7/8/2013
What is Philosophy? The Central Questions of Philosophy – Political Philosophy
• Value – Ethics (Good, Evil, Right, Wrong, Justice) • Political Philosophy – Aesthetics (Beauty) • Reality – Metaphysics (Cosmology, Ontology) • Knowledge – Epistemology (Theory of Knowledge)
PHI 7100 History of Philosophy: The Classical Philosophers ©2013 Richard Legum – all rights reserved 1
What is Philosophy? Political Philosophy
Some central questions of Political Philosophy: • What ought the relationship between a person and society (government) be? • What does society owe its citizens?
– Safety (Protection)? Education? Health Care? A Job?
• What do the citizens owe society?
– Pay taxes? All their possessions? Serve in the military?
• What is the just form of government?
PHI 7100 History of Philosophy: The Classical Philosophers ©2013 Richard Legum – all rights reserved 2
PHI 7100 Richard Legum, Ph.D.
1
8. The Central Questions of Philosophy Political Philosophy
7/8/2013
The Central Questions of Philosophy – Political Philosophy Plato
The state is the individual writ large (The state is the same as an individual, but on a larger scale) • Three Parts of the Soul – Rational (reason) – Spirited (emotional - defender/enforcer) – Appetitive (emotional – driven by basic desires)
PHI 7100 History of Philosophy: The Classical Philosophers ©2013 Richard Legum – all rights reserved
3
The Central Questions of Philosophy – Political Philosophy Plato
• Three kinds of the citizens
– Gold – Those possessing reason (Wisdom/Knowledge) - philosophers – Silver – The enforcers of the law – the guardians/soldiers – Bronze – The craftsman, merchants, farmers, etc.
• The Republic is the Utopia - Teleology
– The goal of the state is to achieve harmony • The gold people, The Philosopher King (the one who knows best) , should rule
PHI 7100 History of Philosophy: The Classical Philosophers ©2013 Richard Legum – all rights reserved 4
PHI 7100 Richard Legum, Ph.D.
2
8. The Central Questions of Philosophy Political Philosophy
7/8/2013
The Central Questions of Philosophy – Political Philosophy Aristotle
• The city (polis) is the natural political "community" or "partnership“ • The aim of the city is to allow citizens the possibility to live a good life, and to perform beautiful acts • Justice is having a constitution (a social contract of sorts) supporting the accomplishment of these goals
PHI 7100 History of Philosophy: The Classical Philosophers ©2013 Richard Legum – all rights reserved 5
The Central Questions of Philosophy – Political Philosophy Aristotle
• Goals of the state are much greater for Aristotle than they were for Social Contract Theory of the Renaissance (Thomas Hobbbes Leviathan (1651), John Locke Two Treatises of Government (1689), Jean Jacques Rosseau The Social Contract (1762) ) – in the pre-government state (pre-social contract) - the state of nature– people fear of violent death, unstable economic relationships, losing their property – The government arises from a Social Contract for the purpose of protecting the citizens
PHI 7100 History of Philosophy: The Classical Philosophers ©2013 Richard Legum – all rights reserved 6
PHI 7100 Richard Legum, Ph.D.
3
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
"Desiderius Erasmus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. 16 Aug. 2010. .…
- 704 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
|In 250 to 500 words, using the readings about Plato’s search for |In 250 to 500 words, based on Aristotle’s science of the first |…
- 679 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The social contract or political contract is a theory or model, originating during the Age of Enlightenment, that typically addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Social contract arguments typically posit that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler or magistrate (or to the decision of a majority), in exchange for protection of their remaining rights. The question of the relation between natural and legal rights, therefore, is often an aspect of social contract theory.The most important contemporary political social contract theorist is John Rawls, who effectively resurrected social contract theory in the second half of the 20th century, along with David Gauthier, who is primarily a moral contractarian.…
- 606 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Philosophy is referred to as a set of beliefs, concepts and attitudes held by an individual or a group of people. It is the study of problems in general and the prescription of solutions to problems based on critical and systemic analyses and the employment of rational argument. Philosophy through the lens of Political Science does so as mentioned above in terms of the state, the governance of the state the ethics of an individual in possession of political power. Political philosophers focus on the issues relating to the state, such as political action that need or need not be taken and the general behavior of a given individual involved in politics. With the focus set on just the state, political action and violence, two philosophers have critically analyzed politics through the three concepts listed above: Niccolo Machiavelli and Max Weber. They each have their own views, opinions and suggestions that both have similarities and differences considering the cultural and temporal inconsistency between the both of them. The fact that some of their ideas intersect is fascinating.…
- 1933 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Irvine, A.D. (2010). Bertrand Russell. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved March 28, 2011 from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/russell/…
- 1213 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Euthyphro’s famous dilemma concerning the nature of piety poses the question, is piety an act or thing that is loved by the God’s? Whether an act is right or wrong, just or unjust, the truth or a lie, and pious or impious are all sources of controversial debates that are problematic within the human race. Drawing a line between these particular contradictions is difficult because of cultural differences, values, moral, and religious beliefs within society, which is in the case with Socrates and Euthyphro.…
- 886 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
During the 17th and 18th century two philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, arose carving for themselves a trench in the philosophical world. We can see the biggest distinction between the two in their theories of how we know things exist. The traditions of Plato and Aristotle have been dubbed rationalism and empiricism respectively. Under these traditions many well known philosophers have formed their own theories of God, existence and the material world. Through these individual theories I will show how each fits into the category of either Rationalist or Imperialist. The Plutonian philosophers to be discussed will include Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz. And the Aristotelian philosophers will include Locke, Berkeley and Hume.…
- 1314 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Philosophy Fifth Edition. John Perry, Michael Bratman, John Martin Fischer. Oxford University Press. 2010. )…
- 1087 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
and knowledge in order to pursue it; the explication of the concept of justice, and its…
- 325 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Walker, Ralph. “Sufficient Reasons” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, Vol. 97, (1997), pp. 109-123…
- 1699 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
1. What are the needs of the political community? What must all political communities do to insure their survival? What about Philosophy? What does philosophy seek? How does it go about this process?…
- 1149 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The Italian Renaissance was a reawakening of literature and art, as well as many of the ideas of previous cultures (“The Impact,” 2016). Although they were not the only ideas to be revived, Greco-Roman Classical beliefs were perhaps the most prominent. The revivification of ideas such as humanism and Platonism and their effects on art make the influence of the Greco-Roman Classical period blatantly obvious in the philosophy of the Renaissance period.…
- 509 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Brown, Curtis. Classical Modern Philosophy. Course home page. Dept. of Philosophy, Trinity University, San Antonio. 23 Apr. 2008 <http://www.trinity.edu/cbrown/modern/spinozaPartI.html>.…
- 1557 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
“Modern philosophy began with an enthusiastic faith in the powers of human reason to reach the truth. It represented a protest against the methods of Scholasticism and demanded a free field for unrestricted inquiry to work out its own salvation.[2]”…
- 825 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
* Popkin, Richard H. Columbia History of Western Philosophy, The. NY: Columbia UP, 2005. (ISBN 0231101295) (B72.C593 1999), pp.32-52…
- 1475 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays