Plato's Utopianism: The Political Content of the Early Dialogues

1983 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Klosko
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
The Political ◽  
Good Fortune ◽  
Ideal State ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Precise Relationship ◽  
The Ideal

One reason the political theory of Plato's Republic is widely misunderstood is that its precise relationship to the political content of the early dialogues is not generally recognized. That the political views of the Republic are frequently misconstrued seems apparent. In recent years many scholars have argued that the ideal state put forward in the work is completely “utopian.” This word is used in different senses, but the sense I will concentrate on in this paper is its bearing upon questions of political reform. As I use the term, a “utopian” political theory contains proposals that are not intended to be taken seriously in terms of political reform. When I say that the ideal state discussed in the Republic is not “utopian” as these scholars maintain, I mean that Plato designed it with political reform in mind, and that he thought seriously about how to bring it into existence. This does not, however, imply that the ideal state is likely to be realized, or that Plato ever thought it was, but only that Plato wished to bring it into existence and thought this was possible, should extraordinary good fortune bring the necessary conditions into existence.

The Republic

2019 ◽  
pp. 205-229
Author(s):  
Dominic Scott
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Ideal State ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Individual Justice ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Political Right ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter presents a reading of Plato’s Republic. The Republic is among Plato’s most complex works. From its title, the first-time reader will expect a dialogue about political theory, yet the work starts from the perspective of the individual, coming to focus on the question of how, if at all, justice contributes to an agent’s happiness. Only after this question has been fully set out does the work evolve into an investigation of politics—of the ideal state and of the institutions that sustain it, especially those having to do with education. But the interest in individual justice and happiness is never left behind. Rather, the work weaves in and out of the two perspectives, individual and political, right through to its conclusion. All this may leave one wondering about the unity of the work. The chapter shows that, despite the enormous range of topics discussed, the Republic fits together as a coherent whole.

The Political Creed of Thomas Cromwell

1956 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 69-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. Elton
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Law ◽  
Theoretical Issues

TWO views are current concerning the political views of Thomas Cromwell. One—the more common—holds that he believed in absolute monarchy and desired to establish it in England. The Abbé Constant, summarizing (as was his wont) other people's views in language free from other people's reservations, stated it most starkly: he thought that Cromwell aimed at making Henry ‘tout-puissant’ and that his ministry was the golden age of Tudor despotism. Quite recently, an ingenious theory, buttressed with a misunderstood document, based itself on this general conviction. This view has suffered curiously little from the growing realization that the Henrician Reformation rested on conscious co-operation with Parliament and that the propagandists of the time never produced a theory of absolute monarchy. Pollard, the defender of Henry VIII's constitutionalism, seems to have held that, though the king had no ambitions for a genuine despotism, Cromwell certainly harboured such ideas. The other view, recently given support by Dr. Parker, holds that Cromwell did not bother at all about theoretical issues, that his ‘resolutely Philistine type of mind’ despised political theory, and that he never thought beyond the establishment of a sovereign monarchy. Thus, too, Mr. Baumer thought that Cromwell saw in Parliament ‘only a means of executing the royal will’, but also that he ‘had no theoretical views whatever about the relation of the king to the law’—passages hard to reconcile but suggestive of Dr. Parker's views rather than M. Constant's.

scholarly journals IDEAL COUNTRY ACCORDING TO AFIFUDDIN MUHAJIR: ANALYSIS OF THE SCIENTIFIC SPEECH OF THE HANOURIS CAUSA DOCTORAL AWARD AT UIN WALISONGO SEMARANG INDONESIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-39
Author(s):  
Imam Ghozali ◽  
Zulfikar Hasan ◽  
Chanifudin ◽  
Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Law ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Political ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
State University ◽  
Ideal State ◽  
Central Java ◽  
State Form ◽  
The Ideal

Afifuddin Muhajir's background concerning the Ideal State cannot be separated from the strengthening of the demands of some Indonesian Muslims who are members of the 212 movements to uphold NKRI Bersyariah. Starting from their success in tackling the political career of Basuki Cahaya Purnama (Ahok) in the 2017 DKI Pilkada. This movement strengthened in the 2019 Presidential election. They supported the Prabowo subianto-Sandiaga Uno pair who were considered more Islamic and capable of realizing their political ideals. Afifuddin Muhajir considered the Political Identity movement in the name of religion to be a very dilemma in Indonesian society which is multi-ethnic, ethnic, cultural, and religious. Politics as a product of Jurisprudence and Muamalah has space for ijtihad and has becomes a common consensus to build the life of the nation and state. This research is a Research Library, that examines Afifuddin Muhajir in his speech conferring the Honorary Doctorate at the Walisongo Islamic State University, Semarang, Central Java. This study focuses on the concept of the Ideal State according to Afifuddin Muhajir with sub-discussions, namely: Political Islam, Pancasila, NKRI, and the State Constitution. This discussion sub-section will answer the concept of an ideal state according to Afifuddin Muhajir from the point of view of Jurisprudence and Ushul Fiqh who are experts in their expertise. This research is certainly interested in answering extremist Islamic groups who want a state form at the level of sharia or Islamic law.

scholarly journals Modern Confucian Objection against Communism in China

Asian Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Téa SERNELJ
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Modern China ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Chinese Communist Party

The article investigates the political views of one of the most prominent representatives of the so-called second generation of Modern Confucianism, Xu Fuguan. It reveals his unique position within this intellectual movement. Even though all other adherents of Modern Confucianism were focused upon metaphysics and ontology rather than political theory, Xu believed that these lines of thought could not contribute enough to solving the various urgent social and political problems of modern China. In this regard, the present article focuses upon a critical analysis of Xu’s critique of the Chinese Communist Party. The author presents and evaluates his critique mainly with regard to his search for a resolution of the problematic and chaotic political and social situation of China during the first half of the 20th century. In conclusion, the author provides a critical evaluation of Xu’s social democratic thought and particularly of his attitude towards the Chinese Communist Party.

