Political Thought Online Test 11th Political Science Lesson 7 Questions in English

Plato was born in 427/428 BCE. He belonged to an aristocratic family in Athens a Greek City State. Plato’s real name was ‘Aristocles’. Some historical sources say his wrestling coach Ariston of Argos dubbed him ‘Platon’ meaning‘Broad’ on account of his large build.

Plato was a disciple of Socrates who was one of the foremost philosophers of Greece. During his time there was great chaos in the political life of Athens which was a Greek City State. This resulted in the Athenian government condemning Socrates to death because of his teachings.

In about 387 BCE Plato founded his ‘Academy’. The name ‘Academy’ comes from the name of a famous Athenian hero called ‘Akademos’. Here Plato taught Political Philosophy which contained politics, ethics, mathematics and sociology.

The three most important works of Plato are ‘The Republic’ (386 BCE), ‘The Statesman’ (360 BCE) and ‘The Laws’ (347 BCE). Apart from these works, he has written a number of other smaller books.

In Political Science, the most important concept around which the subject is built is ‘The State’. According to Plato in an Ideal State should be made up of three classes namely Ruling Class, Military Class and Economic Class. He gives details of how this is possible in his subsequent ideas of Justice and Education.

Plato believed that justice resided both in one single human being as well as the State. He said every human being is endowed with three qualities though in different proportions.

In his work ‘The Republic’ Plato had practically condemned Democracy. He had developed the idea that all were not fit to rule and that only the philosophers who had been specially trained for the purpose should rule. He said this because it was Athenian Democracy which condemned his teacher Socrates to death.

Plato classified constitutions as Aristocracy, Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy and Tyranny. He also said that there is a tendency of Aristocracy to degenerate into Timocracy, Timocracy into Oligarchy, Oligarchy into Democracy and Democracy into Tyranny.

‘Dialectics’ is a question and answer type of method where the student has a vague idea about something and throws questions to the teacher about it and the teacher’s answers are again questioned. By this the teacher facilitates the student to formulate and reformulate his idea in order to arrive at the best possible understanding of the idea.

According to Plato, children were national possession and as such it was obligatory on the part of the State to bring them up according to their attitudes.

Plato used this method in his book ‘The Republic’. He writes this book as if he is asking questions as a student and Socrates is answering as his teacher. By this the teacher facilitates the student to formulate and reformulate his idea in order to arrive at the best possible understanding of the idea.

Aristotle was Plato’s student at his ‘Academy’. William Ebenstien says” in the history of political philosophy no one has surpassed Aristotle in encyclopaedic interest and accomplishment”.

After Plato’s death, Aristotle found his own school called ‘The Lyceum’ in 335 BCE.

Aristotle wrote many books on subjects ranging from Greek literature to Zoology. Unlike Plato’s agreement with his teacher Socrates, Aristotle did not agree on many things his teacher Plato had to say. Almost all his political ideas are known through his book ‘Politics’

Alexander studied in The Lyceum under Aristotle. The teaching and research program included every branch of knowledge. Aristotle was born in Stagira in 384 BCE. Unlike Plato, Aristotle came from an upper middle-class family. His father Nicomachus was the personal physician to king Amyntas of Macedon.

Plato agreed with Pythagoras that Mathematics were essential in understanding the world.

The families combined together to make the State and made it a perfect association. Aristotle believes that the State is an individual writ large because the individual can think of perfection only in a State.

According to Aristotle, the slave is the first of the animate property of a Master, i.e., the slave is first among all living property of the household of which the master is the head. He says those who are not virtuous are slaves.

The slave is an instrument of action and not that of production because as soon as he starts performing productive functions, he loses his character as a slave and becomes virtuous.

Aristotle believes that the family is a natural institution and in fact it existed prior to the State. It is natural as individuals become members from their very birth. It is the starting point of moral life and the nucleus of the State.

Aristotle supported the possession of private property which is essential for good and normal life. However, he prescribed limits to private property. He also objected to the abolition of private property.

According to Aristotle, if sovereignty resides in one person it is Monarchy. It degenerates into Tyranny. Thus, the people wrest the State from the tyrant and give it to a few rulers and thus Aristocracy comes into being.

Aristocracy perverts into Oligarchy, people again revolt and transfer power to many rulers by which the State becomes a Polity. When these degenerates, it becomes a Democracy because these rulers no longer have sight of the common good for which the State came into being. This again gives rise to Monarchy.

In Western Europe the thirteenth Century was regarded as the golden age of western medieval philosophy. Catholicism emerged as the universal religion in Western Europe. Eventually Aristotle’s Politics, re-emerged during the thirteenth century.

