Political Philosophy

Do you ever wonder why democracy is said to be the best possible system of governance? How would you define justice? What are the limits to government control in the name of security? If you have asked yourself these questions, congrats! You are a political thinker; perhaps you could even be a philosopher.

Political philosophers investigate the reason and legitimacy of the political ideas that form our current socio-historical context. In this explanation, we will define political philosophy and its scope and give both ancient and modern examples of political philosophy.

An introduction to political philosophy

Fig. 1 "The School of Athens" by Raffaello is a Renaissance fresco that celebrates Greek Ancient Philosophy's rebirth during the Renaissance. Plato is portrayed in the centre of the fresco wearing a red robe.

Political Philosophy generates political ideas by analysing current politics and producing theory, thought, and political ideas. Indeed, we can define political philosophy in this manner:

Therefore, political philosophy is crucial in creating political ideas. Political ideas might appear controversial since we often associate politics with personal interests and gains. However, political ideas also inspire political action, ultimately shaping our social and private lives. Just think about the transformation that events such as the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, or the anti-apartheid government of Nelson Mandela brought.

At the same time, political philosophy must be understood in relation to its socio-historical context to appreciate its manifestations. This is because political practice, socio-historical factors and political views are not separable.

Scope of political philosophy

To fully comprehend what we mean by the scope of political philosophy, you must first understand what the scope of philosophy is.

The scope of political philosophy is indicated by the scope of possible analyses of the meaning of concepts that concern governance and politics. The questions that are addressed vary in history. For this reason, the scope of political philosophy is also determined by its socio-historical context.

Difference between politics and political philosophy

With the above example of feminist political philosophy, we started showing how the lines between what is political and what is not can be blurry.

The same goes for politics and political philosophy or theory. To simplify this, we can go back to the introduction.

We have said that political philosophy is crucial in creating political ideas. Political ideas are what guide political actions. Therefore, political philosophy is concerned with theorising the tenants of what would make good political praxis or politics.

An example can be found in postcolonial theory:

Examples of political philosophies

As we have said, Western political philosophy began in Greece.

Plato can be seen as one of the fathers of Ancient Western philosophy.

Greece had an organisation based on city-states, which varied their mode of governance. Plato’s work introduced an analysis of the validity, legitimacy, and morality of these different modes of governance. In particular, he divided them into five regimes which develop one after the other:

1. Aristocracy: Aristocracy is according to Plato the most desirable mode of governance. He theorises a regime governed by a philosopher king, therefore a regime based on values such as reason and wisdom. This is because Plato believed that, first and foremost, the corruption of society results from following instincts and not higher moral values.
2. Timocracy: Aristocracy falls and opens the way to Timocracy, a form of governance that includes people who are “inferior”, because they are less educated.
3. Oligarchy: Oligarchy is a mode of governance that to responds to Timocracy. It differentiates between rich and poor, making the rich the governors.
4. Democracy: In turn, democracy is born. Democracy is based on freedom; however according to Plato freedom can signify slavery since when the lower classes gain more and more power. Everyone, if free, responds to themselves only, creating anarchy.
5. Tyranny: Democracy turns into tyranny because of the lack of rules that freedom created. Tyranny begins when one tries to seize power again to regive order but it will result in people despising them.

The importance of political philosophy

The above is a crucial example to understand one of the first Western articulations of political philosophy and raises important questions on the scope of political philosophy.

As you can see, Plato did not see democracy as the most virtuous system of governance. Nonetheless, today we believe that democracies are the best system to respect individual rights and freedom. Often we advocate for everyone’s equal rights in decision-making.

What Plato, and more generally political philosophy, brings us to do is to continue to put in doubt our fundamental political ideas. Political philosophy invites us to ask questions like: Is a society where everyone's voices are worth the same, despite different experiences, a democratic one? Is there such a thing as too much freedom? This is the importance of political philosophy: it drives us to always rethink the reason behind concepts that we see as natural, and shows them as constructed.

Modern political philosophy

Fig. 3 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are two key thinkers in modern political philosophy and theorised extensively on political economic theory.

With Western modern political philosophy, we usually indicate the political philosophical tradition that begins with the end of the Middle Ages and the consequent European Renaissance. This historical transformation brought a revival of secular (i.e. non-religious) political thought, which was important since during the Middle Ages most political philosophy centered on Christianity.

The scope of this political philosophy also varies enormously. In general, we can see concepts such as the state, the relationship between government and citizens, morality, and political economy as the most crucial concepts addressed in Modern political philosophy.

Here is an overview of the most crucial thinkers in modern political philosophy:

• Machiavelli: With the Reformation in the 16th century, a new development of political philosophy began again, reopening the scope of political philosophy to questions around sovereignty and nations. One of the most important works of Western Political Philosophy, The Prince by Niccolò Macchiavelli, was born in this period. Its scope explored concepts such as good and evil, interest and the social contract behind governance.
• Hobbes: Hobbes’ idea of the State of Nature was crucial for developing modern materialistic political philosophy and later Liberalism. The “state of nature” is one of the states of humankind and explains how human conditions without contracts that divide property, dictate law, etc., are informed by conflict.
• Rousseau: Rousseau's Social Contract Theory expands on Hobbes and centralises social contracts as the crucial component of a society where individual rights are respected. His ideas were fundamental for the French Revolution.
• Marx: Karl Marx, also known as the father of socialism (along with Friedrich Engels), has been a critical thinker in modern political philosophy. With his critique of the capitalist system and the theorisation of a revolution of the proletariat, he expanded the scope of political philosophy to an analysis of political economy not just in praxis, but as the manifestation of political power, governance, and hierarchy between classes.