Complete

Western Political Thought

for CUET-PG & NET-JRF-SET
in ONE hour
Sourav Patil
M.A., Centre for Political Studies, JNU
NET-JRF with Percentile score @99.79
Quick & Comprehensive Revision with MCQ Approach - Complete
Western Political Thought in One Hour for CUET-PG NET-JRF SET.

Sequence –
Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke,
Rousseau, J. S. Mill, Karl Marx, John Rawls,
Hegel, Mary Wollstonecraft, Gramsci, Hannah
Arendt, Frantz Fanon, Confucius & Mao Zedong

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• UGC NET-JRF & CUET-PG Political Science
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 Plato
• The Academy, the school he founded in 385 B.C.E
• Usage of dialectic- a method of discussion
• Plato's methodology is usually called deductive, general principles are
determined first, and thereafter, are related to particular situation.
The deductive method of investigation stands opposite to the
inductive one where the conclusions are reached after studying,
observing, and examining the data available at hand.
• Books – Republic (Justice, Ethics, Politics, Education & State),
Statesman, Laws, Timaeus (dialogue)
• Virtue is knowledge / Noble Lie/ Cave Allegory/ Inword Eyes
• “Reality is a shadow of idea”
• 'Justice' is the central theme of the Plato's Republic; its sub-title
entitled "Concerning Justice".
• "Justice (for Plato) is a bond which holds a society
together.“(Harmony)
• “State is an individual writ(written) large”
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• Plato- father of normative philosophical political theory
• Allegory of cave, theory of divided line, theory of Form/idea- Plato
• Character of a good city: wise, brave, temperate [equanimous, levelheaded], and just (Plato in his ‘Republic’;
note the order of these virtues)
• Plato was deeply influenced by Socrates, from whom he adopted the Dialectical approach; he was also
influenced by Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans.
• In Plato’s ‘Law’- Nocturnal Council
• Plato’s principle of community of wives & property was inspired by Sprata and was aimed at curbing
corruption
• Functional division of society- Plato
• Plato’s Justice: one man- one work; one class- one duty
• Principal Character in Plato’s Republic- Polemarchus, Adeimantus, Glaucon
• Dialectic method was used for the first time in the writing of Plato
• Deductive approach- Plato, Thomas Aquinas
• Plato’s Education timelines: • 20 Years- all 3 classes • 35 years- Guardian Class • 50 years- Philosopher Kings
• Plato developed his theory of the nature of the ultimate reality explaining the actual world in Timaeus
• State is individual writ large: Plato
• Aristotle’s ideal state was always Plato’s second best- GH Sabine
• Satyavir Ki Katha, translated into Gujarati by Gandhiji was from Apology of Plato; he called Socrates ‘Satyavir’
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• Community of wives & property
• According to Plato, the reason for not giving private property to all classes
is because – It will lead to personal ambitions & Economic & Political
power in the same hands is not good for the state.
• Karl Popper in his book “Open Society and its Enemies” - Plato as an enemy
of open society, father of totalitarianism and fore-runner of Fascism.
• One can be either Platonic or anti-Platonic, but one can never be non-
Platonic. (Karl Popper)
• The terminology 'Noble lie' related to which thinker – Plato
• Plato Appropriated the idea of Heractlitus, Socrates, Parmenides.
• Plato developed his theory of the Nature of the ultimate reality explaining
the actual world in the Timacus.
• Plato’s work – the Apology describes the trial of Socrates, and Socrates’
defense against charges that he was corrupting the youth of Athens

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Correct sequence of Aristotle’s thery of causation- the material,
the formal, the efficient, and the final

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• Rousseau calls Plato’s REPUBLIC as the best book ever
written in the field of education. (Influenced by
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Aristotle
• Books - Politics • Nicomachean Ethics • Metaphysics,
Rhetoric • On the Soul
• Student of Plato in his ‘Academy’
• Teacher of young Alexander the Great of Macedonia
• Founded Lyceum -his own Academy
• Plato was the father of Political Philosophy; Aristotle,
the father of Political Science.
• • Unlike his teacher Plato, he applied realistic
approach to describe political concepts. Plato, a great
Greek philosopher, is an idealist thinker and the
utopion.
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• Aristotle- Father of science of politics
• Correct sequence of Aristotle’s thery of causation- the material, the
formal, the efficient, and the final
• Aristotle adopted empirical, scientific and inductive approach
• Hobbes: first modern political thinker who deliberately ignored Aristotle
• ‘in order that the Athenians might not commit a second crime against
philosophy’ –Aristotle
• Timocracy: in Aristotle's Politics is a state where only property owners
may participate in government. A kind of Plutocracy

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 First systematic classification of government.

