Lesson Note: POL 221 Introduction to Modern Political
Thought
Course outline:
This course explores the evolution of modern political thought from the 16th
century to the present, analyzing the contributions of influential thinkers and
their ideas on the nation-state, social justice, revolution, socialism,
democracy, representation, civil rights, and sovereignty.
POL 221
What is modern Political Thought
It
is the age of individualism, whereby there is an increase in social autonomy
and political self determination. This is the time whereby people have the
right to speak and to choose their leaders without being coerced. It is also an
era of numerous progress and curiosity in political thinking. Modern Political
thought finds
new conceptions of political rationality and affection on how to think and feel
about politics, both in and outside our territories, as well as the
backwardness of such key concepts as equality and liberty of the state and
civil society.
Modern Political Thought refers to the
body of ideas and theories about politics, society, and the state that emerged
in Europe during the 16th to 19th centuries. This period saw the rise of new
political ideologies, such as liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and
nationalism, which challenged traditional notions of authority, power, and
governance. The modern era was marked by significant social, economic, and
political changes, including:
The
Renaissance took place in (14th-17th centuries) and promoted
a cultural and intellectual movement that revived classical learning and
emphasized humanism. It is also the discovery of classical philosophy,
literature and arts. The Renaissance is credited
with bridging the gap between the middle Ages and modern day civilization. (https://www.history.com/topics/renaissance/renaissance) Furthermore,
it is a period in European civilization that was marked by a revival of
Classical learning and Wisdom. (https://www.britannica.com).
The Reformation was carried out in the 16th century; whereby religious movement that challenged Catholic authority led to the emergence of Protestantism (Protestants). This was seen as a Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) referring to the widespread religious, cultural, and social upheaval of Europe that broke the hold of the medieval Church, allowing for the development of personal interpretations of the Christian message and leading to the development of modern nation-states known as protestant reformation (https://www.worldhistory.org). This reformation started by Martin Luther King, a German teacher and a monk, who brought about the Protestant reformation when he challenged the Catholic Church's teachings starting in 1517. The cause of the reformation was a combination of several factors such as a century of dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church, whose popes and bishops were demonstrating an increasing abuse of spiritual power for political and material gain; it was the desire of Henry VIII’s to obtain a divorce from his wife Catherine of Aragon, because the king was desperate for a male heir, and also in love with Anne Boleyn whom he thought would give him a male child. The Catholic Church refused to grant him divorce; that lead to the reformation. It was envisaged that, there was the political undertone as Catherine of Aragon, was a renowned politician and the aunt of the Emperor Charles V of Spain (the Holy Roman Emperor) whose army surrounded Rome, probably that was why the Catholic Church refused to grant him divorce from his wife.
The Enlightenment also known as age of
reason
(17th-18th centuries): It was a philosophical movement that emphasized reason,
science, and individual rights. This era marked
the European interllectual movement in
which ideas concerning God, reason, nature, and humanity were synthesized into
a worldview that gained wide assent
in the West thereby instigated revolutionary developments in art, philosophy, and politics. Contrary to the Enlightenment thought
were the use and celebration of reason, the power by which humans understand the universe
and improve their own condition. The
goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and
happiness.
(https://www.britannica.com/event/Enlightenment-European-history).
The Scientific Revolution started 6th-17th centuries. This was a period of major scientific discoveries that transformed understanding of the natural world. It was the name (Scientific Revolution) given to a period of drastic change in scientific thought that took place during those centuries. This replaced the Greek view of nature that had dominated science for almost 2,000 years. It was also characterized by an emphasis on abstract reasoning, quantitative thought/reasoning, an understanding of how nature works, the view of nature as a machine, and the development of an experimental scientific method.
The quick emergence of new information during the Scientific Revolution called into questioning religious beliefs, moral principles, and the traditional scheme of nature. It also strained old institutions and practices, necessitating new ways of communicating/interaction and disseminating information. (https://www.britannica.com). Furthermore, the Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology and chemistry transformed the views of society about man and nature (Wikipedia).
