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Book No. – 002 (Political Science)
Book Name – Political Theory (Rajeev Bhargava)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE BIG QUESTIONS OF HUMAN LIFE
3. THE EMERGENCE OF WESTERN MODERNITY
4. EXPLAINING HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN NATURE
5. UNDERSTANDING HUMANS
6. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN WORLDS
7. DECLINE OF POLITICAL THEORY?
8. TYPES OF POLITICAL THEORIES
8.1. Explanatory
8.2. Normative
8.3. Contemplative
9. LITTLE THEORIES, GRAND THEORIES
9.1. Theory and Ideology.
10. COSMOLOGIES AND POLITICAL THEORY
11. HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT AND POLITICAL THEORY
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LANGUAGE
Why Do We Need Political Theory
Chapter – 2
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
- Theories are meant to explain, evaluate, and speculate about human existence and collective life.
- The functions of theory include providing explanations, offering evaluations (telling us what we should do), and speculating about current and future conditions.
- The question of whether we really need political theory is similar to asking whether we need doctors of modern Western medicine.
- Just as doctors perform a function in society, one might question if this function could be better served by other practices or practitioners, like traditional medicine or cosmologies.
- Similarly, political theory may raise the question of whether its function could be performed by ideologies or cosmologies.
- The need for political theory cannot be answered without addressing the big questions of human existence and collective life.
- Today, natural-scientific theories and the social sciences provide answers to many of these questions, but in the past, they were primarily addressed by religions, cosmologies, and philosophy.
- Political philosophy historically performed both explanatory and normative functions.
- Political theory now performs three key functions:
- It explains at the most general level.
- It evaluates and tells us what we should do.
- It speculates about our current and future condition.
- Political theory also helps us understand who we are.
- These functions of political theory are similar to those of cosmologies and ideologies.
- However, political theory is distinct from both cosmologies and ideologies.
- Political theory has a special function under modern conditions.
- Rather than being obsolete, political theory needs to flourish in modern times.
THE BIG QUESTIONS OF HUMAN LIFE
- Human life depends on answers to significant questions about existence, society, ethics, and identity.
- Key questions include:
- What is there/going on in the world? (Understanding)
- Why are things happening? (Explanation)
- Will things continue in the future? (Prediction)
- Is it good or bad, right or wrong? (Ethics)
- What am I to do? (Normative)
- Who am I? (Metaphysical self-knowledge)
- Answers to these questions help individuals understand society and their place within it.
- In a hierarchical society, understanding one’s rank and the norms (e.g., bowing before superiors) is essential for functioning.
- The future is also linked to societal roles (e.g., lower castes having limited prospects, upper castes having privilege).
- People in a hierarchical society believe that performing actions in accordance with their status (e.g., bowing) is rightand good.
- Understanding one’s world and society is essential to its functioning, and these understandings become answers to significant questions.
- Humans don’t initially have questions; they first develop an understanding that later transforms into questions.
- Three reasons for questioning the world arise:
- Alienation from the community leads to questions of belonging and identity.
- The arrival of the stranger provokes curiosity and internal dissonance.
- Natural disasters (disease, floods, etc.) lead to questions about suffering and existence.
- Cosmologies help people re-familiarize themselves with the world during crises, making sense of what seems chaotic or discordant.
- Cosmologies give meaning to disruptions, aligning experiences and controlling disorder.
- Common sense is shaped by cosmologies, which may challenge or extend existing beliefs.
- Cosmologies often oppose common sense, providing alternative answers (e.g., the world of the senses is illusory, or there is life after death).
- Cosmologies are distinct from common sense and raise deeper, often spiritual questions.