Moh’d Mazen Khan Asgali
PHIHUM - A
Political Philosophy
 The relationship between the
individual and the state – “the
government”
 Some philosophers have argued that
the state exists to serve and to protect
the rights of the individual; other
have insisted that the individual
exists to serve the state
Theories of the Right to Rule
 Sovereignty – describers where
political authority does or should
reside
 In totalitarian dictatorship, the state
is supreme and sovereignty resides in
a single tyrant
 In anarchism, we find the absence of
sovereignty
The Philosopher-King: Plato
 Plato’s image of what the ideal
society might be like begins with
recognition of a harsh political
reality, and his analysis
anticipates contemporary
problems
 To solve the problems of the city,
he believed, it is essential to have
a wise and competent ruler who
understands what is wrong and
has the knowledge and power to
make it right
 Plato hated democracy, instead
he advocated the careful
education and training of a leader
from youth
Natural Law: The Stoics, Aristotle,
Thomas Aquinas
 Stoics introduced the idea that
reason was the identifying
principle for both the natural
world and human beings
 Aristotle declared the state to be
a “creation of nature”
 Also described the human person
as “political animal,” meaning
that by nature we will organize
ourselves into political structures
 According to Aquinas, “all laws
derive from the Eternal Law in so
far as they are right and
reasonable.” That portion of the
Eternal Law that applies to
humans is called Divine Law
 Aquinas called the rather self-
evident principles deduced from
the Eternal Law, the Natural Law
Social Contract Theory
The Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes
 Our aggressive,
destructive human nature
forces us to set up a
powerful, restraining state
 Social Contract is
necessary to protect us
against the worst in
ourselves and others
The Natural Rights of Citizens:
John Locke
 Locke valued a social
contract to preserve what
is the best in us, our
natural rights
 The state exists only at
the pleasure of the
citizens who have created
it
 The Value of the State of Nature:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Aphra Behn, and
Clarisse Coignet
 Rousseau put forth the idea that
perfect freedom exists only in the
state of nature
 For the social contract to work, he
was convinced that all citizens must
retain an active, ongoing interest in
the laws being passed
 Aphra Behn developed the concept
of “noble savage,” living in close
communion with nature and far from
the corrupting influence of
civilization
 “Virtuous action voluntarily
practiced by individuals.” – from the
novel Oroonko: Or the Royal Slave,
written by Aphra Behn
 Clarisse Coignet believed human
beings could look to discover their
freedom – the basis of the
independent morality she and other
advocated.
Natural Rights and Feminism
Gender Equality: Mary Wollstonecraft
 One of Rousseau’s writings, Emile
or a Treatise on Education, aroused
the ire of the eighteenth-century
philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, an
early advocate of women’s equality.
“Declaration of Sentiment”: Elizabeht
Cady Stanton
 The principal nineteenth-century
theoretician of feminism in the
United States.
 She based an argument on
Enlightenment principles of
rationality and equality.
The Right to Govern
The Absolute: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Hegel
 His philosophy is the
very antithesis (opposite) of the
natural rights positions of Locke,
Rousseau, Wollstonecraft, Stanton,
and Anthony.
The Mandate of Heaven: Rule in China
 Similar to Hegel; emperor ruled
because he had the Mandate of
Heaven, stood at a midpoint between
Heaven and Earth and mediated
between the two.
 Emperor is the midpoint between
heaven and earth; receives the
mandate of heaven
The Divine Right to Rule
 Political theory is theocracy which is
a divine mandate; chosen by god
Royal Families in Europe
 Divine right of kings - hereditary
rulers claiming the right to rule as a
mandate from God. Especially
influential in France and England
from 14th to 17th centuries.
Royal Families in Africa
 Hereditary king was a limited
monarch; king’s authority was
shared with a council of the heads of
clans that acted as a parliament.
Political Theory
Liberalism and Conservatism
 Liberals favor individual freedom
whereas conservatives advocate
respect for tradition and established
institutions.
American Constitutional Theory and
Civil Rights
 Checks and balances - James
Madison insisted a system to
prevent the federal government
from becoming tyrannical, rather
than representing the interests of all
people.
The U.S. Government and Human
Rights
 Refugee Act of 1980, immigrants
who have a “well-founded fear of
persecution” because of their
nationality, race, religion, or
political opinion have the right to
asylum in the United States.
Summary
 The Constitution reflects the
Enlightenment respect for the
individual – advocated by Locke,
Rousseau, Wollstonecraft, Stanton,
and Anthony-- and balances it with
protection for politically sacred
traditions in the same way that Plato,
Aristotle, Hegel, and Burke wished
to do.
 Consent of the governed. A society,
the Republic concludes, is what is
because the individuals who make it
up are what they are.