The Rise of Nation-States also took effect at the same 16th century but lasted 16th-19th centuries. This also brought about the emergence of centralized, sovereign states that replaced feudalism and absolute monarchies. A nation-state is a sovereign government (i.e., a state) ruled in the name of a group of citizens who identified themselves as a nation. The right to self-determination of a core national group within the state (which may include all or only some of its residents) underpins a nation-authority state’s control over a territory and the people who live there. The core national group members believed that the state is theirs and that the approximate territory of the state is their homeland. As a result, of this they demanded that other organisations, both internal and external to the state, recognise and accept their authority. Nation-states, as defined by American sociologist Rogers Brubaker in Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe are “states of and for certain nations” (1996). (https://www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/history/modern-world-history/emergence-of-nation-states/#:~:text=of%20nation%2Dstates.-,The%20Emergence%20of%20Nation%2DStates%3A%20A%20Summary,borders%20and%20a%20sovereign%20ruler).
Nation-state
is defined as a territorially bounded sovereign polity
that is., a state
that is ruled in the name of a community of
citizens who identify themselves as a nation. The concept of a Nation is a
cultural entity that binds people together on the basis of culturally
homogenous ties – common or related blood, a common language, a common
historical tradition, common customs and habits (Rodee et al, 1976). The
legitimacy of a nation-state is a rule over a territory and over the population inhabiting
its stems from the right of a core national group within the state (which may
include all or only some of its citizens), to self-determination.
Members of the core national group see the state as belonging to them and
consider the approximate territory of the state to be their homeland. Accordingly,
they demand that other groups, both within and outside the state, recognize and
respect their control over the state.
https://www.britannica.com/facts/nation-state
State: The central authority that exercises power over a defined territory and population. It is also a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government. It is a political organization of society, or the body politic, or, more narrowly, the institutions of government. The state is a form of human association distinguished from other social groups by its purpose, the establishment of order and security; its methods, the laws and their enforcement; its territory, the area of jurisdiction or geographic boundaries; and finally, it is sovereignty. The state consists, most broadly, of the agreement of the individuals on the means whereby disputes are settled in the form of laws. In such countries as the United States, Australia, Nigeria, Mexico, and Brazil, the term state (or a cognate) also refers to political units that are not sovereign themselves but subject to the authority of the larger state/country, or federal union. https://www.britannica.com/topic/state-sovereign-political-entity
Historical conceptions of a state in Greeks and Romans precedents by
various renowned Authors
The history of the Western state begins in ancient Greece. Plato and Aristotle wrote of the polis, or city-state, as an ideal form of association, in which the whole community’s religious, cultural, political, and economic needs could be satisfied. This city-state, characterized primarily by its self-sufficiency, was seen by Aristotle as the means of developing morality in the human character. The Greek idea corresponds more accurately to the modern concept of the nation i.e., a population of a fixed area that shares a common language, culture, and historical background; whereas, the Roman res publica, or commonwealth, is more similar to the modern concept of the state. The res publica was a legal system whose jurisdiction extended to all Roman citizens, securing their rights and determining their responsibilities.
Machiavelli and Bodin
The modern concept of a state emerged in the 16th century. According to the writings of Niccolò Machiavelli (Italy) and Jean Bodin (France), state was viewed as the centralizing force whereby stability might be regained. In The Prince, Machiavelli gave prime importance to the durability of government, sweeping aside all moral considerations and focusing instead on the strength the vitality, courage, and independence of the ruler. For Bodin, his contemporary, power was not sufficient in itself to create a sovereign; rule must comply with morality to be durable, and it must have continuity i.e., a means of establishing succession. Bodin’s theory was the forerunner of the 17th-century doctrine known as the divine right of kings, whereby monarchy became the predominate form of government in Europe. It created a climate for the ideas of the 17th-century reformers like John Locke in England and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in France, who began to reexamine the origins and purposes of the state.
Hobbes,
Locke and Rousseau
For Locke and Rousseau, as well as for Locke’s English predecessor Thomas Hobbes, the state reflected the nature of the human beings who created it. The “natural condition” of man, said Hobbes, is self-seeking and competitive. Man subjects himself to the rule of the state as the only means of self-preservation whereby he can escape the brutish cycle of mutual destruction that is otherwise the result of his contact with others.
Locke viewed the state as, that human condition is not so gloomy, but the state again springs from the need for protection in this case, of inherent rights. Locke said that: “the state is the social contract by which individuals agree not to infringe on each other’s “natural rights” to life, liberty, and property, in exchange for which each man secures his own “sphere of liberty.”
