Western Political Philosophy

“That man is wisest who, like Socrates, realizes that his wisdom is worthless” – Plato

Western Political Philosophy

What is the most fitting political arrangement for a given society? Is there a best form of government towards which every human society should tend and, if there is, what is it? What principles should inspire a political leader? These and related questions have been at the hearth of the reflection on political philosophy. According to the Ancient Greek perspective, the quest for the most appropriate structure of the State is the ultimate philosophical goal.

For both Plato and Aristotle, it is only within a politically well-organized society that the individual can find true blessedness. For Plato, the functioning of a State parallels the one of a human soul. The soul has three parts: rational, spiritual, and appetitive; so the State has three parts: the ruling class, corresponding to the rational part of the soul; the auxiliaries, corresponding to the spiritual part; and the productive class, corresponding to the appetitive part. Plato’s Republic discusses the ways in which a State can be most appropriately run, and by so doing Plato purports to teach a lesson also about the most appropriate human to run her life.

Aristotle emphasized even more than Plato the dependence between the individual and the State: it is in our biological constitution to engage in social living and only within a well-run society we can fully realize ourselves as human. Humans are a "political animals."

Most Western philosophers and political leaders have been influenced by Plato and Aristotle’s writings. The British empiricist Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and the Florentine humanist Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) are the most important examples.

Politics, Economics, and the Law

Politics has always been inextricably linked to economics. The study of political science requires an understanding of the basic principles of economics. Analogous considerations can be made with respect to the relationship between politics and the law. In a globalized world,  political science requires a global perspective and the capacity to compare political, economical, and legal systems around the world. The most influential principle according to which modern democracies are arranged is the principle of the division of powers: legislative, executive, and judiciary. This organization follows the development of political theorizing during the age of Enlightenment, the theory of State power developed by French philosopher Montesquieu (1689-1755).

Political philosophy asks questions like: "What is a government?", "Why are governments needed?", "What makes a government legitimate?", "What rights and freedoms should a government protect?", "What duties do citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any?" and "When may a government be legitimately overthrown, if ever?"

Ancient Political Philosophy

Western political philosophy has its origins in Ancient Greece, when city-states were experimenting with various forms of political organization including monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy and democracy. Among the most important classical works of political philosophy are Plato's "The Republic" and Aristotle's "Politics". Later, St. Augustine's "The City of God" was a Christianized version of these which emphasized the role of the state in applying mercy as a moral example. After St. Thomas Aquinas's reintroduction and Christianization of Aristotle's political works, Christian Scholastic political philosophy dominated European thought for centuries.

In Ancient China, Confucius, Mencius (372 - 189 B.C.) and Mozi (470 - 391 B.C.) sought to restore political unity and stability through the cultivation of virtue, while the Legalist school sought the same end by the imposition of discipline. Similarly, in Ancient India, Chanakya (350 - 283 B.C.) developed a viewpoint in his "Arthashastra" which recalls both the Chinese Legalists and the later Political Realist theories of  the Italian philosopher Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli.

The Arabic scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332 - 1406), a great political theorist defines government as "an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself." The political ideas of Muhammad Abduh (1849 - 1905), Al-Afghani (1838 - 1897), Sayyid Qutb (1906 - 1966), Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903 - 1979), Ali Shariati (1933 - 1977) and Ruhollah Khomeini (1902 - 1989) have gained increasing popularity in the 20th Century.

Secular political philosophy began to emerge in Europe after centuries of theological political thought during the Renaissance. Machiavelli's influential works, "The Prince" and "The Discourses", described a pragmatic and consequentialist view of politics, where good and evil are mere means to an end. The Englishman Thomas Hobbes constructed the theory of the social contract - the implied agreements by which people form nations and maintain a social order. He expanded this prototype of Contractarianism in the first half of the 17th Century, culminating in his "Leviathan" of 1651, which verged on Totalitarianism.

Modern Political Philosophy

During the Age of Enlightenment, Europe entered a sort of golden age of political philosophy with the works of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Baron de Montesquieu.

 John Locke’s ideas on Liberalism and Libertarianism are reflected in the American Declaration of Independence. His works also influenceed the philosophies of Voltaire and Rousseau.   Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s  contractarianist political philosophy influenced the French Revolution. His 1762 work "The Social Contract" became one of the most influential works of political philosophy in the Western tradition.  The Baron de Montesquieu’s (1889 - 1755) articulation of the separation of powers within government is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world today.

Two major questions were broached by Enlightenment political philosophers:

1. By what right or need do people form states?

2. What is the best form for a state?

Capitalism emphasized  on privately-owned means of production and the market economy. It  became institutionalized in Europe between the 16th and 19th Centuries, and particularly during the Industrial Revolution. In his 1859 essay "On Liberty" and other works, John Stuart Mill argued that Utilitarianism requires that political arrangements satisfy the liberty principle, i.e. the sole purpose of law should be to stop people from harming others.

By the mid-19th Century, Karl Marx developed his theory of Dialectical Materialism and Marxism. By the late 19th Century, concepts like Socialism, Libertarianism Conservatism and Anarchism were established, and the trade union movement and syndicalism also gained some prominence. The Russian Revolution of 1917 brought the philosophy of Communism. After the First World War, ideologies of Nationalism, Fascism and Totalitarianism began to take shape in Italy and Nazi Germany.

In the 19th and early 20th Centuries, the Feminist movement developed its theories and moral philosophies concerned with gender inequalities and equal rights for women, as part of a general concern for Egalitarianism. After the Second World War, there was a marked trend towards a pragmatic approach to political issues, rather than a philosophical one, and post-colonial, civil rights and multicultural thought became significant.

Major Doctrines

Under the heading of Political Philosophy, the major doctrines or theories include:

·        Anarchism

·        Capitalism

·        Communism

·        Communitarianism

·        Conservatism

·        Contractarianism

·        Egalitarianism

·        Fascism

·        Feminism

·        Liberalism

·        Libertarianism

·        Marxism

·        Nationalism

·        Socialism

·        Totalitarianism

Adapted from

Borghini, Andrea. "Political Science." ThoughtCo, Dec. 4, 2019, thoughtco.com/what-is-political-science-2670741.

Mastin, L. (2009, January). Existence and Consciousness. Retrieved [Month, day, year], from https://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_metaphysics.html.