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Book No. – 52 (Political Science)
Book Name – Political Philosophy (Richard G. Stevens)
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LANGUAGE
The Nature of Politics
Political Philosophy
Chapter – 3
- Political philosophy is a major branch of philosophy, defined as the free and radical pursuit by unassisted human reason of the truth about the nature of politics.
- The word politics has become diluted in meaning, making it difficult to study.
- An example of this is when one party in the legislature accuses the other of engaging in “just politics.”
- The challenge in studying political philosophy lies in defining politics itself, which requires clarification and resolution.
- Clarifying politics involves breaking bad habits, requiring intelligence, open-mindedness, patience, and resignation.
- Once a definition of politics is reached, the next step is to explore the origin and nature of political philosophy.
- The first political philosopher was Socrates (469–399 b.c.), who wrote nothing.
- Plato (427–348 b.c.), his disciple, was the first to leave behind a body of writings on political philosophy.
- Aristotle (384–322 b.c.), Plato’s pupil, also left significant writings and is considered the most encyclopedic philosopher.
- Political philosophers from the fourth to fifteenth centuries mostly commented on Plato and Aristotle, with Aristotleoften being referred to as “the Philosopher.”
- Some modern thinkers, like Hobbes and Machiavelli, dismissed Plato and Aristotle‘s political philosophy as defective, while others, including the author of this text, believe they laid the foundation for all political philosophy.
- Aristotle’s works are often considered textbooks, in contrast to Plato’s more elliptical and poetic writings.
- Aristotle wrote extensively on many subjects including politics, physics, ethics, metaphysics, rhetoric, and biology.
- In modern times, scholars use a standardized system of pagination to cite Aristotle’s works.
- George Orwell (1946) warned against jargon in writing, but it remains pervasive in academic and government language.
- Unlike modern academic jargon, Aristotle used straightforward language, such as in his definition of politics.
- The word city in Aristotle’s writings is problematic because it is derived from Latin, but the Greek word polis is more accurate.
- The term political is derived from polis, meaning “of or pertaining to the polis.”
- Harry V. Jaffa clarified that politics is to polis as athletics is to athlete, highlighting the difference between the abstract concept of politics and the concrete subject of the polis.
- Polis does not translate to “state” or “city-state,” so the word should be used in English as a loanword.
- A sensible translation of Aristotle’s opening lines in Politics would be: “Since every polis is, as we see, a kind of community… this one is called the polis, or the political community.”
- Aristotle starts with observable facts, leading to a bold assertion in the last ten words of the passage.
- These words challenge contemporary value-free social science, sociology, and interest-group politics, which may deny the assertion.
- Sensibly selfish individuals will evaluate different perspectives, rather than assuming the latest views are always correct.
- The good and the true are not defined by age or trend but by their inherent quality.