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• Man is by nature a political animal
• State is the highest of all Associations - The state has general and
common purposes, and, therefore, has larger concerns as compared to
any or other associations.
• “State is a union of families and villages”. - The state is a self-sufficing
institution while the village and the family is not.
• The state is prior to the individual.
• The stale is like a human organism. – interests of the individuals is
inherent in the interest of the state.
• “State comes to be for the sake of life, and exist for the sake of the good
life”
• Aristotle’s state is the best possible state, the best practicable.
• Aristotle’s best practical state is according to Sabine what Plato called
second-best state
• Aristotle devoted himself to a critical study of the ideal states projected
by Phaleas, Hippodmous & Plato.
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• Polity is the best practicable form of government
• Rule of law: “Law is a reason without passion”. - Law represents collective
wisdom which is preferable to the wisdom of one person
• Who is citizen ?
- A person who participated in the administration of justice and in legislation as a
member of the deliberative assembly is citizen.
- Who posses the capacity to rule and be ruled at the same time. • Possession of
leisure.
- Possession of property and ownership of slaves helping to attain citizenship.
- Based on hereditary.
- Who can’t be a citizen ?
- According to Aristotle Slaves, resident aliens, foreigners, labourers and
mechanics.
- Women is intellectually inferior to man So even She can not be a citizen.
- Children and old people also can not be a citizen as one is immature and another
is infirm respectively

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• Theory of Justice
• “When perfected, man is the best of animals, but when separated
from law and justice, he is the worst of all.”
• According to him, justice is virtue, complete virtue, and the
embodiment of all goodness. It is not the same thing as virtue, but
it is virtue, and virtue in action.
• “It is unjust to treat equals, unequally; it is equally unjust to treat
unequals, equally.”
• Aristotle does not support absolute equality./ The notion of
'Proportionate equality' is associated with him.
• He said that "Distributive Justice is mainly concerned with
distribution of honours or wealth“/ Aristotle's concept of
'Common good' is based on this notion
• Theory of Slavery
• Slavery is natural and beneficial to both the masters as well as the
slaves.
• Slaves have no reasoning power despite the ability to understand
and follow their intellect.
• Those who were not virtuous were slaves
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• According to Aristotle, when many well- off people
rule for greater wealth accumulation, the regime is
a Oligarchy.
• In Aristotle's classification of state, what is
prevented form of 'Polity’? - Democracy
• Middle Class constitutes the mean in Aristotle's
social Structure
• Aristotle's legacy of comparative study of states and
government inspired William of Ockham
• Low opinion about Women: • inferior to men, an
incomplete defective male! • has reason, but
without authority; • hence, she has to be under
command of male!

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 Machiavelli
• Books - ‘The prince’ , ‘The Discourses on Livy’(idea of
Republicanism), History of Florence, the Golden Ass, The art of
war, Titus Livius
• Called ‘child of his time - Represents Italian Renaissance-
humanism, secularism, scientific reasoning.
• “Machiavelli on the borderline between the Middle Ages and
the Modern Ages”
• Teacher of Evil- Leo Straus
• the murderous Machiavelli –Shakespeare
• Politics should be separated from Ethics & Religion -
Instrumental view on religion
• Lion & Fox: combined qualities of strength/force and
Shrewdness
• Political actions are to be judged only by its outcome- ‘end
justifies means’
• The two basic means of success for a prince are—the judicious
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• He did not believe in the essential goodness of human nature, he held that
all men are wicked and essentially selfish.
• Selfishness and egoism are the chief motive forces of human conduct.
• Machiavelli was the first who gave the idea of secularism.
• The term state was first used by him.
• The concept of 'virtu' and 'fortuna' are associated with Machiavelli.
• Machiaveli notion of "virtu" is rooted in an ethics which is predominantly –
Pagan
• He has compared fortune with a woman
• He said that property is the source of Power
• He said - "People of the Country, who are not God Fearing, it advances on
the path of destruction”.
• Whom did Machiavelli blame for the moral degradation of Italy? Church
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• Machiavelli advised the Prince to Persue – Moderate behaviour
• Property as source of Power.
• According to Niccolo Machiavelli, A Ruler must have certain qualities like
Boldness, Unflinching will & Ruthlessness.
• Moral Indifference; double standard of morality- Machiavelli
• Father of modern political thought- Machiavelli
• Machiavelli blame The Church for the moral degradation of Italy
• Machiavelli is regarded as the first modern political thinker because 1.
Separated religion from politics 2. Concept of nationalism and nation-
state
• Machiavelli preferred Republican form of Govt over Monarchy