Rousseau’s ideas reflect an attitude far more positive in respect of human nature than either Hobbes or Locke. Rather than the right of a monarch to rule, Rousseau proposed that the state owed its authority to the general will of the governed. For him, the nation itself is sovereign, and the law is none other than the will of the people as a whole. Influenced by Plato, Rousseau recognized the state as the environment for the moral development of humanity. Man, though corrupted by his civilization, remained basically good and therefore capable of assuming the moral position of aiming at the general welfare. Because the result of aiming at individual purposes is disagreement, a healthy (no corrupting) state can exist only when the common good is recognized as the goal.
Hegel
The 19th-century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, saw the sphere of liberty as the whole state, with freedom not so much an individual’s right, but rather, a result of human reason. Freedom was not the capacity to do as one liked but was the alignment with a universal will toward well-being. When men acted as moral agents, conflict ceased, and their aims coincided. Subordinating himself to the state, the individual was able to realize a synthesis between the values of family and the needs of economic life. To Hegel, the state was the culmination of moral action, where freedom of choice had led to the unity of the rational will, and all parts of society were nourished within the health of the whole. However, Hegel remained enchanted with the power of national aspiration. He did not share the vision of Immanuel Kant, his predecessor, who proposed the establishment of a league of nations to end conflict altogether and to establish a “perpetual peace.”
Bentham and Marx
For the English utilitarian’s of the 19th century, the state was an artificial means of producing a unity of interest and a device for maintaining stability. This benign but mechanistic view proposed by Jeremy Bentham and others set a precedent for the early communist thinkers like Karl Marx for whom the state had become an “apparatus of oppression” determined by a ruling class whose object was always to maintain itself in economic supremacy. He and his collaborator, Friedrich Engels, wrote in The Communist Manifesto that, in order to realize complete freedom and contentment, the people must replace the government first by a “dictatorship of the proletariat,” which would be followed by the “withering away of the state,” and then by a classless society based not on the enforcement of laws but on the organization of the means of production and the fair distribution of goods and property.
Contemporary
views
In the 20th and early 21st centuries, concepts of state ranged from anarchism, in which the state was deemed unnecessary and even harmful in that it operated by some form of coercion, to the welfare state, in which the government was held to be responsible for the survival of its members, guaranteeing subsistence to those lacking it.
In the wake of the destruction produced by the nationalistically inspired world wars, theories of internationalism like those of Hans Kelsen and Oscar Ichazo appeared. Kelsen put forward the idea of the state as simply a centralized legal order, no more sovereign than the individual, in that it could not be defined only by its own existence and experience. It must be seen in the context of its interaction with the rest of the world. Ichazo proposed a new kind of state in which the universal qualities of all individuals provided a basis for unification, with the whole society functioning as a single organism. https://www.britannica.com/topic/state-sovereign-political-entity/Hegel
Social
Justice:
The idea that individuals and groups should be treated fairly and have equal
access to resources and opportunities. Social justice may be broadly understood
as the fair and compassionate distribution of the fruits of economic growth.”
United Nations views
“Social
justice is the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social
rights and opportunities. Social workers aim to open the doors of access and
opportunity for everyone, particularly those in greatest need.”
National Association of Social
Workers views
“Social
justice encompasses economic justice. Social justice is the virtue which guides
us in creating those organized human interactions we call institutions. In
turn, social institutions, when justly organized, provide us with access to
what is good for the person, both individually and in our associations with
others. Social justice also imposes on each of us a personal responsibility to
work with others to design and continually perfect our institutions as tools
for personal and social development.”
Center for Economic and Social
Justice
- Equal rights
- Equal opportunity
- Equal treatment
Having these core values in mind, we
can define the phrase: Social
justice as means of equal rights and equitable opportunities for all.
Furthermore, Social justice; refers to
political and philosophical theory that focuses on the concept of fairness in
relations between individuals in society and equal access to wealth,
opportunities, and social privileges in a society. The concept of social
justice first emerged in the 19th century, as there were wide
disparities in wealth and social standing perpetuated through the social
structure of that time.
