History of Political Thought and Philosophy

Flashcards covering core concepts, figures, and legal/philosophical terms from ancient history through medieval scholasticism, the Islamic Golden Age, Renaissance, and Scientific Revolution.

Res Publica

A political system meaning 'public affair' that replaced monarchy in Rome, featuring an aristocratic Senate.

Jus Civile

Roman civil law established specifically for Roman citizens.

Jus Gentium

Universal law of nations derived from natural reason, distinct from civil law.

The Feudal Contract

A system of governance based on reciprocal oaths of vassalage, land tenure (fiefs), and obligations between lords and vassals under decentralized authority.

Christian Dualism (St. Augustine)

Concept from St. Augustine's 'City of God' establishing a sharp boundary between the heavenly realm and the earthly state, separating spiritual and secular power.

Natural Law (St. Thomas Aquinas)

Defined by St. Thomas Aquinas as human participation in God's Eternal Law through human reason.

Caesaropapism

System in the Byzantine Empire where secular and religious leadership were unified under the Emperor while maintaining Roman legal traditions.

Al-Farabi

Islamic Golden Age philosopher who explained the 'Ideal State' as being guided by reason and divine law.

Averroes (Ibn Rushd)

Islamic Golden Age philosopher who championed rationalism and the autonomy of philosophy.

Christian Humanism

Movement promoted by Petrarch and Erasmus that revived classical antiquity literature and advocated moral reform and critical inquiry.

Niccolò Machiavelli

Political theorist who published The Prince in 1513, separating politics from ethics and establishing politics as an autonomous realm governed by power dynamics.

Virtù

The skill and decisiveness an effective prince uses to navigate unpredictable historical fortunes (Fortuna).

Raison d'État

The principle that the preservation and security of the state justifies political action previously deemed unethical.

Heliocentrism

Astronomical model demonstrated by Copernicus and Galileo that dismantled the Aristotelian geocentric religious cosmology.

Francis Bacon

Philosopher who formulated empiricism and the scientific method through inductive reasoning, observation, and experimentation.

Continental Rationalism

Philosophical movement associated with René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz asserting that human reason and deductive logic are the primary sources of knowledge.

British Empiricism

Philosophical tradition associated with John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume asserting that all knowledge originates from sensory experience and empirical evidence.

Jean Bodin

French thinker (1530-1596) who defined sovereignty in Six Books of Commonwealth as supreme, perpetual, and indivisible political power necessary to prevent anarchy.

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

Theorist who argued for divine right, asserting monarchical authority comes directly from God and kings act as God's ministers on Earth.

King James I of England

Author of The Trew Law of Free Monarchies who asserted that monarchs are accountable to God alone, standing above customary human legal restrictions.

Dunbar's Limit

Cognitive limit calculated by neurologist Robin Dunbar stating that the human brain can constantly remember approximately 150 persons.

Objective Reality

Things that physically exist in the world independently of human belief.

Subjective Reality

Things that exist only within an individual mind's feelings or perceptions.

Intersubjective Myth

Concepts or entities (such as money, laws, nations, and human rights) that exist solely because millions of humans collectively and selectively believe in them.

Zoon Politikon

Concept from Aristotle defining man as a social being whose human flourishing occurs only within a self-governing community (polis).