Aristotle’s most famous work is called ‘Politics’ from which modern Political Science has grown. Thus, he is called as the ‘father of Political Science’. Though the exact date of its publication is not known, it is a voluminous work consisting of 8 books and having more than 1000 pages.

Sharp differences arose between Aristotle’s secular views and Augustine’s religious ideas on sin, the Fall, and political society which were accepted by the church and as a binding doctrine. However, some philosophers faced the challenge of how to accommodate their theological views and a set of secular political assumptions, which finally resulted in the reconciliation of two different ways of understanding the world.

St. Thomas Aquinas (1224 or 12251274) was born in the family castle of Roccasecca, north of Naples. His father was Landulf of Aquino, who headed a minor branch of an important land-owning family and his mother was Theodora Rossi belonging to Neapolitan Carracciolo family.

In the nineteenth century, Pope Luis XIII declared that the philosophical system which Aquinas founded to be official Catholic theology, which made reading his works not only important for Catholics but also for those who sought a more than surface understanding of that branch of Christianity.

Aquinas works included commentaries that stem from his theological design. Some of his important works include, (i) Summa Contra Gentiles (1264), (ii) Summa Theologica (1274) and (iii) On Kingship.

It has often been said that Aquinas wrote the Summa Contra Gentiles (SCG) as a manual or text book designed to be used by the Dominican missionaries working in Spain where Islam was then a force to be reckoned with by Christians.

In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas establishes the existence of four levels of law which had an underlying unity which is reason. What differentiates one form of law from the other is the level of reason involved.

The highest and most comprehensive among them is eternal law which is reason that is operative in the universe as a whole. It is the natural and the ethical order which God had established. The next (Second) is divine law which is a special category of eternal law which is the revealed word of God in the Scripture.

The Summa Contra Gentiles is evidently an apologetic work, since it defends a series of Christian beliefs that were under criticisms or that could come under potential criticisms.

The uniqueness of Aquinas’ theory of natural law is that it establishes a link between the natural and the supernatural – between nature and spirit. This is so because, says Aquinas, that right and wrong are determined by God and hence natural law is nothing else that the rational creature’s participation in the eternal law.

The political theory of Aquinas closely parallels Aristotle’s. His writings ‘On Kingship’ can be considered as the most methodical political work. Aquinas largely follows the pattern of arguments that were adopted by Aristotle in his ‘Politics’.

Like Aristotle, he believes that the state is a moral community where the moral good of its members are considered as its objective. Thus, he argues that the state should be based on justice and the best should rule for the good of the public which should be under the constraints of law.

St. Thomas Aquinas who is regarded as one of the great figures of medieval thought founded a tradition which came to be known as Thomism.

The basis of Aquinas political theory can be found in his commentary on Aristotle’s Politics in de regimineprincipum (on the Rule of Sovereigns) while he was at the papal court in Italy (1259-68).

All power according to Aquinas comes from God since it involves the power of life and death which in the Church’s doctrine is a prerogative of God. It is at this juncture that Aquinas deviates from Aristotle but returns when he turns to the question of the sovereign which is natural.

The sovereign or government in the view of Aquinas is the representative of those governed. The state therefore, is not in any way dependent on the church. Aquinas argued that each had a separate role and an end. However, in Aquinas’ view the Church is not subordinate to the state, whereas the state on the other hand must take into consideration of the Church since its end is higher than that of the state and is the ultimate end of the citizen.

Machiavelli’s theory of Government is determined by his conception of the study of human nature. Like Hobbes, he is very pessimistic about human nature and believes that men by nature are purely selfish and they, in their lives, are always motivated by selfish desires. At one place in ‘The Prince’ he says,” Men are ungrateful, fickle, deceitful, cowardly and avaricious.”

According to Machiavelli that a monarch should aim to be feared by the people than be loved. For Machiavelli, love implies a bond of obligation which men, being essentially selfish, break on every occasion where their own interest demands it, while fear, for the same reason, holds them indefinitely.

Machiavelli says that this motive of the people makes them desire for republic and dislike monarchy. Under Republican government there are more chances for people to get material gain. This is not possible in a monarchy because the Prince takes all the gains and profits himself.

In Greek political thought, ethics was viewed as the foundation of politics. But Machiavelli made a striking departure from this classical ideal. He believed that politics is governed by its own independent standards; hence it cannot be bound by the conventional ethical standards.

Machiavelli does not contend that ‘ends justify the means’ but he claims that a ruler’s success will be judged by popular verdict, and that he will be excused for using dubious means if he is successful in the end. If political expediency requires the Prince to set aside traditional morality, he should go ahead in the interest of successful politics.

