Political philosophy
Political philosophy is the study of politics, liberty, justice, property, and rights. Also the law, and its enforcement (a legal code) by authority. It concerns not the details, but the basic principles, reasons and arguments.
Topics studied include the purpose of government, what rights and freedoms it should protect, what form it should take, and what the law is. Also, what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, and when it may be legitimately overthrown, if ever.
Political philosophy is a philosophical back-up to political science, which is the social science study of politics.
Political Philosophy Media
- John Rawls (1971 photo portrait).jpg
John Rawls formulated an influential theory of justice as fairness.
- Portrait Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (cropped).jpg
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a founding figure of anarchism and saw state authority as an obstacle to equality and liberty.
- Edmund Burke EMWEA.jpg
Edmund Burke was an early defender of conservatism, stressing the importance of the accumulated wisdom of past generations and the danger of radical change.
- John Locke.jpg
As a founder of liberalism, John Locke prioritized individual freedom over state power.
- Marx-Engels-Denkmal (Berlin-Mitte).jpg
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed a radical form of socialism, calling for a communist revolution to overcome capitalism.
- Portret van Niccolò Machiavelli, RP-P-1909-5432.jpg
Realism is closely associated with Niccolò Machiavelli's emphasis on power, self-interest, and pragmatic governance.
- Thomas Hobbes (portrait).jpg
A historically influential method seeks to justify political theories by reference to human nature, such as Thomas Hobbes's social contract theory proceeding from the assumed brutish natural state of humans in a perpetual conflict.
- Half Portraits of the Great Sage and Virtuous Men of Old - Confucius.jpg
Confucius saw the virtue of humaneness or benevolence as the foundation of social order.
- Bust of Ibn Khaldun (Casbah of Bejaia, Algeria).jpg
Ibn Khaldun distinguished different types of states depending on the primary interests they serve.
- Hannah Arendt auf dem 1. Kulturkritikerkongress, Barbara Niggl Radloff, FM-2019-1-5-9-16 (cropped) (cropped).jpg
Hannah Arendt examined the nature of totalitarian regimes.
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