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Hobbes
• Books - ‘The Elements of Law’, ‘Natural and Politic’ • ‘Leviathan’, De
Cive(1647)
• Nature of Man - Negative view, guided by appetites, desire, and
passions
- Self-preservation and glory- chief appetites
- Power is the means to satisfy man’s desires
- Competition, fear & suspicion of others
State of Nature
- life of man, Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish, and Short (dismal picture)
- Human life without any political order- no civil society/Government
- Unsatiable desire for power & glory, competition, fear & mistrust-
war of ‘all against all (Every man is enemy to every man)

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Social Contract - Hobbes
• Agreement/covenant with one and all to form civil society and state/Government
• Transferred their rights, will, and power to a 3rd party- the sovereign Leviathan
• The Sovereign is Not party to the contract
• Power of the sovereign is absolute, unlimited, undivided, unalienable
• People get peace, price- to obey command of the sovereign (Political Obligation)
• Grounds for No Political Obligation- to protect right of self-preservation (must NOT be
surrounded to the state), to protect family and honour, when the sovereign is not able
to maintain peace and security
• The contract is valid only till the sovereign is able to maintain peace and security
• first to modernize the tradition of Natural Law
• First modern thinker to give idea of negative Liberty
• “Laws are the rules of just and unjust; nothing being reputed unjust that is not contrary
to some law”- Hobbes
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• Hobbes on Liberty- Liberty is the silence of law (freedom as 'the absence of
opposition)
- In other words, a citizen is free to do or forbear what the sovereign has not
commanded or forbidden. However, the command of the sovereign cannot
annul the subjects' right to self-preservation.
- No contradictory that Hobbes is individualist and absolutist at the same
time
- Since individualistic nature of man and the protection of the individual is
the core concern of his theory that Sabine considers him as greatest of all
individualists
- For Hobbes "all existence is simple a matter in motion”.
- From Galileo Hobbes borrowed the principle of resolutive composite
- He said that "Laws are the rules of just and unjust; nothing being reputed
unjust that is not contrary to some law”
- Felicity ( Happiness) is “continued success in obtaining those things which a
man from time to time desires”- Hobbes
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• Who was called as "Monster of Malmesbury”? – Hobbes
• Who was the exponent of 'absolute monarchy’?/Absolute
Sovereignty - Hobbes
• Who advocated the "sovereignty is absolute, indivisible,
inalienable and Prepetual"? Hobbes
• For Hobbes 'felicity' means – Continued success in obtaining
those things which a man from time to time desires.
• Thomes Hobbes in his leviathan justified – Absolution of
sturt kings
• Who regards Hobbesian State as authoritarian but not
totalitarian – William Ebinstien
• Hobbes state of nature: pre social and pre political
• Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding was a
refutation of Leviathan of Hobbes
• Inductive approach- Hobbes, Machiavelli, Aristotle
• “All existence is simply a matter in motion.”- Hobbes

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Locke
• Books
• ‘A Letter Concerning Toleration’ (1689)
• ‘Two Treatises of Government’
• ‘An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding ‘
• ‘Some Thoughts Concerning Education’
• Spiritual father of European
enlightenment
• Father of classical liberalism and
capitalism/ limited government
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• Nature of man – Positive view
- Able to self-govern and live with others in peace as he have sense of reason/
man is by nature Social & Rational
- State of Nature - Each individual is free, equal and independent; but bound by
law of nature
- Each individual possesses natural right-liberty, equality, life, property
(inalienable)
- State of general ‘peace, goodwill, mutual assistance and preservation’
- But peace is fragile, possibility of conflict anytime
- Social Contract - to set up sovereign community by transferring some of their
rights - legislative is supreme, executive subordinate to legislative
- Govt/sovereign is not absolute, is party to the contract and bound by its
obligation to act for common good
- 2 stage contract, 1st stage by express/explicit consent of all,
- 2nd stage by majority vote and
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• Filmer’s paternal theory was criticised by Locke in his 'First
Treatise’.
• The term " right to appeal to Heaven " was used by Locke
• He believes that right is a clam of the individual
• Locke has used the social Contract theory to justify liberal
democratic state.
• John Locke uses the description "white paper, void of all
Characters" to describe human mind at birth
• Locke's Conception of the Social Contract – creates first Civil
Society & then the Political Society/ entered into contract to
protect their rights
• A limited theory of 'protective democracy' was developed by
Locke
• Who among the following places legal limits on the power of
the Sovereign? Locke
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• Where there is no law, there is no freedom'. This statement was
made by John Locke

