Introducing Political Philosophy: A Graphic Guide PDF
Preview Introducing Political Philosophy: A Graphic Guide
Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Questions Back to Basics Natural Communities Society and State What is Political Philosophy Origins in Ancient Greece The City State of Athens The Duties of Citizens Direct Democracy Asking Questions The Sophists Glaucon’s View of Society Beehives and Workers The Pure Form of the State Government by Experts Relative Knowledge The Ship of Fools Is Democracy Still Best Aristotle and Teleology The “Good’” Man and the Citizen Pragmatic Reason Aristotle’s Politics Economic Equality Human Nature and Beliefs What are Ideologies? The Ideology of Essentialism How Free Are We? The Effects of Evolution What Does Evolution Prove? Humans as Selfish Co-operators Game Theory Co-operators or Competitors? Who’s Right About Human Nature? Life Without Governments? Politics After Aristotle Ancient Anarchists Roman Stoics and Early Christians Christian Dualism St Augustine’s City of God The Theology of St Aquinas “Natural” Law The Renaissance Machiavelli’s Prince State Morality Cynic or Realist? Hobbes and Cromwell The Science of Man Psychological Egoists The State of Nature The Prisoners’ Dilemma The Way Out Enforceable Coercion Sovereign Power Absolute Monarchies Problems with the Hobbesian View Natural Selfishness John Locke Another State of Nature Locke’s Natural Laws Definition of Properly The Right of Inequality The Problem of Vendettas The Advantages of Society Divine Right Governments and Citizens Minimal Government Changing Governments Rebels and Regimes Separation of Powers Who Can Vote? Consent or Subservience Hume’s Criticism Rousseau’s Political Philosophy Civilization and Human Nature Pre-social State of Nature Property and Law Natural Education Freedom and Society The Assembly The General Will Perfect Citizens and Backsliders The Contract and the Legislator Politics as Ethics Corsica and Poland State Morality The French Revolution The Birth of French Socialism What is Socialism? Charles Fourier’s Universal Harmony Owen’s Utopian Socialism Small-scale Democracies Anarchism Liberty Without Property? Anarchist Social Morality Hegel’s Political Philosophy The Philosophy of Right Citizens and the Organic State The Constitution The All-Powerful State Hegel’s Metaphysics The Dialectic Rational Freedom and Progress Criticism of Hegel’s State Edmund Burke’s Conservatism Paine’s Rights of Man The Human Rights Issue Right and Left Hegelians Economic Determinism The Inevitability of Capitalism Wicked Capitalists Congealed Labour The Function of Ideologies The Spectre of Communism The Radiant Future Fact or Prophecy? Class and the State A Stateless Society Revolution Delayed Developments of Marxism Gramsci’s Theory of Hegemony Our Political Ideology Origins of Liberalism The Marketplace Free Enterprise and Equality Contracts, Constitutions and Tolerance What is the Use of Voting? The Distribution Problem Bentham’s Utilitarianism A Science of Morals The Free-Enterprise Market Calculating Consequences Useful to Government Policy Blind Spots of Utilitarianism Mill’s Utilitarian Reply Qualifying the Majority Representation by the Educated In Defence of Democracy Modem Utilitarianism Rights and Minority Interests Distribution and Equality Nozick’s Political Philosophy Equality of Opportunity The Minimal State Rawls’ Thought Experiment Rawlsian Society Totalitarian States Are Philosophers to Blame? Is Pluralist Society Best? The Limits on Freedom Why Should We Obey? Communitarian Aristotelians Postmodernist Politics Knowledge and Power Environmental Politics Feminist Politics Consumers and Citizens Democracy by Choice Further Reading About the author and artist Acknowledgements Index Published by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP Email: [email protected] www.introducingbooks.com ISBN: 978-184831-203-6 Text copyright © 2012 Icon Books Ltd Illustrations copyright © 2012 Icon Books Ltd The author and illustrator has asserted their moral rights Originating editor: Richard Appignanesi No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Questions Political philosophers ask questions about individuals, communities, society, the law, political power, the State, and about how they all relate. ▶ Is it possible or desirable to say what human beings are “really like”? ▶ What is society? Is it something more than the people who live in it? Or was the British Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher right to say “There is no such thing as society”? ▶ What is the State? Is it an artificial construct or something that has naturally evolved? ▶ How free can the State allow individual citizens to be? Are there good moral reasons why citizens are obliged to obey the law? To what extent does the State have the right to punish those who disobey its commands? ▶ Is democracy the best form of government? ▶ Should the State be interested in furthering economic equality? If so, should it be allowed to interfere with other people’s private property? DO WE NEED GOVERNMENTS AT ALL? Back to Basics Many political philosophers begin by concentrating on individuals. After all, societies and states are made up of individuals first, and governments must come after. Are political institutions simply the end result of attempts to fulfil the essential and universal needs of individuals? But what if we have no real knowledge about the needs and purposes of human beings? Besides, we aren’t just dropped into society with all the ready-made capacities that make us human.
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