Did Xunzi’s Theory of Human Nature Provide the Foundation for the Political Thought of Han Fei?

2012 ◽  
pp. 147-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masayuki Sato
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Han Fei ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

The Federalist and Human Nature

1959 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Scanlan
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
The Political ◽  
Free Society ◽  
Alexander Hamilton ◽  
James Madison ◽  
The Federalist ◽  
Universal Applicability ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

Students of American political theory find themselves in general agreement concerning the character and significance of their most celebrated document, The Federalist. Few deny that this series of essays in support of the Constitution by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay represents a substantial contribution to the literature of political theory. The nature of the contribution is also well established. The Federalist, it is agreed, is a skillful exposition of the principles of constitutional republicanism — an exposition not haphazard or fanciful, but controlled by constant reference to the capacities and limitations of the political animal. The latter point is often emphasized; Benjamin F. Wright states: “The aspect of The Federalist which is of universal applicability is … its recognition of the importance of human nature in politics, togetherwith its remarkably penetrating analysis of the motives and the behavior of men in a free society.” x Finally, there is agreement on the general outlines of this theory of human nature. The authors of The Federalist, it is said, were decidedly “realistic,” brooking no illusions of the inherent goodness or rationality of man, but holding firm to “a conception of human corruptibility.” 2 The adjective most often employed is “pessimistic.”

3. Politics

2021 ◽  
pp. 53-80
Author(s):  
James A. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Political Obligation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Treatise Of Human Nature ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
History Of

‘Politics’ examines Hume’s political thought as developed in Book Three of A Treatise of Human Nature, his essays, and The History of England. Hume wrote about his ideas on political obligation. Hume also engaged with 18th-century party politics and as a result, developed a self-consciously ‘moderate’ approach to the political questions of the day. Hume considered a number of economic topics in the Political Discourses and came up with a revisionary theory of money. Hume faced some stylistic challenges as he moved from philosophy to history. He then made a pessimistic turn in his thinking about politics in the final decade of his life.

Government and ideology during the age of whig supremacy: the political argument of Sir Robert Walpole's newspaper propagandists

1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Targett
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Response ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Political Morality ◽  
The Common ◽  
Philosophical Questions

ABSTRACTContrary to received historical wisdom, Sir Robert Walpole, the pragmatist par excellence, was diverted by political ideas. Thus he invested time and an unprecedented amount of money in political newspapers. This article investigates the primary pro-government newspapers and, as well as identifying the leading circle of political writers sponsored by Walpole, addresses the varied and complex arguments that appeared in their ‘leading essay’ each week for twenty years. After identifying some common but misleading historical representations of Walpolean political thought, the article examines the treatment of three broad philosophical questions – human nature, the origin, nature and extent of government, and political morality – so demonstrating that Walpole's spokesmen were not narrowly pragmatic. Subsequently, the article focuses upon the careful pro-government response to the common charges that Walpole corrupted the political system and betrayed traditional whig values. In doing so, the article highlights the skills of some underrated eighteenth-century political writers and, more importantly, emphasizes the union of government and ideology in Walpolean political thinking.

Simone Weil

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Marovich
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Bare Life ◽  
Intellectual Curiosity ◽  
Creation Theology ◽  
Simone Weil

Few of Giorgio Agamben’s works are as mysterious as his unpublished dissertation, reportedly on the political thought of the French philosopher Simone Weil. If Weil was an early subject of Agamben’s intellectual curiosity, it would appear – judging from his published works – that her influence upon him has been neither central nor lasting.1 Leland de la Durantaye argues that Weil’s work has left a mark on Agamben’s philosophy of potentiality, largely in his discussion of the concept of decreation; but de la Durantaye does not make much of Weil’s influence here, determining that her theory of decreation is ‘essentially dialectical’ and still too bound up with creation theology. 2 Alessia Ricciardi, however, argues that de la Durantaye’s dismissal of Weil’s influence is hasty.3 Ricciardi analyses deeper resonances between Weil’s and Agamben’s philosophies, ultimately claiming that Agamben ‘seems to extend many of the implications and claims of Weil’s idea of force’,4 arguably spreading Weil’s influence into Agamben’s reflections on sovereign power and bare life.

Persons Together

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan L. Mittleman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
The Image Of God

This chapter moves into the political and economic aspects of human nature. Given scarcity and interdependence, what sense has Judaism made of the material well-being necessary for human flourishing? What are Jewish attitudes toward prosperity, market relations, labor, and leisure? What has Judaism had to say about the political dimensions of human nature? If all humans are made in the image of God, what does that original equality imply for political order, authority, and justice? In what kinds of systems can human beings best flourish? It argues that Jewish tradition shows that we act in conformity with our nature when we elevate, improve, and sanctify it. As co-creators of the world with God, we are not just the sport of our biochemistry. We are persons who can select and choose among the traits that comprise our very own natures, cultivating some and weeding out others.

The Political Thought of George Grant

1991 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-68
Author(s):  
H.D. Forbes
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
George Grant

Entangling Plato: A Guide through the Political Theory Archive

2021 ◽  
pp. 009059172199807
Author(s):  
Liam Klein ◽  
Daniel Schillinger
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Athenian Democracy

Political theorists have increasingly sought to place Plato in active dialogue with democracy ancient and modern by examining what S. Sara Monoson calls “Plato’s democratic entanglements.” More precisely, Monoson, J. Peter Euben, Arlene Saxonhouse, Christina Tarnopolsky, and Jill Frank approach Plato as both an immanent critic of the Athenian democracy and a searching theorist of self-governance. In this guide through the Political Theory archive, we explore “entanglement approaches” to the study of Plato, outlining their contribution to our understanding of Plato’s political thought and to the discipline of political theory.

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