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Rousseau
• Books
• ‘Social Contract’ 1762 (In the opening statement he
suggest that “Man is born free, but he is everywhere in
chains”/ Popular Sovereignty)
• ‘Emile, or On Education’ 1762
• ‘The Confessions’- autobiography 1782
Essays: ‘discourse on science and arts’ 1749 and ‘discourse
on origin of inequality’ 1754
Article: ‘Discourse on political economy’
• Philosophical father of French Revolution
Against representative democracy
Favored positive liberty, direct democracy, self-government,
unalienable popular sovereignty
Popular Sovereignty: cannot be delegated to Government
or representatives (Modern Conceptions of Democracy)
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General Will
• Rousseau’s general will is Hobbes’s Leviathan with his head chopped off.
General will is ‘real will’ of the community
• General will is the sum of real wills of the all.
• Real will- guided by the higher self
• Actual will- guided by lower self
• Laws flowing from general will – just, morally good, liberating
The community and each of its members are directed by ‘General Will’ –
‘sum of real wills’- serve common interest- common Good
• By obeying laws flowing from General Will, one gain moral freedom
General will is indivisible, collective and always right. We are free only when
we follow the general will
- The idea of forcing people to be free to attributed to? Rousseau

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• Rousseau argued that 'our minds have been corrupted in proportion as the arts
and sciences have improved’.
• Rousseau said "voice of the people may be voice of God” / Participatory
Democracy
• He considered elective aristocracy as the best form of government.
• He described man in the state of nature as a "noble savage“
• Whose social Contract was social and NOT governmental? Rousseau
• Revolt against reason- Rousseau
• Rousseau differentiated between natural and conventional inequality
• Rousseau- naturalism (education as process of developing man as natural man
and women as natural woman)
• Rousseau essay which won him award: ‘“Has the progress of the sciences and
the Arts contributed to corrupt or purify morals?”
• “Science is the fruit of idle curiosity; philosophy is mere intellectual frippery;
the amenities of polite life is tinsel”- Rousseau
• Family is the only natural society- Rousseau
• Thinking man is a depraved animal- Rousseau
• “The English think they are free. They are free only during the election of
members of parliament.”- Rousseau
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 J.S. Mill
• Books
• A System of Logic (1843),
• Principles of Political Economy (1848)
• The essay On Liberty (1859), (absence of restraints)
• Utilitarianism (1863)
• Considerations on Representative Government (1861),
• The Subjection of Women (1869)- with his wife Harriet Taylor
• Was contemporary of Marx, who was living in England, but did
not have interactions with him.
• Considered as reluctant democrat, liberal feminist, and qualified
Socialist
• Champion of Liberty, women, Being
andPolitical
minority Rights
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• J.S. Mill belongs to the time of transition
• Mill is a connecting link between the classical liberals
and modern liberals
• Ernest barker call J.S.Mill as "prophet of empty liberty
and abstract individual“
• According to Mill, democracy is the best form of
government.
• He said - "freedom is the first and strongest want of
human nature’(Negative Freedom)
• He advocated that the state is a moral institution with a
moral end
• “Over himself, over his own body and mind, the
individual is sovereign”- J.S.Mill
• Felicific calculus is absurd- JS Mill Telegram)
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• Self-regarding vs other-regarding Actions
• Harm principle- one is free to act as per one’s will until no one is
harmed
• Any unique, new idea/thought should be protected even if it is false
or partially true
• 2 sources of threat: State/govt and mass Society ( greater threat)
• To protect Minority rights: PR electoral system, Plural voting, Second
chamber of parliament
• His principles of utility - Added quality, Higher vs lower pleasure
• Higher pleasure- pleasures “of the intellect, of the feelings and
imagination, and of the moral sentiments”
• Lower Pleasure: physical and sensual- men share with animals