Rousseau on the People as Legislative Gatekeepers, Not Framers

2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
ETHAN PUTTERMAN
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ideal State ◽  
The People ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject

Who drafts the laws in Rousseau's ideal state? According to John T. Scott it is the people alone who execute this function and Rousseau “does not positively argue that commissaires, magistrates, or anyone else has the power to propose laws.” Challenging this view, I argue that the philosopher's varied statements on the subject of lawgiving can be shown to establish merely a right by the people to participate in agenda-setting by others. Rousseau believes that the laws must reflect the will of the people but not necessarily through their physical writing, drafting, or framing of constitutional legislation. More important than popular agenda-setting is the majority's freedom to check those who do draft the laws. Amending my earlier argument that the sovereign is barred from legislating, I reveal how Rousseau's notion of self-legislation as “gatekeeping,” rather than agenda-setting, is central to the political theory and institutions of Du contrat social.

War for Peace

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murad Idris
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Desiderius Erasmus ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ibn Khaldun ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
Sayyid Qutb ◽  
The Ideal

Peace is the elimination of war, but peace also authorizes war. We are informed today that this universal ideal can only be secured by the wars that it eliminates. The paradoxical position of peace—opposed to war, authorizing war—is encapsulated by the claim that “war is for the sake of peace.” War for Peace is a genealogy of the political theoretic logics and morals of “peace.” It examines peace in political theory, as an ideal that authorizes war, in the writings of ten thinkers, from ancient to contemporary thought: Plato, Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī, Thomas Aquinas, Desiderius Erasmus, Alberico Gentili, Hugo Grotius, Ibn Khaldūn, Thomas Hobbes, Immanuel Kant, and Sayyid Quṭb. It argues that the ideal of peace functions parasitically, provincially, and polemically. In its parasitical structure, peace is accompanied by other ideals, such as friendship, security, concord, and law, which reduces it to a politics of consensus. In its provincial structure, the universalized content of peace reflects its idealizers’ desires, fears, interests, and constructions of the globe. In its polemical structure, the idealization of peace is the product of antagonisms and it then enables hostility. As idealizations of peace are disseminated across political thought, a core that valorizes peace and necessitates war insistently remains. War for Peace uncovers the genealogical basis of peace’s moralities and the political functions of its idealizations, historically and into the present.

scholarly journals Liberal and conservative political thought in nineteenth-century Serbia Vladimir Jovanovic and Slobodan Jovanovic

Balcanica ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 131-153
Author(s):  
Boris Milosavljevic
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Traditional Values ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Political Scene

Two very influential political philosophers and politicians, Vladimir Jovanovic and Slobodan Jovanovic, differed considerably in political theory. The father, Vladimir, offered an Enlightenment-inspired rationalist critique of the traditional values underpinning his upbringing. The son, Slobodan, having had a non-traditional, liberal upbringing, gradually-through analyzing and criticizing the epoch?s prevail?ing ideas, scientism, positivism and materialism-came up with his own synthesis of traditional and liberal, state and liberty, general and individual. Unlike Vladimir Jovanovic, who advocated popular sovereignty, central to the political thought of his son Slobodan was the concept of the state. On the other hand, Slobodan shared his father?s conviction that a bicameral system was a prerequisite for the protection of individual liberties and for good governance. Political views based on different political philosophies decisively influenced different understandings of parliamentarianism in nineteenth-century Serbia, which in turn had a direct impact on the domestic political scene and the manner of government.

Tolkien’s Shire: The Ideal of a Conservative-Anarchist Distributist Governance

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-53
Author(s):  
Yannick Imbert
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Party System ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Lord Of The Rings ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Ideal

This article seeks to explores the political significance of Tolkien’s Shire through consideration of both his works and his historical background. Even though the nature of politics in The Lord of the Rings has already been much discussed, there is, given the scarcity of Tolkien’s political references, further investigation is still needed. In a first part, this article will look at the interaction of Tolkien and the “movement” known as Tory anarchism. This article’s thesis is that this particular species of anarchy was an immediate background to Tolkien’s political views represented in his writings, especially in his mythological corpus as well as in his shorter stories—as in Farmer Giles of Ham. In a second part, this article investigate the meaning of Tolkien’s self-described attachment to “unconstitutional monarchy.” Here, comparison with the Shire’s political structure will be instructive, as will be the influences of Chesterton and Belloc’s political philosophy. In this regard, their work The Party System, is of special significance. In conclusion, this article will defend that Tolkien’s Shire is best seen as a Distributist conservative anarchy.

7. The Ideal State

Politics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ferdinand ◽  
Robert Garner ◽  
Stephanie Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
The State ◽  
General Will ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Ideal State ◽  
Normative Analysis ◽  
Modern Politics ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter examines the basics of political philosophy, focusing in particular on what makes the state legitimate, or what is the ideal state we should be striving for. It first considers the use of normative analysis by political philosophers — that is, they are concerned with asking how the state ought to be organized and how much freedom ought individuals be granted. It then discusses the issues of consent and democracy, social contract, and the general will, along with utilitarianism as an account of state legitimacy. It also explores liberalism and liberty in relation to the state, Marxism and communitarianism, the idea of a just state, and how the traditional state focus of political theory has been challenged by globalization. Finally, it describes the influence of anarchism on modern politics and the position of anarchists with respect to the ideal state.

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