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Politics Notes Political Theory From Hobbes Notes

Approaches To Political Theory Notes

Updated Approaches To Political Theory Notes

Political Theory From Hobbes Notes

Political Theory From Hobbes

Approximately 13 pages

Ontology; epistemology; philosophical approach to political theory; historical approach to political theory Thomas Hobbes; Leviathan; state of nature; obligation in foro interno; obligation in foro externo; geometric reasoning; totalitarianism; Rousseau Edmund Burke; Reflections on the Revolution in France; precedent vs. abstract rationalism; justifying revolution; intergenerational contract Thomas Paine; Rights of Man; priority of the present; consent; generational democracy...

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APPROACHES TO POLITICAL THEORY

QUESTIONS

  1. Which kinds of context, if any, are important to consider when contemplating a text in the history of political thought? [2017]

Should we try to uncover an author’s intentions in writing political theory if we are to interpret a text accurately? [2016, 2014]

  1. Should we read political theory as artefacts from their period, or as philosophical texts to mine for good arguments and ideas? [2017]

‘It is perfectly proper to treat a text as a source of arguments, without worrying about its context’. Is it? [2015,2013]

  1. Are there ‘perennial’ questions in the history of political thought? [2015]

DEFINITIONS

  • Ontology – A branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of being and reality. Political ontology, then, concerns political being and the units which constitute political reality, e.g. society, economy, etc.

  • Epistemology – The study of knowledge. Whereas the ontologist asks: ‘what exists to be known?’, the epistemologist asks: ‘what degree of certainty may we defend our judgement of competing political explanations about that which exists?

Political ideology Political theory
Ideology is calcified philosophy; a normative frame of reference through which we interpret/orient ourselves in the world, and organize political action.

  • Political entails the application of philosophical ideas (about liberty, power, equality, citizenship, distributive justice, etc.) to the political realm such that the world becomes as it ‘ought’ to be.

  • ‘It has been said that there are only two questions in political philosophy: ‘who gets what?’ and ‘says whom?’... The first of these questions is about the distribution of material goods, and of rights and liberties. The second question concerns the distribution of political power [which] includes the right to command others, and to [inflict] punishment if they disobey’ [Wolff]

For Sabine, a political theory should include:

  • Descriptive claims (A) about the present posture of affairs; e.g. ‘human beings are intrinsically...’

  • Normative claims (B) about how the present posture of affairs should be – e.g. human beings ought to behave in a specific manner...’ – with respect to the following questions:

  • What are the political consequences of our human condition?

  • How should humans best be governed, if at all? What is the ideal form of government?

  • Are there good grounds for consenting to state authority; in particular, its ‘monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory’ [Weber]?

  • What is the proper extent of political power? Is there a private domain (e.g. household, religion, economy) which can be invoked to curb state interference?

  • Causal statements regarding what aspects of ‘A’ hinder the attainment of ‘B’.

  • In short, political theory includes an estimate of probabilities (what is likely?) and an estimate of values (what is desirable?).

  • Internal consistency (see: ‘PHILOSOPHICAL’)

  • Perennial significance – ‘The greatest political theorizing is that which excels in both respects, in analysis of a present situation and in suggestiveness for other situations’ [Sabine]

APPROACHES TO POLITICAL THEORY

PHILOSOPHICAL

Key proponents:

Leo Strauss

Eric Voegelin

  • Cyclical philosophy of history, with alternating Dark and Golden Ages – ‘What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun’ [Ecclesiastes 1:9]

  • Human nature is invariable. In The New Science, Vico argues that there is an underlying conformity in human nature and a genetic, universal pattern through which all nations run. Our common nature as enshrined in language, conceived as a repository of customs and experiences, to supply ‘common sense’ for succeeding generations. By deciphering and recovering its content, philosophers can discover ‘an ideal eternal history traversed in time by the histories of all nations’ [Vico]

  • Universal human beings, faced with recurring civilizational challenges and stages of development, produce the same responses over time.

  • Reverential treatment of political theorists as explicators of a ‘dateless wisdom’ with ‘universal application’.

  • Insists on the autonomy of a text in forming ‘the self-sufficient object of inquiry and understanding’ [Skinner].

  • The aim of studying political theory is ‘to provide a re-appraisal of the classical writings, quite apart from the context of historical development, as perennially important attempts to set down universal propositions about political reality’ [Skinner]

  • ‘There is no question that the histories of different intellectual pursuits are marked by the employment of some ‘fairly stable vocabulary’... We must classify in order to understand, and we can only classify the unfamiliar in terms of the unfamiliar’ [Skinner]

  • This recycling of vocabulary – e.g. ‘state of nature’, ‘social contract’, ‘liberty’ – starts with Hobbes*:

  • ‘The English Civil Wars were a forcing-house of European significance for political theory, and Leviathan was its most vigorous growth. Through Hobbes flowed many of the intellectual preoccupations and devices of his predecessors and contemporaries and those moreover, that set much of the agenda for succeeding centuries... Thinkers increasingly argued on Hobbes’ assumptions, namely that both moral standards and the possibility of constructing motives for adherence, must be discovered in the psychology of human beings and the structure of their society’ [Hampsher-Monk]

CRITIQUE

  • In defense of human circumstances as variable: ‘Over the past two and a half centuries, several revolutions changed the world that politics tried to master, creating a world that is in innumerable ways quite unlike the ancient, medieval and earlier modern worlds’ [Ryan].

  • Is it logical to conduct hypothetical thought-experiments from an ahistorical vantage point which has never existed?

  • Can one legitimately use political principles from one era as a basis for understanding...

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