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Karl Marx
• Karl Marx though resided in Germany, France, Belgium,
United Kingdom but by Nationality he was Prussian (1818-
1845) and after that he became stateless. Marx moved to
London in early June 1849 and would remain based in the
city for the rest of his life. The headquarters of the
Communist League also moved to London.
• Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844)- Early Marx-
Theory of Alienation
• The German Ideology (1845), with Engels materialistic
conception of history; published only in 1932
• The Manifesto of the Communist Party(1848) : with Engels-
class struggle, conflict in capitalist society, social revolution
"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of
class struggles“
• Das Kapital( Capital)- 1967, later volumes published by
Engels after death of Marx.- Dissection of Capitalism, its
contradiction, destructive tendencies
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• His other Books/creations:
• Thesis on Feuerbach – 1845
• ‘The Poverty of Philosophy’ 1847;
• ‘The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte’
;
• ’The Civil War in France’ ;
• ‘the Grundrisse’;
• ‘Theories of Surplus Value’
• 'the critique of political economy’,
• ‘The Class Struggles in France’,
• ‘The Critique of the Gotha Program of 1875’
• Paris Manuscript
• Contribution to the critique of political
economy – 1859

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• Was from Germany, but lived in England in exile
• Influenced by German Philosopher Friedrich Hegel,
Economists Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Ludwig
Feuerbach (a young Hegelian)
• He turned upside down historical dialectical
thought of Hegel to give historical materialism
• Young vs matured Marx- The German Ideology
(1845) is the dividing line ; this division was given
by Louis Althusser (French Marxist Philosopher)
• "Revolutions are the locomotives of history“
• "Religion is the opium of the people “
• “the emancipation of the working class is the work
of the working class itself”- Marx
• “Man must eat before he thinks. To eat he must
produce. Production is aBeingbasic activity”- Marx
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Historical Materialism
• Material conditions of life determine consciousness/idea
• Dialectical (inbuilt contradiction)
• The whole course of human history is explained in terms of changes
occurring in the modes of production and exchange. History as stages of
different mode of material production
• Mode of production- Forces of Production plus Relation of Production
• • In the words of Karl Marx, “Our consciousness does not determine our
existence; it is our existence that determines our consciousness”
• “The history of all hitherto existing societies has been the history of class
struggle” Marx.
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Alienation

• One of the most original contributions of Marx is his Theory of Alienation. This is
contained in his early work- Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts-which were
written in 1843. It shows the 'early Marx' was mainly interested in the problem of
alienation.
• Alienation: a condition of oppression, disaffection arising from loss of control
over productive activity
• 4 Types of Alienation:
- Alienation from product of labour, Alienation from the act of production,
Alienation from species-being, Alienation of man from man
- 5 works of Marx which contain his thoughts on Alienation: • Economic and
Philosophic Manuscripts (1844)- Paris Manuscripts • Thesis on Feuerbach (1845)
• The German Ideology (1845)- separates young from matured Marx • the
Grundrisse (1857-58) • The Capital (1867)
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• Freedom is regaining human essence of social creativity: Man
producing to realize essence of being Human, act of self-realization
• On State
• State is part of the society’s superstructure
• State promote and protect the interest of the dominant class - state is
the organ of class dominance
• “the executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing
the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie”

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• Who theorised 'epistemological-break' with reference
to Karl Marx ? -Louis Althusser
• Who considered that Bureaucracy like the State itself,
is an Instrument by which the dominant class
Exercises its domination over the other social classes?
– Karl Marx
• Who said “Leninism is Marxism of the era of
Imperialism and of the Proletarian Revolution"? –
Stalin
• According to Marx 'the Dictatorship of the Proletariat
signifies – A Transitional state
• What according to Karl Marx is the "end point of
socialist revolution"? – Withering away of the state
• Who said that "Revolution are the festivals of the
oppressed and the exploited"?
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• From whom does Marx borrow but fundamentally modify his dialectic
method? – Hegel
• "Imperialism is the Highest stage of Capitalism". Who made this
statement? – Lenin
• Marx's theory of the State and revolution is taken from – French
Revolutionary Tradition
• What is the source of Marx's famous statement that "the history of all
hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle" ? –
Manifesto of Communist Party