There are five main principles of social justice that are paramount to understanding the concept better. Namely:
v Access to Resources,
v Equity,
v Participation,
v Diversity,
v and Human Rights.
v Access to Resources
Access to resources is an important principle of social justice which refers to the extent to which different socioeconomic groups receive equal access to give everyone an equal start in life. Many societies offer a multitude of resources and services for their citizens, such as healthcare, food, shelter, education, and recreational opportunities. However, unequal access to such services often exists. For example, individuals from wealthy households among the upper and upper-middle classes are often better able to afford to attend good schools and access post-secondary education, which leads to a greater chance of obtaining jobs with higher income in the future. In contrast to this, those from the lower classes face fewer opportunities. It, in turn, limits access to education for future generations and continues the cycle of facing disadvantages.
v Equity
Equity refers to how individuals are given tools specific to their needs and socioeconomic status in order to move towards similar outcomes. It contrasts with equality, where everyone is offered the same tools to move towards the same outcome. As such, often, things that are equal are not equitable due to the more advanced needs of some individuals and groups. Social justice, integrated with addressing equity issues, might include advancing policies that provide support to overcome systemic barriers.
v Participation
Participation refers to how
everyone in society is given a voice and opportunity to verbalize their
opinions and concerns and have a role in any decision-making that affects their
livelihood and standard of living. Social injustice occurs when a small group
of individuals makes decisions for a large group, while some people are unable
to voice their opinions. For instance in Nigeria today a lot of people is
facing hardships as a result of small group of individuals (Politicians) making
decisions for a large group of people without considering their individual
differences.
v Diversity
It is very important to understanding diversity and appreciates the value of cultural differences these are to be considered, especially important because policymakers are often better able to construct policies that take into consideration differences that exist among different societal groups. It is important to recognize that some groups face more barriers in society, and by considering the inequities, policymakers and civil servants will be in a stronger position to expand opportunities for marginalized or disadvantaged groups. Discrimination in employment on the basis of factors such as race, gender, ethnicity, sex, age, and other characteristics are constant issues in society, and enforcing policies to countermand discriminatory practices are one way in which diversity is taken into consideration.
v Human Rights
One of the most important principles of social justice is Human rights and form a foundational part of the concept. Human rights and social justice are interrelated, and it is impossible for one to exist without the other. Human rights are fundamental to societies that respect the civil, economic, political, cultural, and legal rights of individuals and governments, organizations, and individuals must be held responsible if they fail to ensure the upholding of these rights. They are extremely important in many societies and are recognized internationally through institutions such as the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Human Rights Council. Social justice encompasses a wide range of issues and advocates for the fair treatment of all people, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, ability or socioeconomic status. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/esg/social-justice/#:~:text=The%20five%20main%20principles%20of,%2C%20diversity%2C%20and%20human%20rights.
The most pressing social justice issues
include:
·
Economic
inequality: The gap between the rich and
the poor is growing wider in many countries. This is a major social justice
issue, leading to a lack of opportunity for the poor and marginalized.
·
Racial
injustice: People of color are
disproportionately affected by poverty, crime and violence and face
discrimination in employment, housing and education.
·
Gender
injustice: Women and girls have
historically been denied the same rights and opportunities as men and face
discrimination in the workplace, in education and in politics.
·
Disability
injustice: People with disabilities are
often denied the same rights and opportunities as people without disabilities
and face discrimination at work and in their communities.
·
Environmental
injustice: People of color and low-income
communities are often disproportionately affected by environmental pollution
and the impacts of climate change.
https://www.sdfoundation.org/news-events/sdf-news/what-is-socialjustice/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSocial%20justice%20is%20the%20view,Social%20justice%20encompasses%20economic%20justice.
Revolution: A fundamental change in the political, social, or economic order of a society. : a sudden, radical, or complete change. b. : a fundamental change in political organization. especially : the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed (https://www.merriam-webster.com>dictionary>revolution).
Socialism:
An ideology that advocates for collective ownership and control of the means of
production. It can also be defined as a
political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that
the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or
regulated by the community as a whole. (oxford dictionarty). Socialism is an economic system in
which major industries are owned by workers rather than by private businesses.
It is different from capitalism, where private actors, like business owners and
shareholders, can own the means of production
(https://simple.wikipedia.org>wiki>socialism).
Socialism
is a populist economic and political system based on collective, common,
or public ownership of the means of production. Those means of production
include the machinery, tools, and factories used to produce goods that aim to
directly satisfy human
needs(https://www.investopedia.com>terms>socialism).
