PRACTICE QUESTIONS: GENERAL QUESTIONS ON WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT

1. Explain the difference between political thought, political theory, political philosophy, and
political ideology? In what way Political Science can be treated as a science?
2. The Concern of political thought is not just the explanation of the existence of the state or its
continuation, its concern is nothing less than “the moral phenomena of human behaviour in
the society” (C. L . Wayper). Comment.
3. “The study of political thought, therefore, has practical value, as it aids in the formation of
habit of more thorough and candid examination of the meaning and tendency of our political
understanding.” – Gettel. Discuss.
4. Discuss the nature of political thought and debate with respect to the interpretation of
political thought.
5. “The crisis of our time is a consequence of the crisis of political philosophy.” Leo Strauss .
Comment.

Plato:

1. "The fundamental idea of The Republic came to Plato in the form of his master's doctrine".
Sabine. Discuss?
2. "Republic conveys the broadest and the deepest analysis of political idealism ever made".
Leo Strauss. Comment?
3. "The Republic of Plato defies classification”. Sabine. Analyse?
4. "Plato's philosophy is the most savage and most profound attack on liberal ideas which
history can show." Crossman. Discuss?
5. Justice is the order of the state, and the state is the visible embodiment of justice.
Comment?
6. "Justice is the hinge of Plato's thought, as well as the text of his discourse." Barker.
Comment?
7. “Plato is philosophy and philosophy is Plato for out of Plato comes all things that are still
written and debated among men of thought.”- Emerson. Critically examine.
8. “Plato’s communism is a heroic remedy for a desperate evil, the union of political power and
economic temptation in the same hands”. Explain.
9. The philosopher king is no addition or insertion, but the logical outcome of insertion of
Plato's principles. (Ernest Barker). Critically examine.
10. “Dear is Plato, but dearer still is truth” - Aristotle. In the light of the above statement
establish that Aristotle is not only the greatest disciple of Plato, but is also his greatest critic.
11. “Like men, like State; governments vary as the characters of men vary...”- Plato. Critically
Evaluate.
12. ‘Both the communism of property and the families tend to make them more truly guardians’
–Plato. Critically analyse.

Aristotle:

1. Aristotle's political thought is a blend of idealism and realism. Elucidate?

2. Aristotle's theory of revolution projects him as a status-quoist. Discuss?
 3. "The most perfect admixture of the political elements, the more lasting will be the
constitution". Aristotle. Comment?
4. Aristotle's treatment of the subject of revolution is most empirical and full of objectivity. Do
you agree?
5. “The cause of sedition is always to be found in inequality” – Aristotle. Elucidate.
6. Give reasons for Aristotle’s preference for the mixed constitution. Do you think polity is the
best practicable form of government? Substantiate your point of view.
7. Absence of any adventures spirit, the polity is almost a perfect epitome of Aristotle’s ethical-
political position’ – (Sibley). Elucidate.

Machiavelli:

1. "Machiavelli is a consistent, passionate and a devoted champion of Republicanism. "Skinner.

Analyse?
2. Machiavelli laid the foundation of the new science of politics in the same way as Galileo's
dynamics became the basis of the modern science of nature. Discuss?
3. Machiavelli touched the nerve of political science with his value free orientation and moral
indifference. comment?
4. “A product of Renaissance, such as Machiavelli repudiates the old medieval nation of an
objective moral order" W T Jones. Comment?
5. "The most revolutionary aspect of Machiavelli’s idea about politics is the reason of the
state." Ebenstein. Evaluate?

Hobbes:

1. "Leviathan is the greatest and perhaps the sole master piece of political philosophy written
in English language".Oakeshott . Comment?
2. Where there is no common power, there is no law; where there is no law, there is no justice.
Discuss?
3. It is the clear-cut individualism which makes Hobbes philosophy most revolutionary of the
age. Comment?

Locke:

1. "Locke's theory of revolution is perhaps the most valuable aspect of his political philosophy".
John Plamenatz. Comment?
2. Evaluate, Macphersons, view on Locke, as a bourgeoise apologist?