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 John Rawls
• Books – Political Liberalism, A theory of
Justice(1971), The Law of the People, Lectures
on the history of modern philosophy.
• According to John Rawls, Justice is fairness.
(veil of ignorance/original position)
• He has pointed out that justice is the first
virtue of social institution (Resource
Egalitarian)
• 3 Principles – Equal liberty, fair equality of
opportunity, difference principle.
• John Rawls thinks that Hobbes' state of nature
is the classic example of the "prisoner's
dilemma" of game-theoretic analysis
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• John Rawls – Justice as Fairness (2017-Jan.) (2012-Dec.)
• John Rawls’ well-known book, Theory of Justice, presents a very strong defence of
the idea of justice based on the basic tenets of procedural theory, i.e. justice
requires a meticulous following of rules.
• Rawls insists that justice prevails only when every departure from equality can be
rationally justified. Unlike in Nozick’s entitlement theory where equality as an idea
is conspicuous by its absence, Rawls’s theory of justice is premised upon the need
for equality. Rawls sets out his theory by placing individuals abstracted from their
social and economic contexts behind what he calls the ‘veil of ignorance’
• The Veil of Ignorance (original position)- Its purpose is to explore ideas about
justice, morality, equality, and social status in a structured manner. The Veil of
Ignorance, a component of social contract theory, allows us to test ideas for
fairness. Behind the Veil of Ignorance, no one knows who they are. Parties not even
knows about their special psychological propensities. (2017-Jan.)

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• The Rawls theory of justice is mainly based upon two principle of Justice - Equality Principle
and Difference Principle. These two principles although set a lot of procedure in Place it also
develops the Idea of Social justice. Rawls is categorical that there is a need for rational
justification of all departures from equality. (2017-Nov.)

• The term “overlapping consensus” refers to how supporters of different comprehensive

normative doctrines can agree on particular principles of justice that underwrite a political
community’s basic social institutions. Comprehensive doctrines can include systems of religion,
political ideology, or morality. Overlapping consensus is a term coined by John Rawls in A
Theory of Justice and developed in Political Liberalism. (2012-June)

• Rawlsian concept of justice is based on? - The difference principle is the second part of the
second principle of John Rawls’s theory of justice. The first principle requires that citizens
enjoy equal basic liberties. The first part of the second principle requires fair equality of
opportunity. These rules have priority over the difference principle; the difference principle
cannot justify policies or institutions that abrogate them. The difference principle governs the
distribution of income and wealth, positions of responsibility and power, and the social bases
of self-respect. It holds that inequalities in the distribution of these goods are permissible only
if they benefit the least well-off positions of society. (2012-June)

• In The Law of Peoples (1999), he sought to apply his theory of justice to the larger world of
‘peoples’, and thus explored how, and how far, the international realm could be reformed.
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• Rawl’s well-ordered society? (2012-Dec.)

• Rawls lays out seven conditions characterizing the well-ordered society. They are as follows:

• (1) Everyone accepts, and knows that others accept, the same principles (the same conception)
of justice.

• (2) Basic social institutions and their arrangement into one scheme (the basic structure of
society) satisfy, and are with reason believed by everyone to satisfy, these principles.

• (3) The public conception of justice is founded on reasonable beliefs that have been established
by generally acceptable methods of inquiry.

• (4) All citizens have, and view themselves as having, a sense of justice (the content of which is
defined by the principles of the public conception) that is normally effective (the desire to act
on this conception determines their conduct for the most part).

• (5) All citizens have, and view themselves as having, fundamental aims and interests (a
conception of their good) in the name of which it is legitimate to make claims on one another in
the design of their institutions.

• (6) All citizens have, and view themselves as having, a right to equal respect and consideration
in determining the principles by which the basic structure of their society is to be regulated.

• (7) Basic social institutions generate an effective supporting sense of justice.

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• Rawls published three main books. The first, A Theory of Justice, focused on distributive justice and
attempted to reconcile the competing claims of the values of freedom and equality. The second,
Political Liberalism, addressed the question of how citizens divided by intractable religious and
philosophical disagreements could come to endorse a constitutional democratic regime. The third,
The Law of Peoples, focused on the issue of global justice. (2013-June)

• John Rawls said “Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of
society as a whole cannot override.” For this reason, justice denies that the loss of freedom for some
is made right by a greater good shared by others. (2013-Dec.)