Machiavelli breaks away from the tradition maintained by Plato, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas and others who believed in the ethical purpose of the State. He separates politics from both religion and morality and gives an autonomous status to politics. According to Machiavelli, it is not a practical policy for the prince to follow the principles of religion and ethics in his statecraft.

A wise ruler will frame his policy with a view to creating an atmosphere of security of life, property and honour of the people. He advises the Prince to provide for security of women in the state. People will be loyal to their ruler when they are sure that their life, property and women are safe in the state.

As a sincere patriot, Machiavelli was particularly anxious to build a strong nation-state in Italy which was then fragmented into five parts: Florence, Venice, Naples, Milan and the territory of the Roman Catholic Church. He wanted his country to win a respectable place among other nation-states of Europe.

Thomas Hobbes the sixteenth century English Philosopher who lived during the scientific revolution was the first to attempt a modern theory of society. Thomas Hobbes was born prematurely in Malmesbury on 5 April 1588, when his mother was told that the Spanish Armada was spotted off the coast of England.

Hobbes grew in the house of his well-to-do uncle after his father abandoned his family. Hobbes began his schooling early and entered the Magdalen college in Oxford. Upon his graduation at the age of nineteen he became connected with the Cavendish family where he served as a tutor to William Cavendish.

Hobbes showed little interest on the elements of philosophy, he began to study the classics with earnest after he went on a tour with William Cavendish in the European continent. He developed an interest in the movement of history and on the fates of nations and empires. In the year 1629, he translated Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War and published it.

Hobbes’ Leviathan which is his most mature and exciting work attempts to demonstrate that the Galilean physics provides a model of human psychology which on turn lays the foundation for modern politics.

Very often political scientists use the term ‘Hobbesian’ which probably could denote a very pessimistic view of man as essentially, anti-social, selfish, brutish and power lusting. At most times, the Leviathan of Hobbes is taken as the starting point and begins with a coherent theory of ‘Man’, as a pre requisite to an understanding of politics.

Hobbes further adds that the object of man’s desire is not to enjoy only once, and for one instant only, but to assure forever the way of his future desire. Given that all are pleasure seekers, it must logically follow logically that all are power seekers.

Hobbes’ view of human nature has a profound impact on his political theory. Knowing the true nature of human beings, Hobbes puts forward a scientific theory of politics – the ‘Social Contract’.

The fundamental idea of the social contract is quite simple: The state is the result of a contract between human beings in which the scope and extent of the powers of the government are to be determined by an analysis of the terms of the contract.

Such an idea was still employed by the Royalists who argued that the monarch ruled by divine right. The consent-contract flatly rejected this idea and, on the contrary claimed that the government is legitimate only to the extent that people have consented to.

Hobbes’s conception of the sovereign/ sovereignty can be summed up in the relationship between the individual and the sovereign. The relationship between the individual and the sovereign was one that was between the absolute absence of power and the absolute unity of power.

Hobbes is consistent in his argument in the commonwealth the removal of all bases of power from the individual on the one hand and the concentration of it with the sovereign was essential. In other words, Hobbes supported the creation of an absolute sovereign which would lack no power to enforce law and order against any possibility of man’s irrationality.

The importance of Hobbes lies not only on his political philosophy but also on his contributions towards the development of an anti-Aristotelian and thoroughly materialist conception of politics.

John Locke, the father of philosophical liberalism, was born on 29 August, 1632 at Wrington, Somersetshire, United Kingdom. He spent his childhood at Pensford, near Bristol His acquaintance with William, the Prince of Orange and his ascendency to the English throne after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, brought Locke back to London.

Locke was made the Commissioner for Appeals by William III in 1689. The unfavourable political climate induced him to resign again and led to his settlement at Essex. He ended his public life with his last assignment as the Commissioner on the Board of Tea.

John Locke important works are ‘Letter Concerning Toleration’ (1689), an ‘Essay Concerning Human Understanding’ (1690), ‘Two Treatises on Civil Government’ (1690), ‘A Second Letter on Toleration’ (1692) ), ‘A Third Letter on Toleration’ (1692), ‘A Fourth on Toleration’ (1693) and ‘Some Thoughts Concerning Education’ (1693).

Locke’s comprehension of the human nature is reflected in his “Essay on Human Understanding”. Unlike Hobbes, Locke does not subscribe to a pessimistic view of human nature. He identifies reason as the factor which shapes a rational human being.

Locke is also particular in reflecting the utilitarian trait of humans. Following the line of Bentham, Locke says, humans seek to strike a balance of pleasure over pain. It is this notion of pleasure or utility which forms the basis of his covenant.

