Poli 3 Final

Politics (Aristotle)

- The activities of the citizen in the complete community, for the sake of virtue, involving deliberation about the good and the just.

(Politics as a community for virtue)

Eudaimonia

The highest good; happiness; blessedness; living well.

Telos

The end or purpose for which something exists.

- All that exists has a telos, for nature makes nothing "with an economizing spirit" and does nothing in vain.

- The ultimate telos of all true "good" is eudaimonia.

Aretē

Virtue, excellence.

- To have a virtue means to have a stable disposition and capacity

- Gained by way of action (ex: to become courageous one must repeatedly engage in courageous acts).

- The proper disposition can only be gained by choosing the correct action, which requires the use of our ergon —logos.

Koinōnia

Community characterized by a sharing in something.

Politeia

"Regime."

1. Values: The "end" (telos) of the community (the shared values)

2. Constitution: The distribution of offices or arrangement of power, by which the telos is secured/pursued

Politics (Machiavelli)

- The acquisition and maintenance of power, governed by necessity, not morality.

(Politics as a community from (as a result of) virtù)

Effectual Truth (Machiavelli)

What is reliably true in the extreme case, not on what should be or could be true.

Virtù (Machiavelli)

Excellence, capacity, boldness, ability; those personal qualities enabling someone to acquire and maintain.

Politics (Modern Definition/Constant)

Politics as procedure, to secure individual interest.

Political Liberty

Ability to participate in collective decision-making of political community.

Individual Liberty

Freedom from the arbitrary will of one or more individuals.

Secularity

Denoting non religious matters. (Separation between church and state)

Authority (or Legitimacy)

Those characteristics of law which:

1. Morally oblige obedience independent of force or threat.

2. Justify state coercion upon the disobedient.

Power

Ability to make you do what you other wise would not.

Contractarian conception of Authority

Political authority is legitimate only when it is derived from the consent of the governed.

Law of Nature (Locke)

Do not harm yourself or others, and aid others if doing so is consistent with your own preservation.

Executive Power of Nature (Locke)

Everyone has a right to punish the transgressors of that law to such a degree as may hinder its violation.

Tyranny

The exercise of power beyond right.

Doctrine of Resistance

Whoever in authority exceeds the power given him ceases to be magistrate, and, acting without authority, may be opposed, as any other man who by force invades the right of another.

(Resistance by force only justified if there is no legal remedy)

Humean conception of Authority

Authority is a convention, resting upon custom, for the preservation of justice and the general interest.

Conventions (Hume)

Predictable patterns of collective behavior.

Sovereignty (Bodin)

The absolute and perpetual power of a commonwealth.

Government (Bodin)

The agent of the sovereign; the institutions or practices by which the sovereign administers power.

Imperium in imperio

Divided sovereignty — thus a sovereign less state.

Popular Sovereignty

The people are the final, armed judge of what is law, including what is natural law and what are natural rights.

(The people thus the final judge of their own authority)

Declaration

A public, explanatory proclamation by an authoritative body, making clear their rights, as a sovereign against government action.

Inalienable Natural Rights

A "licit" power, which can neither be forfeited nor taken away, by any human or set of humans.

Self-Evidence

So obvious that it needs no proof.

Pursuit of Happiness

- Fundamental right to seek fulfillment/joy in life.

The natural right to pursue happiness, expressed in various ways:

1. Government cannot guarantee nor define happiness. It can only create the conditions for its pursuit (civil liberties, property rights, education etc.)

2. The protection of individual natural rights = the common good

3. What is happiness? A distinctively human life, a life lived in obedience to natural law.

4. American imperium in imperio is the best means to ensure individual eudaimonia.

Representative Democracy

People govern themselves through elected representatives.

Liberal Democracy

The power of the people to govern themselves is limited by the rule of law and a scheme of rights and liberties.

liberalism + democracy

Original Position (Rawls)

A hypothetical situation of equal liberty, with participants selecting principles of justice, behind a veil of ignorance.

Pure Procedural Justice (Rawls)

1. No criterion exists, independent of procedure

2. Justice defined by procedural outcome

• Example: gambling (without cheating)

Veil of Ignorance (Rawls)

(What parties don't know)

Serves Two Purposes:

1. Makes unanimous choice feasible, full information

likely precludes unanimity.

2. Excludes arbitrary contingencies; precludes parties from

gaining unfair advantage.

The veil of ignorance excludes particular information:

• Social assets

• Natural assets

• Your Conception of the good

• Particular psychological features (optimism, risk tolerance,

etc.)

• Generation

• Political and economic situation

• Civilizational stage

Lexical Ordering (Rawls)

1. Basic liberties may be restricted only to protect

everyone's equal basic liberties.

2. Thus, economic principles must be achieved within constraints set by equal liberty principle.

- "lexical ordering" (like a dictionary—complete all "As" before any "Bs")

Representation as Authorization

The making present of a person's authority in another person, whereby someone can become the author of some action taken by another.