• Which one of the following social contract traditions has been revitalised by John Rawls in his book A
Theory of Justice? Locke, Rousseau & Kant (2015-June)

• Who among the following dismissed John Rawl’s concept of social justice as a ‘mirage’? - Friedrick
Hayek in his criticism to the Idea of social justice of John Rawls claimed that it is like a mirage. By this
he means to establish that the Idea of Social Justice is unachievable and an illusion. (2016-July)

• In A Theory of Justice, Rawls explicitly states that “society is a cooperative venture for mutual
advantage” (2018-July)

• The Idea of Justice as fairness in Rawlsian theory flows from? - Individual. Rawls never wished to
compromise with the individual liberty. (2019-June)

• Who had condemned utilitarianism in his Theory of justice? - Rawls in his famous work ‘The Theory
of Justice’ wrote about the weaknesses of Utilitarianism. Rawls’s major criticisms of utilitarianism
are that “Utilitarianism wrongly defines the “right” in terms of the “good” when in fact “the concept
of right is prior to that of the good”. (2019-Dec.)

• M. Sandel – Liberalism and the Limits of Justice

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• John Rawls in his theory of justice make use of a 'social Contract'
which is quite similar to the theory proposed by Immanuel Kant.
• John Rawl's theory of Justice essentially aims at – Distributive
Justice
• Rawls ' well ordered Society? – Stable, Efficient & Just.
• The doctrine of overlapping consensus is advocated by? – Rawls
• Who had condemned utilitarianism in his theory of justice? – Rawls
• Rawls’ well-ordered society- Stable, Efficient, just but may not be
equal
• John Rawls’ theory of Justice Combines People’s democracy, market
economy, and the redistributive welfare scheme. It also synthesises
normativism with rationality
• Society as cooperative venture for mutual advanatage- John Rawls /
Hayek dismissed John Rawl’s concept of social justice as a ‘mirage
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 Hegel
• German idealism, Absolute idealism/founder of modern
idealism
• Book: ‘Elements of the Philosophy of Right’, Science of
Logic; • The Phenomenology of Spirit; • Philosophy of
History
• Historical progression of idea (thesis, anti-thesis,
synthesis) through dialectical process
• State as - Embodiment of highest order of Freedom and
Right
• “State is the march of God on Earth” (Highest
manifestation of reason)
• State subsumes family and civil society and fulfils them
• Karl Popper in his celebrated work Open Society and Its
Enemies passes the following remark “Nearly all the
more important ideas of modern totalitarianism are
directly inherited from Hegel”
• Civil Society: all-inclusive community within the state;
conception of organic society, in which identity of
individual and family is subsumed
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• Karl Popper attacked the historicism of Plato & Hegel.
• Who said "Fundamental innovation in Political theory is practically
impossible after Hegel? – Alisdair Macintyre
• Hobhouse has summed up the Hegelian state as greater being, a
spirit, a super – personality entity.
• Hegel believed that every individual is the judge of his own
happiness.
• ‘That art, religion and philosophy differ only in form, their purpose
is the same’- Hegel
• “Prince” the great and true conception of a real political genius
with the highest and noblest purpose”- Hegel
• Family is the thesis, Bourgeois society is the anti-thesis and the
State represents synthesis
• The rational is real and the real is rational
• Contradictions are not obstacles preventing us reaching truth.
• Highest possible achievement of Mind as expressed in social life
was in The Contemporary Prussian State- Hegel

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 Mary Wollstonecraft
• Women developed artificial ‘feminine manners’,
false sense of power of beauty, attractiveness,
sensuality, ‘women’s follies’
• Books
- Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787)
- A Vindication of the Rights of Men(1790)
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) – She
refuted this view of Rousseau in her book
‘vindication of Rights of Women’
- An Historical and Moral View of Origin and Progress
of the French Revolution(1794)
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• Her ‘Vindication of the Rights of Men’ written against Edmund Burke's
‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’, a defense of constitutional
monarchy, aristocracy, and the Church of England.
• Her ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ attacked the conventional
thoughts of Rousseau about women’s education in his ‘Emile’.
She was known as the "Child of the French Revolution"

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 Gramsci (Hegemony)
• Gramsci is founder of communist party of Italy.
Contemporary of Mussolini.
• Gramsci joined to work in the Socialist Party of Italy
and the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia inspired
him to become a Marxist.
• Books - Prison Notebooks 1929-35, A great and
terrible world 1908-26, The Southern Question, The
Modern State and Politics
• Gramsci compared civil society as fortress and
earthworks (trenches) standing behind the state
• Fascism as passive revolution- Gramsci

