophy

After World War II political philosophy moved into a temporary eclipse in the Anglo-American academic world, as analytic philosophers expressed skepticism about the possibility that normative judgments had cognitive content, and political science turned toward statistical methods and behavioralism. The 1950s saw pronouncements of the 'death' of the discipline, followed by debates about that thesis. A handful of continental European emigres to Britain and the United States—including Hannah Arendt, Karl Popper, Friedrich Hayek, Leo Strauss, Isaiah Berlin, Eric Voegelin and Judith Shklar—encouraged continued study in the field, but in the 1950s and 60s they and their students remained somewhat marginal in their disciplines.

Communism remained an important focus especially during the 1950s and 60s. Zionism, racism and colonialism were important issues that arose. In general, there was a marked trend towards a pragmatic approach to political issues, rather than a philosophical one. Much academic debate regarded one or both of two pragmatic topics: how (or whether) to apply utilitarianism to problems of political policy, or how (or whether) to apply economic models (such as rational choice theory) to political issues. The rise of feminism and the end of colonial rule and of the political exclusion of such minorities as African Americans in the developed world has led to feminist, postcolonial, and multicultural thought becoming significant.

In Anglo-American academic political philosophy the publication of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice in 1971 is considered a milestone. Rawls used a thought experiment, the original position, in which representative parties choose principles of justice for the basic structure of society from behind a veil of ignorance. Rawls also offered a criticism of utilitarian approaches to questions of political justice. Robert Nozick's book Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) responded to Rawls from a libertarian perspective.

Contemporaneously with the rise of analytic ethics in Anglo-American thought, in Europe several new lines of philosophy directed at critique of existing societies arose between the 1950s and 1980s. Many of these took elements of Marxist economic analysis, but combined them with a more cultural or ideological emphasis. Out of the Frankfurt School, thinkers like Herbert Marcuse, Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Jürgen Habermas combined Marxian and Freudian perspectives. Along somewhat different lines, a number of other continental thinkers—still largely influenced by Marxism—put new emphases on structuralism and on a "return to Hegel". Within the (post-) structuralist line (though mostly not taking that label) are thinkers such as Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Claude Lefort, and Jean Baudrillard. The Situationists were more influenced by Hegel; Guy Debord, in particular, moved a Marxist analysis of commodity fetishism to the realm of consumption, and looked at the relation between consumerism and dominant ideology formation.

Another debate developed around the (distinct) criticisms of liberal political theory made by Michael Sandel and Charles Taylor. The liberalism-communitarianism debate is often considered valuable for generating a new set of philosophical problems, rather than a profound and illuminating clash of perspectives.

Today some debates regarding punishment and law center on the question of natural law and the degree to which human constraints on action are determined by nature, as revealed by science in particular. Other debates focus on questions of cultural and gender identity as central to politics.

Influential political philosophers

A larger list of political philosophers is intended to be closer to exhaustive. Listed below are a few of the most canonical or important thinkers, and especially philosophers whose central focus was in political philosophy and/or who are good representatives of a particular school of thought.

  • Confucius : The first thinker to relate ethics to the political order.
  • Chanakya : Founder of an independent political thought in India, laid down rules and guidelines for social, law and political order in society.
  • Mozi : Eponymous founder of the Mohist school, advocated a strict utilitarianism.
  • Socrates/Plato: Named their practice of inquiry "philosophy", and thereby stand at the head of a prominent (often called "Western") tradition of systematic intellectual analysis. Set as a partial basis to that tradition the relation between knowledge on the one hand, and a just and good society on the other. Socrates is widely considered founder of Western political philosophy, via his spoken influence on Athenian contemporaries; since Socrates never wrote anything, much of what we know about him and his teachings comes through his most famous student, Plato.
  • Aristotle: Wrote his Politics as an extension of his Nicomachean Ethics. Notable for the theories that humans are social animals, and that the polis (Ancient Greek city state) existed to bring about the good life appropriate to such animals. His political theory is based upon an ethics of perfectionism (as is Marx's, on some readings).
  • Mencius : One of the most important thinkers in the Confucian school, he is the first theorist to make a coherent argument for an obligation of rulers to the ruled.
  • Han Feizi : The major figure of the Chinese Fajia (Legalist) school, advocated government that adhered to laws and a strict method of administration.
  • Niccolò Machiavelli: First systematic analyses of: (1) how consent of a populace is negotiated between and among rulers rather than simply a naturalistic (or theological) given of the structure of society; (2) precursor to the concept of ideology in articulating the epistemological structure of commands and law.
  • Thomas Hobbes: Generally considered to have first articulated how the concept of a social contract that justifies the actions of rulers (even where contrary to the individual desires of governed citizens), can be reconciled with a conception of sovereignty.
  • Baruch Spinoza: Set forth the first analysis of "rational egoism", in which the rational interest of self is conformance with pure reason. To Spinoza's thinking, in a society in which each individual is guided of reason, political authority would be superfluous.
  • John Locke: Like Hobbes, described a social contract theory based on citizens' fundamental rights in the state of nature. He departed from Hobbes in that, based on the assumption of a society in which moral values are independent of governmental authority and widely shared, he argued for a government with power limited to the protection of personal property. His arguments may have been deeply influential to the formation of the United States Constitution.
  • Baron de Montesquieu: Analyzed protection of liberty by a "balance of powers" in the divisions of a state.
  • David Hume: Hume criticized the social contract theory of John Locke and others as resting on a myth of some actual agreement. Hume was a realist in recognizing the role of force to forge the existence of states and that consent of the governed was merely hypothetical. He also introduced the concept of utility, later picked up on and developed by Jeremy Bentham.
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Analyzed the social contract as an expression of the general will, and controversially argued in favor of absolute democracy where the people at large would act as sovereign.
  • Immanuel Kant: Argued that participation in civil society is undertaken not for self-preservation, as per Thomas Hobbes, but as a moral duty. First modern thinker who fully analyzed structure and meaning of obligation. Argued that an international organization was needed to preserve world peace.
  • Adam Smith: Often said to have founded modern economics; explained emergence of economic benefits from the self-interested behavior ("the invisible hand") of artisans and traders. While praising its efficiency, Smith also expressed concern about the effects of industrial labor (e.g. repetitive activity) on workers. His work on moral sentiments sought to explain social bonds outside the economic sphere.
  • Edmund Burke: Irish member of the British parliament, Burke is credited with the creation of conservative thought. Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France is the most popular of his writings where he denounced the French revolution. Burke was one of the biggest supporters of the American Revolution.
  • John Adams: Enlightenment writer who defended the American cause for independence. Adams was a Lockean thinker, who was appalled by the French revolution. Adams is known for his outspoken commentary in favor of the American revolution. He defended the American form of republicanism over the French liberal democracy. Adams is considered the founder of American conservative thought.
  • Thomas Paine: Enlightenment writer who defended liberal democracy, the American Revolution, and French Revolution in Common Sense and The Rights of Man.
  • Jeremy Bentham: The first thinker to analyze social justice in terms of maximization of aggregate individual benefits. Founded the philosophical/ethical school of thought known as utilitarianism.
  • John Stuart Mill: A utilitarian, and the person who named the system; he goes further than Bentham by laying the foundation for liberal democratic thought in general and modern, as opposed to classical, liberalism in particular. Articulated the place of individual liberty in an otherwise utilitarian framework.
  • Karl Marx: In large part, added the historical dimension to an understanding of society, culture and economics. Created the concept of ideology in the sense of (true or false) beliefs that shape and control social actions. Analyzed the fundamental nature of class as a mechanism of governance and social interaction.
  • John Dewey: Co-founder of pragmatism and analyzed the essential role of education in the maintenance of democratic government.
  • Adolf Hitler: Developed fascism and nationalism on a race based level which formed the Nazi party.
  • Antonio Gramsci: Instigated the concepts hegemony and social formation. Fused the ideas of Marx, Engels, Spinoza and others within the so-called dominant ideology thesis (the ruling ideas of society are the ideas of its rulers).
  • Herbert Marcuse: One of the principle thinkers within the Frankfurt School, and generally important in efforts to fuse the thought of Freud and Marx. Introduced the concept of repressive desublimation, in which social control can operate not only by direct control, but also by manipulation of desire. Analyzed the role of advertising and propaganda in societal consensus.
  • Friedrich Hayek: He argued that central planning was impossible because members of central bodies could not know enough to match the preferences of consumers with the existing supply of goods and materials. He further argued that attempts to create economic egalitarianism would lead to a central government with totalitarian powers. For him, the social democratic welfare state is leading us down the 'road to serfdom.' He advocated free-market capitalism in which the sole role of the state is to maintain the rule of law.
  • Hannah Arendt: Analyzed the roots of totalitarianism and introduced the concept of the "banality of evil" (how ordinary technocratic rationality comes to deplorable fruition). Brought distinctive elements of and revisions to the philosophy of Martin Heidegger into political thought.
  • Leo Strauss: Strauss is known for his writings on the classical and modernity philosophers and denouncement of the modern politics.
  • John Rawls: Revitalised the study of normative political philosophy in Anglo-American universities with his 1971 book A Theory of Justice, which uses a version of social contract theory to answer fundamental questions about justice and to criticise utilitarianism.
  • Robert Nozick: Criticized Rawls, and argued for Libertarianism, by appeal to a hypothetical history of the state and the real history of property.

References

  1. ^ Ernest Gellner, Plough, Sword and Book (1988), p. 239
  2. ^ Johnston, Ian (February 2002). Lecture on Machiavelli's The Prince. Malaspina University College. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.

2. www.politicalresources.net 3. www.political-theory.org


See also

Further Reading

Philosophy
Topics Portal · Category listings  |  Eastern philosophy · Western philosophy  |  History of philosophy (ancient • medieval • modern • contemporary)
Lists Basic topics · Topic list