Delegate Representation

The making present, in the agent, of the principal's subjective desires.

(Agent is to think, speak, and act as the principal would)

Trustee Representation

The making present, in the agent, of the principal's objective interest, according to the agent's judgment.

Descriptive Representation

Elected officials sharing key demographic characteristics—such as race, gender, or ethnicity—with their constituents, effectively "mirroring" the population they represent

Virtual Representation

the making present in the agent of a collective principals common interest, but the principal never selected the agent

Suppose you are given the choice between acquiring a "state" (political power) through either 

a) your own arms and virtue, or

b) others' arms and fortune. 

If your goal is to maintain your power, which method of acquisition is better than the other, according to Machiavelli? 

your own arms and virtue

Suppose you are a prince and you wish to gain the reputation of being liberal (that is, generous). Which of the following strategies is best? 

Be liberal, but do so behind-the-scenes, don't make a show of your liberality

What would Benjamin Constant say about the following claim: 

"The ancients exchanged all their individual liberty for maximum political liberty, whereas we moderns have exchanged all our political liberty for maximum individual liberty"

Moderns haven’t exchanged ALL political liberty for maximum individual liberty, false

According to Jean Bodin's sovereignty theory, when are subjects permitted to rebel against their sovereign? 

In none of these cases

Suppose all rules and edicts are written and administered by a single person, who the people have elected for life and have promised to obey with no conditions. What kind of "state" do you have? Who holds the sovereign power? 

Monarchy

Suppose you have a government that divides powers between a hereditary monarch and a popularly elected legislature. What kind of "state" would Jean Bodin most likely say you have? Who holds sovereign power? 

Monarchy

Consider the thought of Jean Bodin and John Locke. Upon which topic would they disagree? 

That the people are to be judge of whether natural law is being obeyed

In Bodin's theory, the Sovereign possesses which of the following powers? 

Legislative, Executive, and Judicial

For Bodin, the Sovereign is above the law.

True

According to Jean Bodin, which of the following is NOT a characteristic of sovereign power? 

Impartial

"All legitimate government is founded upon opinion"

Who would agree with this claim? 

 

Both Locke and Hume

What do Aristotle and Constant think about the "goodness" of political liberty?

Both Aristotle and Constant think political liberty is instrinsically good

Consider the following claim: 

"The ancients exchanged all their individual liberty for maximum political liberty, whereas we moderns have exchanged all our political liberty for maximum individual liberty"

Is this true or false, according to Benjamin Constant? 

False

Hobbes famously claims that authority is a human convention, because by nature we are equal. In what relevant sense are we equal, according to Hobbes? 

 

We all can be killed

Why do early modern social contract thinkers usually refer to a "state of nature?" 

Such a condition would be a fair circumstance for determining cooperative rules

How do we know when a government is tyrannical, according to Locke? 

 

When you have exhausted all legal remedies to repeal disliked policies

  

When the people judge that the government has violated any aspect of the constitution

Identify which of the following arguments Hume did NOT make against contractarianism

 

For consent to be meaningful, there would have to be an option of leaving the country, which most people don't have

 

The origins of government have nothing to do with its present legitimacy

 

The original contract was made when there was already inequality, thus it is not a fair circumstance

 

If Locke's right of revolution was consistently applied, it would be harmful to self-preservation

The original contract was made when there was already inequality, thus it is not a fair circumstance

According to Jean Bodin's sovereignty theory, when are subjects permitted to rebel against their sovereign? 

 

When the sovereign violates natural law

 

When the sovereign becomes a tyrant, for tyrants cannot be sovereign

 

In none of these cases

 

When the sovereign violates his contracts/promises

In none of these cases

Suppose all rules and edicts are written and administered by a single person, who the people have elected for life and have promised to obey with no conditions. What kind of "state" do you have? Who holds the sovereign power? 

 

Democracy

 

"Mixed" Sovereignty

 

Monarchy

 

Representative Democracy

Monarchy

Suppose you have a government that divides powers between a hereditary monarch and a popularly elected legislature. What kind of "state" would Jean Bodin most likely say you have? Who holds sovereign power? 

 

Democracy

Consider the thought of Jean Bodin and John Locke. Upon which topic would they disagree? 

 

That property cannot be taken without consent

 

That the people are to be judge of whether natural law is being obeyed

 

The existence of a natural law binding on the sovereign

 

Sovereigns must abide by their contracts/promises

That the people are to be judge of whether natural law is being obeyed

In Bodin's theory, the Sovereign possesses which of the following powers? 

 

Legislative, Executive, and Judicial

 

Legislative and Executive, but not Judicial

 

Executive only

 

Legislative only

Legislative, Executive, and Judicial

For Bodin, the Sovereign is above the law.

 

False

 

True

True

According to Jean Bodin, which of the following is NOT a characteristic of sovereign power? 