Democracy: A system of government where power is held by the people, either directly or through elected representatives. Democracy is a system of government in which laws, policies, leadership, and major undertakings of a state Studies of contemporary nonliterate tribal societies and other evidence suggest that democracy, broadly speaking, was practiced within tribes of hunter-gatherers in prehistoric times. The transition to settled agricultural communities led to inequalities of wealth and power between and within communities and hierarchical nondemocratic forms of social organization. Thousands of years later, in the 6th century BCE, a relatively democratic form of government was introduced in the city-state of Athens by Cleisthenes.
Representation: The idea that individuals or groups can represent the interests of others in the political process. Representation, in government, method or process of enabling the citizenry, or some of them, to participate in the shaping of legislation and governmental policy through deputies chosen by them.
The rationale of representative government is that in large modern countries the people cannot all assemble, as they did in the marketplace of democratic Athens or Rome; and if, therefore, the people are to participate in government, they must select and elect a small number from among themselves to represent and to act for them. In modern polities with large populations, representation in some form is necessary if government is to be based on the consent of the governed. Elected representatives are also less likely to reflect the transitory political passions of the moment than are the people, and thus they provide greater stability and continuity of policy to a government. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/legislature)
Civil Rights: The fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed to individuals by a state or society. Civil rights, guarantees of equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law, regardless of race, religion, or other personal characteristics.
Examples of civil rights include the right to vote, the right to a fair trial, the right to government services, the right to a public education, and the right to use public facilities. Civil rights are an essential component of democracy; when individuals are being denied opportunities to participate in political society, they are being denied their civil rights. In contrast to civil liberties, which are freedoms that are secured by placing restraints on government, civil rights are secured by positive government action, often in the form of legislation. Civil rights laws attempt to guarantee full and equal citizenship for people who have traditionally been discriminated against on the basis of some group characteristic. When the enforcement of civil rights is found by many to be inadequate, a civil rights movement may emerge in order to call for equal application of the laws without discrimination. Members of the movement may also engage in identity politics ( https://www.britannica.com/topic/civil-rights).
Sovereignty: The supreme authority of a state or monarch over its territory and population. sovereignty is the concept for the highest, independent power in a given territory. Stroud's Judicial Dictionary defines sovereignty as a form of government that has administrative control of a state and has not been subordinated to another state. Or in other words, a sovereign state is one that has its own mode of self-control; it is not under the control of another power, and it is not out of control. Moreover, the idea of sovereign authority is supreme within a given territory. So while individuals and organizations, for instance, a social club, may be able to make their own rules, they are not sovereign if there is some source that has more authority to overrule their proceedings. https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-sovereignty-definition-meaning-quiz.html#:~:text=To%20state%20it%20briefly%2C%20sovereignty,been%20subordinated%20to%20another%20state.
Individualism: The idea that individuals have their own rights and interests that should
be protected. individualism,
Political and social philosophy that emphasizes individual freedom. Modern
individualism emerged in Britain with the ideas of Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham, and the concept
was described by Alexis de Tocqueville as
fundamental to the American temper. Individualism encompasses a value system, a
theory of human nature, and a belief in certain political, economic, social,
and religious arrangements. According to the individualist, all values are
human-centred, the individual is of supreme importance, and all individuals are
morally equal. Individualism places great value on self-reliance, on privacy,
and on mutual respect. Negatively, it embraces opposition to authority and to
all manner of controls over the individual, especially when exercised by the state.
As a theory of human nature, individualism holds that the interests of the
normal adult are best served by allowing him maximum freedom and responsibility
for choosing his objectives and the means for obtaining them. The institutional
embodiment of individualism follows from these principles. All individualists
believe that government should keep its interference in the lives of
individuals at a minimum, confining itself largely to maintaining law and
order, preventing individuals from interfering with others, and enforcing
agreements (contracts) voluntarily arrived at. Individualism also implies a
property system according to which each person or family enjoys the maximum of
opportunity to acquire property and to manage and dispose of it as he or they see
fit. Although economic individualism and political individualism in the form of
democracy advanced together for a while, in the course of the 19th century they
eventually proved incompatible, as newly enfranchised voters came to demand
governmental intervention in the economic process. Individualistic ideas lost
ground in the later 19th and early 20th century with the rise of large-scale
social organization and the emergence of political theories opposed to
individualism, particularly communism and fascism. They reemerged in the latter half of the 20th
century with the defeat of fascism and the fall of communist regimes in the
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. https://www.britannica.com/summary/individualism#:~:text=Individualism%20encompasses%20a%20value%20system,all%20individuals%20are%20morally%20equal.