Locke goes to the extent of denoting natural law as the moral law enacted by God, which is sensible through reason. It would not be wrong to refer his state of nature as “an anarchist’s paradise”.

Finally, Locke identifies the three fundamental demerits which threatened the balance of state of nature. Firstly, the absence of a legal framework. Secondly, the lack of a “known and impartial judge”. Thirdly, the requirement of an executive agency for the enforcement of decisions.

Social contract is configured as an instrument of admission to the civil society. The Lockean view proposes two contracts. The first one establishes the civil society and the second one calls for the constitution of government.

The Locke a vision on social pact also authorises the option for revolution against a tyrannous system of governance. This is included in order to reaffirm the role of the state as the guardian of the natural rights of individuals. On the question of the nature of authority, he outlines the notion of limited-sovereignty. Absolute sovereignty is against his construct of civil society. Locke was also not hesitant to offer an alternative blueprint on the separation of powers

According to Locke, the powers of the government were separated among three organs. Firstly, the legislature, which he refers as the “supreme power of the commonwealth”. Secondly, the executive, which also includes the judicial powers. Thirdly, the federative, which implies the power of external relations of a state.

According to Parrington, Locke’s Two Treatises on Government “became the textbook of American Revolution”. In the words of Prof. Laski, “Locke’s worked with an impossible psychology and sought no more than the prescription against disorder.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, one of the most prominent philosophers in the modern political discourse, was born on 28 July, 1712 in Geneva. Hailing from a broken family, Rousseau was devoid of the opportunity to enjoy the privilege of a nurtured childhood.

With the help a young widow named Madame de Warens, Rousseau was introduced to formal education in a monastery based in Turin and a seminary in Annecy. The eventual aversion towards the style of pedagogy in those institutions, induced him to abandon the same.

Out of the repeated failures, she was forced to send him to Lyons in 1730. After a year of wandering, he re-joined her in 1731 and lived under her bounty till 1740.

Rousseau second trip to France in 1744 brought significant changes in his life. Despite his unsuccessful experiments in various fields like opera, theatre, poetry and so forth, Rousseau sustained his determination and positive spirit.

The year 1749 was a turning point in his life. The Academy of Dijon announced the prize for the best essay on “Has the progress of sciences and arts contributed to corrupt or purify morals?”. Rousseau writes in his Confessions, “Instantly I saw another universe, and I became another man”. The work he submitted had received the first prize in 1750 and it was published under the title – “A Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences”.

Rousseau composed his most important works - The New Heloise (1761), Emile (1762) and the Social Contract (1762) – during his life at Montmorency. Condemnation was the response received for his books which led to his further resettlements in various places.

In the sixth chapter of the ‘Social Contract’ Rousseau says, “I assume that men have reached at a point where primitive conditions can no longer subsist and the human race would perish unless it changed its mode of existence”.

Thomas Hobbes quoted that “Fear and I were born twins”.

Unlike Hobbes, Rousseau’s proposition of state of nature was an epitome of perfect liberty, perfect equality and perfect innocence. He also identifies it with a more peaceful, pleasant and idyllic environment.

Rousseau identifies the origin of inequality with this shower of changes that shook the fabric of the state of nature. The concept of private ownership created a new cleavage at the social sphere – rich and poor. In his words, “the first man who after enclosing a piece of land said to himself ‘this is mine’ and found people simply to believe him, was the real founder of civil society”.

As a social contractualist by conviction, Rousseau sought to unearth the origin of state as an expression of the “general will”. He attributed the origin of state as a consequence of two phases – “state of nature” and “social contract”.

Rousseau is of the view of that the humans by nature are incapable of thinking. Civil society is viewed as antithetical to nature and it is apparently an outcome of the march of human reason. He insists on the slogan of “returning to nature”.

Rousseau holds that state is not just an amalgamation of individuals, but a new body with an inherent identity, personality and life of its own. Above all, the state possesses a will of its own, what he terms as volente general or general will. Any separate or particular will shall be deemed to be subordinate to it.

John Locke quoted that “Government has no other end, but the preservation of property”

There are two premises that determine the general will. First, it seeks general good, which refers to the objective of will. Secondly, it must come from all and apply to all, which proposes its origin.

Opinions are manifold about Rousseau’s personality and works. G. D. H Cole opined about his ‘Social Contract’ to be “still far by the best of all text-books of political philosophy”.

John Stuart Mill was born on 20 May 1806 in Bentonville, a northern suburb of London to Harriet Barrow and James Mill, a Scotsman who was educated at Edinburgh University. The development of John Stuart Mill as a social and political thinker can be divided into three specific periods.

