Understand Political Philosophy: Teach Yourself

Mel Thompson

• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781444130706
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Political Philosophy

Understand Political Philosophy is an in-depth guide to the philosophers and political ideas who have shaped our society. Quickly and easily get to grips with the key thinkers and theories, from Aristotle to Wollstonecraft, from capitalism to utilitarianism. With exploration of contemporary issues and current debates, this book will put political philosophy in the context of the world we live in today.NOT GOT MUCH TIME?One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started.
AUTHOR INSIGHTSLots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience.
TEST YOURSELFTests in the book and online to keep track of your progress.
EXTEND YOUR KNOWLEDGEExtra online articles at www.teachyourself.com to give you a richer understanding of psychology.
FIVE THINGS TO REMEMBERQuick refreshers to help you remember the key facts.
TRY THISInnovative exercises illustrate what you've learnt and how to use it.

1

Introduction

In this chapter you will learn:

• about the questions addressed by political philosophy
• why political philosophy is about values rather than descriptions
• how political ideas have developed historically
• what issues are covered by political philosophy.

What is political philosophy?

• How does politics contribute to the well-being or otherwise of humankind?
• What is the good life, and how is it achieved?
• What principles and values should be used to shape and judge political institutions?
• What sort of society will best allow its citizens to flourish?
• What do we really mean by equality, justice, freedom and so on?
• Is it ever right to go to war, or to rebel against a government?
• What responsibility should governments have for dealing with the global issues of terrorism or the environment?

Political philosophy is concerned with all these questions and many more. It is about good government – what it involves, how it is regulated and how it is brought about. It is about the principles that help us to decide whether or not any particular government is to be judged good or bad. And, of course, that requires an examination of the fundamental principles of government – why we need it, what its goals should be, how it is to be regulated and how, if it goes wrong, it may be repaired or replaced.

Political philosophy may be seen as a branch of ethics, or moral philosophy. Ethics looks at all issues of right and wrong in the way people treat one another, while political philosophy limits itself to the specific issues related to our collective or political life. It is the ethics of social organization, applied across society, rather than between individuals. So, for example, utilitarianism as an ethical theory (seeking that which appears to offer the greatest benefit for the greatest number) when applied to society as a whole, is used to justify democracy, which aims to take the preferences of all citizens into account through the democratic process.

Part of the task of political philosophy is to establish whether or not there are objective criteria for deciding between right and wrong. Does everything depend upon the wishes of the people, or are there universally applicable rational principles for organizing good governance?

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Insight

It is important to get a balance between the moral responsibility of individuals and that of society. Do good people make a good society, or does a good society make its people good? Where you stand on that question will determine how you see the role of politics.

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But just as ethics requires us to give a rational justification for our actions, so too political philosophy examines the justification for political institutions and ideologies. Is democracy fair to everyone? Is there such a thing as a good dictatorship? It also examines key ideas – fairness, justice, the rights of individuals or communities – to see how they are related to one another, and how what they describe may be achieved.

Would it be fair if everyone in society received an equal share of goods and services, no matter what they contributed by way of work? Or would it be fairer if everyone were allowed to earn and keep as much as they could? Should important decisions be taken by everyone, or only by those whose experience and knowledge best qualifies them to decide? These are fundamental questions – not about how society actually operates, but about how it should operate.

In other words The shorthand way of expressing this is to say that political philosophy is normative. Just as ethics may be descriptive (this is what people do) or normative (this is what they should do), so politics, sociology and economics are descriptive (this is how the political system, society or the economy works) whereas political philosophy is normative (this is what constitutes a just, fair or free society).

It is equally important to appreciate what political philosophy is not. It is not concerned with describing actual political societies or institutions: that is the study of politics. Nor is it the study of the way in which nations and empires have developed and spread globally: that is the study of political geography (although a knowledge of politics and political geography is useful for anyone interested in political philosophy). Nor is it the study of how finance, trade and the markets shape society: that is economics. Rather, political philosophy is concerned with the rational and normative justification of political entities.

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Political entities?

Well, yes – because ‘the political’ is not simply limited to what happens at a national level. International bodies are equally relevant, as may be local groups, city states, trade unions, international companies, trading systems, shareholders and directors of companies, and even families. You could argue that ‘political’ can apply to all those situations where groups of people organize themselves for mutual support or action – though this is a contentious view.

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Politics itself can be a practical, mechanical business – sorting out how best to deliver agreed benefits and so on. However, if it were only that, there would be few political issues to discuss – every form of government would be judged simply on the basis of its efficient delivery. But life is not that straightforward. People disagree about the principles upon which society should be run – and it is these disagreements about principles that form the basis of political philosophy.

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Ends and means

‘Where ends are agreed, the only questions left are those of means, and these are not political but technical …’

‘… political theory is a branch of moral philosophy, which starts from the discovery, or application, of moral notions in the sphere of political relations.’

