political theory final

plato

• public and political > private and personal

• sees political life as natural, not artificial

• has a hierarchical conception of human nature: tripartite theory of the soul, only gold souls can rule.

• philosopher kings and queens know the good and can set aside self interest to pursue it

• justice is when division of labor is satisfied. everyone does what they are supposed to do.

• the purpose of politics is achieving unity and harmony aligned with the good through realization of 4 virtues (wisdom, courage, decorum, and justice as division of labor)

• believes democracy leads to despotism

machiavelli

• agrees with plato and ancients about the centrality of public over private life and naturalness of politics

• disagrees w plato about human nature, which he regards as fundamentally self interested

• purpose of politics is to create an egalitarian republic in which one, few, and many create the common good through conflict.

• w corruption, the “prince” is meant to intervene with a firm of virtue that transcends self interest

locke

• private > public

• politics is artificial, not natural

• end of summum bonum: liberalism entails there is no single good life. the goals of politics are lower, not lofty. it’s about everyone having the ability to pursue whatever they believe is the good life.

• state of nature is stage before government, we are governed by natural law. we leave the state of nature artificially and enter the political world through the social contract.

• the purpose of politics is to protect property (life, liberty, estate) by protecting natural rights derived from natural law.

• social contract entails minimal state and negative freedom and if not… resistance and revolution.

rousseau

• public > private, like ancients. but attacks plato and gold soul idea, wants a return to democratic athens

• amour de soi (healthy) turns into amour propre (egocentrism). private property driven by amour propre becomes means of keeping score and proving ourselves

• the first social contract is profoundly unequal and ends up freezing social inequality

• rousseau’s social contract is based on general will: universal (direct) participation that reaches an objective common interest.

• any single individual will ends up being subordinate to the general will of the community

• all rights socially constructed by the society

• economic inequality creates amour propre and is fatal to general will. must be regulated through legislation to create a rough degree of economic equality.

burke

• public and private spheres are inextricably linked. what you learn in private carries into the public sphere

• politics both artificial and natural

• we should be prejudiced to accept that which has been “prescribed” passed down to us. the individual is foolish, species is wise. explains why he feels like big changes will cause negative unintended consequences. best to be incremental.

• belief that those who have more of a stake in society (property) should have more of a say in society.

• human nature is deeply hierarchical, belief in a “natural aristocracy” that ought to rule

• purpose of politics is intergenerational flourishing and incremental progress guided by natural aristocracy, who determine the extent of individual rights

• property inequality is beneficial.

wollstonecraft

• agrees with burke that public and private are inextricably entwined

• politics is artificial

• nobility has to go, church hierarchy needs to go, property inequalities reduced, gender inequality eliminated.

• deeply egalitarian view of human nature and character. human beings born w equal capacities for reason and basic set of natural feelings and impulses

• purpose of politics is deep democracy: public equality underpinned by private equality. belief in democratizing all sorts of relationships (family, for example)

• large scale econ. inequality is fatal to democracy

mill

• politics is essentially artificial and that public and private life are deeply entwined

• individual liberty of thought and action must serve broader civic purposes

• purpose of politics is utility (greatest good for the greatest number) in the highest sense

• harm principle: only legitimate reason to restrict an individual’s freedom against their will is to prevent harm to others

• belief in a freewheeling marketplace of ideas- assumes truth or at least the best ideas will only emerge out of competition among competing beliefs. truth is not a popularity contest.

marx

• human nature is tied to the notion of species being or our capacity for free, conscious productivity

• purpose of politics is for the proletariat to develop class consciousness and carry out a revolution to overthrow the bourgeoisie and end capitalism and alienation

• liberalism is fundamentally mistaken- political equality cannot coexist w economic inequality. private ownership of the means of production must be abolished