 

Perpetual

 

Undivided

 

Absolute

 

Impartial

Impartial

The text of the Declaration of Independence claims that our natural rights come from the Christian God. 

 

False

 

True

False

The Declaration lists at least five "truths" as "self-evident" truths. Which of the following "truths" is the most foundational truth, from which the others might logically follow? The most important for the argument of the Declaration?

 

That all men are created equal

Which of the following claims in the Declaration of Independence would Jean Bodin agree with? 

The existence of a natural law binding on all human beings

The "deliberative" justification for parties argues that we need political parties for representative democracy, because ___________.

 

organized parties provide reasons for laws

The "aggregative" justification for parties argues that we need political parties for representative democracy, because ___________.

parties are tools of aggregation that incentivize behaviors that create majorities

According to the "aggregative" justification for parties, what does a "good" partisan look like? 

A willingness to stand with others, even if that means compromising on your principles

For defenders of liberal democracy, what is the relationship between liberty and democracy?  

Democracy is intrinsically good, and instrumentally good because it leads to liberty

A criminal trial is an example of: 

Imperfect procedural justice

When your are selecting principles of justice, behind Rawls' "veil of ignorance," what is your goal? 

to maximize my individual outcome, independent of others

politics (aristotle)

activities of a citizen

Which of the following claims most clearly distinguishes utilitarianism from other theories we've encountered this quarter? 

Pleasure is the only good

uppose my friend and I debate whether reading Shakespeare is more pleasurable than having an orgy. We agree they are comparable in pleasure, but we disagree as to which has a greater degree of pleasure. What kind of utilitarianism are we engaging in? 

Quantitative

Which of the following liberties is J.S. Mill's Harm Principle most likely to protect? 

Smoking marijuana in the privacy of one's own home

Consider Mill's claim that some pleasures are so much more pleasurable than others that they take "absolute priority" over others. What is his evidence for this claim?

It is claimed by those who have experienced both kinds of pleasure

Mill argues that the personal freedoms created by the harm principle should be viewed as "absolute and unqualified" rights. On what grounds does he claim that these rights must be absolute and unqualified?

These rights must be absolute and unqualified if they are to maximally contribute to self-development

Market Liberals defend free markets because wealth is the only measure of "good" that all human beings can in principle agree to— True or False?

False

Which of the following statements best captures Hayek's "Knowledge Problem?"

The information needed by a central planner is dispersed and rapidly changing

Which of the following government actions would Hayek support? 

Universal Basic Income

The chief goals of market liberalism, as Hayek argues, are ..

Freedom & Pluralism

Consider the following famous definitions of justice and select the one that most closely fits Hayek's view

Not to transgress the rules of the city in which one is a citizen (Antiphon)

Market liberals (like Hayek) and Egalitarian liberals (like Rawls) agree on many questions. Which of the following topics would they disagree on?

whether inequality by itself is a problem

Market liberals (like Hayek) and Egalitarian liberals (like Rawls) agree on many questions. Which of the following topics would they disagree on?

Redistribution is for the purpose of ensuring no one falls below some minimal standard

For Rawls, which of the following sources of inequality are morally arbitrary, and thus CANNOT be used as grounds for a claim that you "deserve" your economic outcome? 

Natural talents (such as IQ), social contingencies (such as family connections), and personal responsibility

“Formal" equality of opportunity, or what Rawls calls "careers open to talents," allows for economic inequalities produced by _____________.

both natural talents and social contingencies

"Substantive" equality of opportunity, or what Rawls calls the "Fair Equality of Opportunity" (FEO), allows for economic inequalities produced by ___________.

only natural talents

Rawls' biggest objection to "welfare-state capitalism" is that it ________________________. 

allows inheritable economic inequalities

Rawls' difference principle primarily seeks to even out the unequal effects of unequal_______________.

natural talents

One common feature between market liberals and conservatives is that both believe human beings are not capable of designing societies

Market Liberals and Conservatives both believe human being are not capable of designing societies

Burke claims that the only criterion we should use to judge of political systems is _________.

practical effects

Like Machiavelli, Burke claims that societies are primarily held together by legal force and state violence, and thus established laws cannot be relaxed, lest anarchy ensue.

False, Burke believes societies are held together by custom, tradition, and historical wisdom

According to Nozick's theory of justice in acquisition, under what condition is it just to acquire ownership in previously unowned things? 

When the act of acqusition does not worsen the situation of others

What is the key difference between patterned and unpatterned principles of justice? 

Patterned principles evaluate the structure of distribution, unpatterned evaluates the steps by which the distribution occurred

Nozick's Walt Chamberlain example is intended to demonstrate that _________________.

continual interference will be required to maintain a patterned principle

Which of the following would be one of Hayek's objections to Nozick's principle of rectification? 

 

The principle would benefit particular groups

Suppose there is a clear historical injustice, but Nozick's principle of rectification is unworkable in practice. Which thinker's system would Nozick think is an appropriate plan B? 

Rawls