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Western Political Thought
Western Political Thought
Plato wrote his books in the form of dialogues—people talking about ideas, and sometimes
disagreeing about them. This makes Plato's books more interesting to read.
Socrates is usually the main person in Plato's dialogues. Usually, Socrates talks with people
about their ideas, and tries to see if they believe anything that is illogical. Other people in the
stories often become angry with Socrates because of this. People who study Plato argue about
whether Socrates really said the same things that Plato makes him say, or whether Plato just used
Socrates as a character, to make the ideas he was talking about seem more important.
Plato opposed the rhetoric of sophism and insisted true justice and equality
Plato attached equal importance on promotion of education as a means for removing hindrances
from the path of the statesman. Education is the positive means by which the ruler can shape
human nature in the right direction to produce a harmonious state.
He frankly assumes that the state is first and foremost an educational institution. From Plato’s
point of view, with a good system of education almost any improvement is possible; if education
is neglected, it matters little what else the state does. So much was the importance given to the
cause of education that about one-third of the Republic is devoted to the scheme of education. In
fact, Rousseau declared the Republic as one of the greatest treatise on education ever written.
He stood for a state-controlled compulsory system of education.
Plato also gave the ideas of Communism. Plato’s communism takes two main forms. The first is
the prohibition of private property, whether houses or land or money to the rulers. They shall live
in barracks and have their meals at a common table. The second is the abolition of a permanent
monogamous sexual relation and the substitution of regulated breeding at the behest of the rulers
for the purpose of securing the best possible offspring. This communism, however, applies only
to the guardian class.
In more simple words, the guardians would not possess any gold or silver. They would only have
the small amount of property that was necessary .
Plato was critical of personal family life because of two reasons: a) family affairs too frequently
distort the attention and undermine the integrity of rulers. Family encourage the negative
emotions of hatred, selfishness, avarice and envy; and b) he was dismayed by the secondary
position of women within the family. He accepted that men and women were identical in
natural capabilities and moral worth. He accepted women as legislators and rulers.
Conventional marriage led to subordination, subjugation and seclusion of women.
Machiavelli has long been required reading for everyone interested in politics and power.
In the Prince, Machiavelli presents a unique view on governing a state. He believes that the
Prince should be the only authority that should determine every aspect of the state and put
in effect a policy which would serve his best interests. These interests are gaining,
maintaining and expanding his political power.
Machiavelli believed that human beings are ungrateful and selfish. Man is self-centred and
thinks about his own interests. They are interested to acquire more and are not interested
to leave what has been acquired. They are therefore, always struggling with each other,
thereby creating conditions of anarchy.
Secondly men are timid and creatures of his habits. He wants to follow only well-
established customs so that he is not opposed by the society.
Furthermore he prompted out that the human mind tended to glorify the past, decry the
present and hope for better future. Like Aristotle, Machiavelli characterised the individual
as a political animal. He referred to the individuals love for power, reputation, keenness to
establish superiority over others and to control others.
MONTESQUIEU
POLITICAL VIEWS
BEFORE MONTESQUIEU, THE STANDARD FEUDAL SYSTEM WAS CALLED "THE
THREE ESTATES":
THE MONARCHY
THE ARISTOCRACY
THE COMMONS
THESE SHOULD BE BALANCED, SO THAT NO ONE POWER WOULD BE ABLE TO
OVERCOME THE OTHER TWO, EITHER SINGLY OR IN COMBINATION. THIS WAS A
RADICAL IDEA BECAUSE IT ELIMINATED THE THREE ESTATES STRUCTURE.
MONTESQUIEU'S IDEAS ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE THEY ENDED THE
FEUDALISTIC STRUCTURE. THEY ALSO HELPED INSPIRE THE CONSTITUTION OF
MANY COUNTRIES, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES.
JOHN STUART MILL (20 MAY 1806 – 8 MAY 1873), USUALLY CITED AS J. S. MILL,
WAS A BRITISH PHILOSOPHER, POLITICAL ECONOMIST, AND CIVIL SERVANT. ONE
OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL THINKERS IN THE HISTORY OF LIBERALISM, HE
CONTRIBUTED WIDELY TO SOCIAL THEORY, POLITICAL THEORY, AND POLITICAL
ECONOMY. DUBBED "THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ENGLISH-SPEAKING PHILOSOPHER
OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY", MILL'S CONCEPTION OF LIBERTY JUSTIFIED THE
FREEDOM OF THE INDIVIDUAL IN OPPOSITION TO UNLIMITED STATE AND SOCIAL
CONTROL.
J. S. Mill was the staunchest supporter of the freedom of the individual and didn’t want any
restriction on the same. He espoused equal liberty for both the sexes-males and females.
He in collaboration with his wife Harriet Taylor wrote The Subjection of Women in 1869, a
work which was far ahead of its time in its application of the principle of liberty to the
position of women. He regarded improvement in the position of women as a concern not
restricted to women alone, but of entire humanity. In The Subjection of Women, Mill
strongly argued for the equal status of women in three key areas: Right to vote, Equal
opportunities in education and employment.
He cited the examples of Joan of Arc, Elizabeth and Margaret of Austria to highlight the
political acumen of the women. Mill hoped that political rights would enable the women
to voice their view into the law making process.
for him the concept of state was incomplete without the representation of women, for him
the Strengthening the democratic citizenship depends on women position in the
state
Karl Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist,
historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary.
Marx is popularly regarded as the father of modern socialism, which has also been
called Marxism. He is best known for his early work The Communist Manifesto.
This work called for the overthrow of the social system of capitalism and the
creation of a new, free, and equal society.
Marx studied law and philosophy at university. He married Jenny von Westphalen in 1843.
Due to his political publications, Marx became stateless and lived in exile with his wife and
children in London for decades, where he continued to develop his thought in
collaboration with German thinker Friedrich Engels and publish his writings, researching
in the reading room of the British Museum.
His best-known titles are the 1848 pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto, and the
three-volume Das Kapital. His political and philosophical thought had enormous
influence on future intellectual, economic and political history and his name has been
used as an adjective, a noun and a school of social theory.
Karl Marx predicted that, like previous economic systems, capitalism produced internal
tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system:
socialism. Marx actively argued that the working class should carry out organised
revolutionary action to topple capitalism.
Marx's ideas have had a profound impact on world politics and intellectual thought.
Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and his
work has been both highly praised and criticised. Many intellectuals, labour unions, artists
and political parties worldwide have been influenced by Marx's work, with many
modifying or adapting his ideas. Marx is typically cited as one of the principal architects of
modern social science.
Marx’s political ideas had far-reaching influence. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx
argued that the workers of the world would lead a revolution that would overthrow the
capitalist order. Following this revolution, a new classless Communist society would
appear. During the 20th century, many governments and self-declared Communist regimes
claimed to base their rule on these early writings of Marx. The first and most famous of
these regimes existed in the Soviet Union.