Liberty: The idea that individuals should be free to make their own choices and decisions. Liberty, a state of freedom, especially as opposed to political subjection, imprisonment, or slavery. Its two most generally recognized divisions are political and civil liberty. Civil liberty is the absence of arbitrary restraint and the assurance of a body of rights, such as those found in bills of rights, in statutes, and in judicial decisions. Such liberty, however, is not inconsistent with regulations and restrictions imposed by law for the common good.
Social Contract: The idea that individuals agree to form a society and obey its rules in exchange for protection and security. It is an agreement between members of society, community or organization that spelt out the obligation, functions and right of each person agreeing to the contract. When two people or parties join in social contract, they are essentially starting their roles and how they intend to uphold their duties. Most often used within the context of politics and rule, the social contract means how citizens are expected to comply with the rules of governmental authority in exchange for state protection. Citizens are under social contract by default just by deciding to reside in a certain place. On the other hand when the social contract fails to uphold its end of the bargain and leaves its citizens in a state of despair, the government faces the risk of revolution.
Socrates is considered the founder of the social contract theory. He stated that living in a place essentially signifies that you agree to the laws of that land and the repercussions for breaking those laws. If you choose to live in a place, you voluntarily choose to obey the stated laws. At the same time, he also believed that the relationship between citizens and the laws of the government should not be a forced relationship that can easily be broken by simply moving elsewhere. John Locke's social contract was called the 'State of Nature'. He believed that humans will not harm one another because they are bound by natural morals; however, they do need a government to protect them from others who would try to injure or enslave them. Social contracts are implicit agreements between citizens who are expected to comply with the rules of governmental authority in exchange for state protection. The agreements spell out the obligations, functions and right between the members of society, community or organizations. https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-social-contract-definition-examples.html#:~:text=A%20social%20contract%20is%20simple,social%20contract%20are%20different%20things.
Influential
Thinkers:
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527): Italian philosopher and politician who wrote
"The Prince" (1513). Wrote about how to gain and maintain power.
Thomas
Hobbes (1588-1679): English philosopher
who wrote "Leviathan" (1651). He
argued that a strong central government is necessary to maintain
order.
John
Locke (1632-1704): English philosopher
who wrote "Two Treatises of Government" (1689). Believed that individuals have natural rights
to life, liberty, and property.
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712-1778): French philosopher who
wrote "The Social Contract" (1762).
Argued that individuals are inherently good, but society corrupts them.
Jeremy
Bentham ( born 15th February, 1748-1832):
English philosopher, Economist, and a theoretical jurist who developed modern
utilitarianism an ethical theory holding that actions are morally right if they
tend to promote happiness or pleasure (and morally wrong if they tend to
promote unhappiness or pain) among all those affected by them.
(https://www.britannica.com) He also advocated for the rational revision of the
legal system, a restructuring of the process of determining responsibility and
of punishment, and a more extensive freedom of contract. He believed that this
will favour the development of the community, and the personal development of
the individual.
Edmund
Burke (1729-1797): Irish philosopher and
politician who wrote "Reflections on the Revolution in France"
(1790). He was a proponent of underpinning virtues with manners in society and
of the importance of religious institutions for the moral stability and good of
the state. This he expressed in the Vindication of Natural Society (1956). His
political ideology was Conservatism (Edmund Burke Conservatism). His view was
that Enlightenment philosophers and revolutionaries had over inflated the
supposed metaphysical rights of humans, and that in the natural world, humans
gravitated toward those in power and accepted their authority.
Georg
Wilhelm Hegel (1770-1831): German philosopher who
wrote "The Philosophy of Right" (1820).
Karl
Marx (1818-1883): German philosopher and
economist who wrote "The Communist Manifesto" (1848) and "Das
Kapital" (1867). He believes that human beings intrinsically strive toward
freedom, and we are not really free unless we control our own destiny. Marxism
justifies and predicts the emergence of a stateless and classless society
without private property.
Why
is Modern Political Thought Important?
- Shaped Modern Society: These ideas influenced the development of modern
societies and governments.
- Still Relevant Today: These ideas continue to shape contemporary debates
about politics, society, and government.
- Helps Us Understand: How and why societies are organized in certain ways.
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