Political Philosophy.

295 Pages·2014·2.429 MB·English

by  Smith, Steven B.

Po liti cal Philosophy
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Steven B. Smith, Po liti cal Philosophy
Po liti cal
Philosophy
s t e v e n b . s m i t h
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smith, Steven B., 1951–
Political philosophy / Steven B. Smith.
p. cm. — (Th e open Yale courses series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-18180-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Political science—
Philosophy—History. I. Title.
JA71.S498 2012
320.01—dc23
2012016209
A cata logue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Th is paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48– 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Dylan, Geoff , Mari, Rebecca, Rek, Yedidya, Yishai,
and the memory of the Sunday Club
If you will it, it is no dream.
Theodor Herzl, Altneuland
Contents
Preface ix
Texts xi
1. Why Po liti cal Philosophy? 1
2. Antigone and the Politics of Confl ict 10
3. Socrates and the Examined Life 20
4. Plato on Justice and the Human Good 37
5. Aristotle’s Science of Regime Politics 67
6. Th e Politics of the Bible 89
7. Machiavelli and the Art of Po liti cal Founding 109
8. Hobbes’s New Science of Politics 140
9. Locke and the Art of Constitutional
Government 165
10. Rousseau on Civilization and Its Discontents 189
11. Tocqueville and the Dilemmas of Democracy 214
12. In Defense of Patriotism 243
Notes 259
Index 271
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Preface
Th is book grew out of an introductory lecture course on po liti cal philoso-
phy that I have taught at Yale for many years. It was a plea sure for me to be
able to edit and revise these lectures for Yale University Press’s book series.
I have written this book as an introduction to po liti cal philosophy
rather than the more conventional history of po liti cal thought. What I un-
derstand by po liti cal philosophy is treated in the fi rst chapter. Suffi ce it to
say that po liti cal philosophy is a rare and distinctive form of thinking and
is not to be confused either with the study of pol itic al language in general
or with the dry and desiccated form of “concept analysis” so prominent in
the 1950s and ’60s. Po liti cal philosophy is the investigation of the perma-
nent problems of po liti cal life— problems like “Who ought to govern?”
“How ought confl ict to be managed?” “How should a citizen and a states-
man be educated?”— that every society must confront.
Th e texts and authors considered here have been chosen because
they help to illuminate the permanent problems of po liti cal life rather
than the par tic u lar problems of the times in which they were written. I
have not tried to adapt Plato or Machiavelli or Tocqueville to fi t our con-
cerns but have aimed to show how our concerns are intelligible only when
viewed through the lenses of the most serious thinkers of the past. Th e
problems we confront today, to the extent that they remain po liti cal prob-
lems, are precisely the same as those confronted in fi ft h- century Athens,
fi ft eenth- century Florence, or seventeenth- century En gland. It would be
a mistake to think otherwise.
Th is book is intended for readers who believe, as do I, that we still
have something to learn from the great thinkers of the past. Th is may seem
obvious, but it is hotly disputed within the current po liti cal science profes-
sion. Th ere are those who believe that po liti cal science is or should aspire to
be a discipline like physics or chemistry or certain precincts of economics
and psychology that pay little attention to their own histories. It is to resist
this kind of academic amnesia that I have devoted my teaching and writ-
ing. My ideal audience is a general readership with no other specialization
than a desire to learn.
ix