Isaiah Berlin ‘Two concepts of Liberty’ a lecture given in Oxford, 1958

In other words, political philosophy should be about ends – about what you seek to achieve through politics. Once the ends are agreed on, politics and economics are the disciplines that see to their delivery. But, of course, political and economic systems tend to generate their own ends, so these too are scrutinized within political philosophy.

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Political philosophy is certainly not limited to the Western tradition. In China, for example, both Confucius and Lao Tzu wrote about how people might live together – indeed the Confucian tradition had a huge impact on Chinese culture and politics for millennia. Unfortunately, there is no room in this book to explore the history of political ideas other than those in the West, but that would be an interesting follow-up to the ideas discussed here.

Philosophy is never written in a vacuum. It is always coloured by the general assumptions and ideas of its day, even though the best philosophers ask radical questions and challenge those assumptions. Thus, for example, when we look at the work of Plato or Aristotle, we know that they are writing against the background of the politics of their day. When they talk about democracy, for example, they are not referring to modern representational democracy, but about the direct system of government where a relatively small and privileged number of people made decisions about how the city-state (or polis) should be governed. Perhaps more than in any other branch of philosophy, political philosophy therefore benefits from being seen in context. So we will start with a brief historical review.

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Insight

A key question here: Are there absolute principles that should be applied to all societies, or should each political system be judged in the light of the particular circumstances, history and culture of that particular nation or era?

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An historical perspective

ANCIENT GREECE AND THE MEDIAEVAL WORLD

As exemplified by Plato and Aristotle, the political philosophy of ancient Greece addressed the issue of the good life and how it might be lived in society. Against a range of political structures of their day, they sought to root politics in metaphysics – in other words, in a fundamental understanding of the nature of humankind and the end or purpose of life. This was later taken up in a religious context, with the idea that the right form of government was one that reflected the natural order itself, as created by God, establishing a mediaeval hierarchy for earth and heaven. But in Renaissance Italy, conflicts between city-states, and the intrigues of political life, suggested that there were occasions when cunning, rather than godly obedience, might prevail.

Thinkers here include: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and Machiavelli.

THE RISE OF THE INDIVIDUAL

Following the Reformation and the English Civil War, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the development of a very different approach to politics. This is the period in which the wishes of the individual became paramount, and political structures were justified on a basis of a social contract or agreement between individuals. Rights and freedoms were debated, the French had a revolution and the American colonies broke away from British control. The end of that period also saw the rise of utilitarianism as an ethical philosophy, which resulted in political systems being judged according to their ability to deliver the greatest benefit to the greatest number of citizens. This led to the development of democracy. The question was no longer about the fundamental essence of humankind, but about the best way to organize our society.’

Thinkers here include: Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Burke and Paine.

THE EVOLUTION OF SYSTEMS

General systems of thought tend to create political philosophies as part of their overall understanding of reality. Kant, for example, produced rational principles for judging right and wrong, independent of anticipated results, inclinations or individual wishes. His famous ‘categorical imperatives’ – that something is only right if one could wish everyone else to adopt the same principle of action, that people should be treated as ends and never only as means, and that we should behave as though legislating for a kingdom in which everyone is an autonomous and free human being – have huge political implications. Hegel explored the idea that society was constantly changing in a dialectical process, and Marx took this idea up and formulated his concept of ‘dialectical materialism’ in which political change comes by way of class struggle. You also had the impact of Darwin and the idea of evolution through natural selection, and the attack on democracy by Nietzsche, who saw it as supporting the weak at the expense of the strong. And, at the other extreme, Mill developed the implications of utilitarianism, and argued for liberal values and freedom. By the end of the nineteenth century there was a huge range of political systems of thought.

Thinkers here include: Kant, Hegel, Marx, Mill and Nietzsche.

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Insight

If you are ever in doubt about the practical relevance of political philosophy, consider the impact of Marx’s philosophy on the lives of millions of people in the twentieth century, or the development of democratic ideas two hundred years earlier.

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THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY CLASH OF IDEOLOGIES

The traumas of the twentieth century concern the clash of political ideologies that have deep roots in political philosophy. There was the massive rise and fall of communism, the challenge of fascism in Italy and Germany, and the steady global growth of democracy, riding on the back of capitalist economics. Millions died in that troubled century for the sake of political ideologies. But during much of that time political philosophy was in the doldrums. Like ethics, it came under the criticism that normative judgements (saying that something is right or wrong) were meaningless, because they could not be justified on the basis of facts. Hence, for some years, much political philosophy simply explored the origins of politi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Meet the author
• Only got a minute?
• Only got five minutes?
• Only got ten minutes?
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Looking for the good life
• 3 The social contract
• 4 Ideas, systems and ideologies
• 5 Equality and fairness
• 6 Freedom
• 7 Rights, justice and the law
• 8 Gender and culture
• 9 Nations, war and terrorism
• 10 The global perspective
• Postscript: what hope humankind?
• Glossary
• Taking it further
• Index