Introduction to Western Political Theory Final JMU Scott Hammond

Kant

-freedom

-doing what is right in your heart; not based on consequences

-Categorical Imperative- unconditional moral obligation

- Republican

Hegel

- rational is real

- combine thesis and antithesis

- learn from history

- no separation of powers

- abstract right- one's personal values/feelings. No true value

Mill

Greatest Happiness Principle

Utilitarianism

Quality of Pleasure

No harm principle

proportional representation

limit government

Bentham

Pain and Pleasure

Utilitarianism- the doctrine that actions are right if they are useful or for the benefit of a majority.

Quantity of Pleasure

pushpin and poetry

Rawls

Veil of Ignorance- make decisions based on morals instead of self-interest

Principle of equal liberty

Difference Principle- benefit disadvantaged

Aristotle

unqualified good- good in itself

qualified good- conditional

happiness requires virtue

Mixed government

Socrates

don't seek revenge

Wisdom, courage, temperance, justice

Philosopher rulers

Guardians don't possess property

men and women equal power

born with potential for virtue

rule by reason

Monarchy and Democracy combo

Epicurus

Pleasures

Natural law

Ontology + Epistemology

Knowledge comes from experience

self-sufficiency via political structure

Thrasymachus

Justice is the advantage of the stronger

Seneca

Neither excess nor misfortune

self-sufficiency

Stoic

Cephalus

tell truth

give what is owed

Polemarchus

benefit friends and harm enemies

Glaucon

Against Socrates

better to be unjust and maintain just reputation

power based injustice

Plato

needs vs wants

Purging the fever- eliminate unnecessary needs

Ideal guardians -strength, speed, spirit

Bronze (wealth)Producers + Distributors+Appetitive+Temperance/moderation

Silver (power)+Auxiliary (warriors)+Spirited+Courage

Gold+Philosophers+Reason+Wisdom

justice is fair

seeks happiness and virtue in others

real world isn't our world; it is the ideal city

ideas exist objectively, just not in reality

Adam Smith

Minimize role of gov

Wealth of Nations

everyone is self-interested

Spencer

survival of the fittest

social darwinism

spurious philanthropists

state should only protect citizens

Henry Adams

Dynamos- faith in tech replaced faith in church

must choose the myths you believe in (dynamos or virgin mary/venus)

C.S. Lewis

The Abolition of Man

men without chests- the world creates non-virtuous people

Tao-traditional morality

Conditioners trying to remake mankind but must first go against it

branches go against the tree

blockheads- the kind of people educators make; non-virtuous and unaware

magician's bargain: give up soul, power in return

technology and going against god has a price

well nurtured youth can criticize the developments of man

Stoicism

the endurance of pain or hardship without a display of feelings and without complaint.

virtue (such as wisdom) is happiness and judgment should be based on behavior, rather than words.

ignore pain

statesmen of virtue must rule

unity of nature, fortune and fate

Cosmopolis- nature rules all

nature is rational

governed by reason

mixed government

no pleasure

virtue as a duty

Cicero

natural justice

Stoic

right reason

jus naturale

jus civile

apathia- indifference to world

ataraxia- inner tranquility

St. Paul

natural liberty- desire

civil liberty- duty

freedom allows us a life of love for Christ

St. Augustine

just war

free will; stay away from materialism

justice is love serving God

state can't be ideal unless just by these means

ie. Rome was unjust

Earthly states only have relative justice

2 cities: holy and unholy

St. Gelasius

two swords

Royal- temporal

sacred- spiritual

Al-Farabi

virtuous regime

democracy is imperfect

happiness is end goal

Perfect and Imperfect regimes

perfect- world working together

imperfect- isolation/groups

philosopher rulers

St. Thomas Aquinas

Constitutional Monarchy/Mixed regime

Law based in nature

Private property is good

just wars

do good shun evil

prudence, fortitude, temperance, justice

cardinal virtues

PLATO- wisdom, courage, temperance, justice

CICERO- contemplate truth, dignity, restraint, despite falsehood

St. Augustine- Prudence, fortitude, temperance, justice

St. Thomas Aquinas- Love, Charity, Hope, Faith

John of Salisbury

Humanistic

whole gov necessary to function like the body

ex. laborers are feet and leaders are the head

Moderation

Truth/Justice open to revision

no tyrants

liberty is not absolute and stems from virtue

Machiavelli

know how to be evil

trickery is ok

ends justify means

politics is power

Cesare Borgia

Republics-Rome

Suarez

Pope can punish princes who disobey just commandments

Cardinal Bellarmine

Temporal Power- popes can have government control

God gave people natural instincts on who rules them

James Harrington

aristocracy with balanced power

Property is allowed

Oceana- book

agrarian law

Bodin

sovereign not subject to commands of others

sovereign possess absolute power but bound by law of God

sovereignty is absolute always

Spinoza

ethics

free thought

humans in communities

must obey laws

democracy

James I

divine right of kings

Rousseau

social contract

prpoerty leads to inequality

self-interest is okay and natural

natural rights

reason develops through the passions

2 principles: self preservation and repugnance to the suffering of others

Montesquieu

separation of powers

republican virtue- love of country

Hume

Impressions:

Original- pleasures and pain

Secondary- passion

empiricism- sensory experience

passion>reason

factions are bad; divide people

skepticism

Mariana

Prince more bound to laws than subjects

Marx

materialism- matter precedes thought

alienation from economic autonomy is a downfall

Crude and authentic communism- crude destroys all that can't be possessed

how the world ought to be, not just how it is

class struggle is real

alienation from labor, products, class struggle, and species

Locke

life, liberty and property

natural rights

equality

reason and tolerance

judicious hooker- build duties we owe one another

social contract- civil rights (all must respect it)

Hobbes

sense experience

Leviathan

majority rule

sovereign control

humans always want more power

monarchy ideal

naturally evil people

seek peace and follow it

avoid hatred and pride

equality leads to war

all subjects have liberty (not in chains)

jus naturale- right to everything

absolute natural rights