The final period which extends to over thirty years of Mill’s career, marks the time in which he published his major works that included, A System of Logic, Principles of Political Economy, On Liberty and Considerations on Representative Government.

On Liberty (1859) brought Mill enduring fame, and predicted that among all his works, this was destined to survive the longest and is has. The transformation of society from aristocratic to democratic forms of organization brought with it both advantages and disadvantages.

Mill held that, the dominance of the majority carried with it more risks that from a monarch that had the capacity to place restrictions over the freedoms of individuals, which could be legislatively enacted. Informal mechanisms of social pressure and expectation could in democratic societies could be all-controlling.

Jean Jacques Rousseau quoted that “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they are”.

On the one hand Mill argues for freedom of space for individuals which individuals should have to develop their own character while on the other, he maintains that it is best for society too. “Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing”.

Mill encourages the Greek model of self-development. It is important for society to create conditions where individuals can develop their own ways of living. This will enable variety and diversity of character and culture which will become the engine of productive tension that will drive a nation forward.

Karl Marx said that “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle””. For Marx, any theory should not only support in understanding the world around, but be a step towards transforming the world.

Karl Marx works – Communist Manifesto, Materialistic Conception of History and Das Capital, are a culmination of various economic ideas, channelled towards the single goal of self- emancipation of working class. It is important to know that, Marxism draws many elements from earlier thinkers like Hegel, Saint-Simon, J. C. L. de Sismondi, David Ricardo, Fourier, and Louis Blanc

This period was also known as dual revolution era, wherein politically France witnessed the Revolution of 1789, which overthrew absolute monarchy and republic was proclaimed with liberty, equality and fraternity declared the right of every Frenchman.

Marx’s masterpiece, Das Capital, the “Bible of the working class,” as it was officially described was published in 1867 in Berlin. Only the first volume was completed and published in Marx’s lifetime.

The second and third volumes, unfinished by Marx, were edited by Engels and published in 1885 and 1894. The first volume deals with the process of production of capital; the second volume deals with the process of circulation of capital; the third volume deals with the totality of the process of capitalist production

The Communist Manifesto published in 1848 is a collaborative work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It was a product of the social, economic and political turmoil that characterized Europe before 1850. This essay explains the social change through revolution.

In a modern industry, the struggle is between the bourgeoisie (factory or business owners) and the proletariat (workers in the factory). In reality the society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other – bourgeoisie and proletariat.

In conclusion the Communist Manifesto simply places two ideas side by side; “to raise the proletariat to the position of the ruling class” and “to win the battle of democracy”. Marx in this work also emphases that the communist should aim to replace private property with public control of all properties.

Theory of Surplus Value, comes from the Das Capital. Karl Marx opines that human labour was the source of economic value, hence the term ‘surplus value’ denotes the difference between labour and labour power

Thomas Aquinas said that “Law is nothing other than a certain ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the person who has the care of the community”.

Class consciousness and struggle are related to the social relations of production. Marx does not look at class as a factor of ideology, but as a person who holds particular social status. The term class relates to ownership based on property.

During the French revolution both bourgeoisie and proletariat fought together against the aristocracy and succeeded in the proclamation of republic

Establishment of socialist forms of production results in the disappearance of class groups within the society eventually bringing about Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Of all Marx’s contribution to political thought, probably the “dictatorship of the proletariat” has had the most profound implication for actual governance.

“The proletariat will take control of the State and converts the means of production into State production. Taking control of the state and production, the proletariats, destroy all class differences and class antagonisms, and finally resulting in the ‘Withering Away of the State’.

Karl Marx writings did influence leaders like Lenin, Stalin, Mao and others who used Marxist theories in order to bring about change in countries like Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, etc. Hence, so long there are capitalists and exploitation in the society, Marx’s ideas can never be ignored or forgotten.

A state in which governing power is held by the nobility is known as Aristocracy.

A small group of people having control of a country or organization is known as Oligarchy

A form of government in which possession of property is required in order to hold office is known as Timocracy.

According to Machiavelli, the right method to study political Science was historical. He says that human desires and passions remain the same always and when the incidents of life are comparable, humanity will tend to find the same remedies and repeat the same conduct.

Machiavelli was born in Florence, the centre of Italian culture where influence of Italian culture where influence of the European Renaissance was the strongest among all areas as the third child of attorney Bernardo di Niccolo Machiavelli and his wife Bartolomea di Stefano Nelli.

Machiavelli wrote his famous monograph The Prince in 1513 which is addressed to Lorenzo de’Medici. Simultaneously he started writing another important work- the Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius (in short, the Discourses on Livy) which was completed in 1517.