Rousseau:

1. Rousseau's concept of social contract exemplifies the transition from natural liberty to civil
liberty. Discuss?
2. "The mere impulse of appetite is slavery, while obedience to law we prescribe to ourselves is
liberty". Comment?

Bentham:

1. "Quantity of pleasure being equal, pushpin is as good as poetry. “Comment

 2. "The greatest happiness of. the greatest number is the foundation of morals and
legislations". Elucidate?

Mill:

1. The only freedom which deserves a name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way,
so long we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs. Comment?
2. "The subjection of women to men being a universal custom, any departure from it quite
naturally appears natural........." J.S. Mill. Comment?
3. "Pleasure and freedom are the only things desirable as ends. All desirable things are
desirable either for pleasure inherent in them or as the means to the promotion of
pleasure........". J.S Mill. Comment?
4. It is quite compatible with the principle of utility to recognize the fact that some kinds of
pleasure are more desirable and valuable than others’- (J S Mill).
5. ‘The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing own good in our own way, so
long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.
Each is their proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual.
Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other’s to live as seems good to themselves,
than by compelling each to live seems good to the rest’ – (J. S. Mill).
6. “Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians.” J.S. Mill.
Critically examine.
7. “A state which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its
hands even for beneficial purposes will find that with small men no great things can be
accomplished.” Mill. Critically examine.
8. “Only those invasions of liberty are justified which creates opportunities of further liberty.”
(John Stuart Mill). Comment.
9. Mill was a champion of democracy, yet fails to bring the idea of democracy to its logical
conclusion. Discuss.
10. “The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own
way…….”- J.S. Mill. Comment.
11. Mill was a champion of democracy who failed to bring the idea of democracy to its logical
conclusion. Critically Examine.
12. “J.S. Mill was a champion of democracy, yet he failed to bring the idea of democracy to its
logical conclusion.” Critically examine the statement with respect to Mills views on
democracy.

Kant:

1. "Reason is the distinctive quality of human agency which impels each person to treat
himself and every other person as an end in itself". Comment?

Hegel:

1. "The history of mankind does not begin with a conscious aim of any kind........". Analyse?
2. The state represents the synthesis of virtues of family and civil society. Discuss?
Marx:

1. "Dialectics is a science of general laws of motion, development of nature, human society and
thought..." Engels. Elaborate?
2. "Our epoch, the epoch of bourgeoise, possesses, however, this distinctive feature: it has
simplified the class antagonism." Marx. Comment?
3. For Marx freedom means the ability to achieve the totality of human goods. Comment?
4. Religion is the opium of masses”. -MARX. Discuss
5. Marxism consists of three ideas: theory of history, critique of capitalism and a vision of ideal
society. Evaluate.

Gramsci:

1. According to Gramsci, consensus rests at the level of civil society, hence must be won there.
Discuss?
2. How Gramsci broadly defines the term intellectual. In what way his theory of intellectuals is
a recalibration of Marxist notions about class and ideology?
3. How Gramsci delineates the two levels of superstructures and how its functioning differs
from the state?
4. Gramsci saw capitalists' state as being made up of two overlapping spheres; a political
society and a civil society. Elucidate
5. Gramsci gives us not the tools with which to solve the puzzle, but the means with which to
ask the right kinds of questions. Stuart Hall. Critically Evaluate.
6. “Hegemony is the organising principle diffused by the process of socialization into every
arena of daily life.” (Gramsci). Discuss.

Hannah Arendt:

1. The most distinctive aspect of Hannah Arendt's thought is her analysis of problems of human
freedom and the various forms of power prevailing in the society. Comment?
2. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course, power disappears.
Comment?
3. "Only the mobs and elites can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism. Masses
have to be won by propaganda." Discuss?
4. Ideology is based on the " logic of an idea". Hannah Arendt. Comment?
5. "The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative, the day after the revolution".
Discuss?
6. Action as distinguished from fabrication, is never possible in isolation, to be isolated is to be
deprived of the capacity to act. Comment?