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Concept of Hegemony
• Civil society is the site of hegemony. It is a location where
hegemony is manufactured. Often we overlook the role of
civil society in maintaining the domination of bourgeoisie
class.
• Civil society acts silently. Civil society is much nearer to base
than state. Civil society acts as a cushion or a shock absorber.
The states where strong civil society exists, where media has
freedom, where educational institutions are autonomous it is
more difficult to bring revolution.
• Gramsci suggested that working class need to learn how
bourgeoisie have established their domination (control).
Bourgeoisie class established their domination not just by
controlling the means of production but also controlling the
ideology and culture i.e. means of production of ideology and
culture. Gramsci talks about the concept of hegemony.
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• Who among the following rejected 'Scientific determination' and
advocated political and intellectual struggle? - Gramsci

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 Hannah Arendt
• German-born American political thinker.
• Book: The Origins of Totalitarianism(1951), The Human
Condition(1958), Between Past and Future (1961), On Revolution
(1963), Men in Dark Times (1968), On Violence (1970), Crises of
the Republic (1972), Civil Disobedience (1972), The Life of the
Mind (1977), The Promise of Politics1993)
• Eichmann in Jerusalem – concept of banality of evil (1963) - evils
become benal when it acquires unthinking and systematic
character
• She adopted the methodology of phenomenology. -
Phenomenology is a method where theories are given on the
basis of experiences as they are lived rather than on the basis of
reason or logic.
• Politics as capacity of acting in concert

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• Power does not belong to the individual.
• Neither economic resources nor bureaucratic office
makes one powerful.
• Power is sui-generis means power emerges on its own
and disappears on its own. No one can control and hold
power.
• Power emerges when people came together; power
disappears when people go back to their private sphere.
The purpose of power is not coercive, according to
Hannah Arendt power/politics is ‘Acting in concert with
one another’
• Arendt sees political participation as a source of
happiness (at least for some) and self-discovery.
• Hannah Arendt is critic of Marx because Marx favours
violent revolution. Marx looked revolution as a means
for resolving social and economic questions. According
to Hannah Arendt theBeing
real revolution
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• Hannah Arendt made the distinction between – Liberation & Freedom

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 Frantz Fanon (1925-1961)
• French West Indian, Psychiatrist, political
philosopher and author ;
• He was one of the most influential writers on post-
colonial studies.
• Books
• Black skin, white mask 1952 - post-colonial studies,
Eurocentrism, black side of European culture
• A dying Colonialism 1959, The wretched of the Earth
1961

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 Confucius
• Confucius was a Chinese philosopher who
promoted a system of social and political ethics
emphasizing order, moderation, and reciprocity
between superiors and subordinates.
• The Analects contains a collection of his sayings
and dialogue compiled by disciples after his death.
• Who among the following is being called as ‘kong-
fu-tuz’?
(a) Mozi (b) Mencius (c) Confucius (d) None of
these

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 Mao Zedong
• “Politics is war without blood, while war is politics with
blood.”
• “Political power grows out of the barrel of the gun...”
• Founded the Communist China (People’s Republic of
China) in 1949
• His Programs:
- 1956- The Hundred Flowers Campaign- ‘Let hundred
flowers blossom and hundred schools of thought
contend’(socio-political openness program) - 1958- The
Great Leap Forward- economic transformation of China
-1966- Cultural Revolution- purging anti-revolutionary
elements from society
- "Two Bombs, One Satellite" project; “Three-anti and
Five-anti Campaigns”
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• Writings – On Contradiction,
• Who differentiated between antagonistic and non- antagonistic
contradictions? - Mao

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• UGC NET-JRF & CUET-PG Political Science
Quick Comprehensive Revision Series (MCQs Approach) - Watch it out on YouTube.

• Complete Western Political Thought in One Hour

• Complete Indian Political Thought in One Hour

• Complete Comparative Politics, Government & Political Analysis in 150 Minutes

• Complete Approaches to the study of International Relations (IR Theories) in One Hour

• Complete Public Administration in 74 Minutes

• Complete Political Theories (Philosophical Concepts) in 70 Minutes - Part 1

• Complete Political Theories (Philosophical Concepts) in 59 Minutes - Part 2

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 https://t.me/cuet_netjrf_politicalscience_jnu

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