Human Nature and Political Theory: Can Biology Contribute to the Study of Politics?

1984 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger D. Masters
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
The Political ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Understanding

As part of the continuing series of “Dialogues in Biology and Politics” panels sponsored by the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences at its annual conventions, Professor Roger D. Masters was invited to review his own work over the past decade and a half in order to illustrate how that body of scholarship contributes to the political understanding of human nature.—The Editor“If any person thinks the examination of the rest of the animal kingdom an unworthy task, he must hold in like disesteem the study of man.”—Aristotle, Parts of Animals, 1.645a

The Puzzle of the Political Animal: Nature and Artifice in Aristotle's Political Theory

1994 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cary J. Nederman
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Locomotion ◽  
Political Education ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Choice ◽  
Systematic Education

Several recent scholars have raised afresh the question of what Aristotle meant in Politics 1 by the statement that men are “by nature” political, that is, are political animals. This article addresses this quandary by reference to Aristotle's psychology and his notion of political education. It is argued that by concentrating on Aristotle's theory of human locomotion and its implications for moral choice, we may identify the relation he conceived between the polis and human nature. Specifically, the ability of humans to live according to their natures requires the systematic education afforded by the laws and institutions of the polis.

Politics and the Social Order in the Work of John O'Hara

1986 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-257
Author(s):  
Lee Sigelman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Popular Fiction ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gore Vidal ◽  
Political Understanding

Classic works of fiction almost always raise “penetrating questions about the foundations and effects of the political regime, i.e. human nature and its implications for society.” But popular fiction, too, can be an instrument of social and political understanding. As Gore Vidal has argued:Writers of fiction, even more than systematic philosophers, tend to reveal unconscious presuppositions. One might even say that those writers who are the most popular are the ones who share the largest number of common assumptions with their audience, subliminally reflecting prejudices and aspirations so obvious that they are never stated and, never stated, never precisely understood or even recognized. John O'Hara is an excellent example of this kind of writer.

Ideology Hunting: The Case of James Harrington

1959 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 662-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith N. Shklar
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
English Civil War ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
History Of

It is well known that each age writes history anew to serve its own purposes and that the history of political ideas is no exception to this rule. The precise nature of these changes in perspective, however, bears investigation. For not only can their study help us to understand the past; it may also lead us to a better understanding of our own intellectual situation. In this quest the political theories of the 17th century and particularly of the English Civil War are especially rewarding. It was in those memorable years that all the major issues of modern political theory were first stated, and with the most perfect clarity. As we have come to reject the optimism of the eighteenth century, and the crude positivism of the nineteenth, we tend more and more to return to our origins in search of a new start. This involves a good deal of reinterpretation, as the intensity with which the writings of Hobbes and Locke, for instance, are being reexamined in England and America testify. These philosophical giants have, however, by the force of their ideas been able to limit the scope of interpretive license. A provocative minor writer, such as Harrington, may for this reason be more revealing. The present study is therefore not only an effort to explain more soundly Harrington's own ideas, but also to treat him as an illustration of the mutations that the art of interpreting political ideas has undergone, and, perhaps to make some suggestions about the problems of writing intellectual history in general.

The Political Theory Implicit in Social Casework Theory

1953 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 1076-1091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Keith-Lucas
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Function ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The political theory implicit in social casework theory can be defined, for purposes of this discussion, as the theory of the relationship between man and society on which professional social casework is consciously predicated, or that theory of the relationship which is logically implied by social casework practice. This theory is not often consciously articulated and we must look for it, therefore, in those presuppositions underlying casework theory which are frequently accepted uncritically, if not wholly unconsciously. This practice obviously cannot be carried on without basic (although perhaps not entirely conscious) presuppositions about what man is like and consequently about what society can or ought to do for him.The presuppositions underlying social casework theory, although important in any context, have acquired a new significance to the extent that social casework has increasingly become a government function. During the past twenty years literally millions of people in the United States have been brought into a new relationship with officials of their local, state, and national governments—namely, the relationship of client and social caseworker.

scholarly journals Allal Al-Fassi’s Utopia: Liberalism and Democracy within the Revivalist System of Thought

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-215
Author(s):  
Hamza Salih
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Project ◽  
Political Works ◽  
Political Economic

This paper examines the political writings of the Moroccan nationalist Allal Al-Fassi (1910-1974). It argues that there exists a considerable political tendency in these writings with excessive utilisation of jargon related to liberalism and political theory. In his intellectual and political project, Al-Fassi theorises about the possibility of creating a modern state on solid democratic and liberal foundations. Yet, however legitimate and seemingly liberal his theorisation might seem, the paper argues that the formation of a liberal state and a democratic society appears to be a mere dream given the fact that Al-Fassi grounds his conceptions within the Salafist and revivalist intellectual systems. Reading between the lines of his political works, nevertheless, reveals the dominance of Salafist intellections which deem the past and Islam as restorative in attaining a modern renaissance, at the political, economic, and cultural levels.  This work, thus, problematizes three central points: the political tendency of Al-Fassi’s project, his religious and Salafist remnants and conceptions, and finally the possible ideological implications and interests that Al-Fassi seems to defend.  

Taking People As They Are: Islam As a “Realistic Utopia” in the Political Theory of Sayyid Qutb

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW F. MARCH
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Prominent Feature ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Sayyid Qutb ◽  
Political Origins

This article presents an interpretation of Sayyid Qutb's political theory based on a prominent feature of his thought: the claim that Islamic law and human nature (fitra) are in perfect harmony, and that the demands of Islamic law are easy and painless for ordinary human moral capacities. I argue that Qutb is not only defending Islamic law as true and obligatory, but also as a coherent “realistic utopia”—a normative theory that also contains a psychological account of that theory's feasibility. Qutb's well-known fascination with the earliest generation of Muslims (the salaf) is an integral part of this account that serves two functions: (1) as a model of the feasibility and realism of an ideal Islamic political order, and (2) as a genealogy of the political origins of moral vice in society. Qutb's project is thus an account of exactly why and how Islam requires politics, and how modern humans can be both free and governed.

Politics, Epistemology and Method: Karl Popper's Conception of Human Nature

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Stokes
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Reform ◽  
The Political ◽  
Critical Rationalism ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Theory Of History ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Liberal Thought

Karl Popper's advocacy of freedom and toleration, his belief in the power of ideas, and the possibility of democratic social reform, place him in the more optimistic strand of liberal thought. Yet his awareness of the human needs for regularity and tradition bolster a largely conservative and pessimistic conception of human nature. Epistemologies have a central role in Popper's political programme and theory of history because they influence either the release or suppression of key human capacities. Elucidating Popper's conception of human nature shows the origins of Popper's understanding of dogmatism and violence and indicates the underlying rationale for critical rationalism. But it also explains why Popper prefers revolutions in thought among élites to those in politics among the masses. To the extent that Popper's conception of human nature is problematic, so the political theory and epistemology may also be misconceived.

“Marx and Political Theory”

1968 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Pranger
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political System ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legitimate Authority ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political World ◽  
The Will

This is a political world of power and competition for power, together with, hopefully, the legitimate authority that goes with such power; a world where ability to dominate the will of others is prized either in itself or for other ends. Politics is associated with the quest for power, as an end or means. It is not surprising, therefore, that in looking at those thinkers in the past who have focused on human relationships and organized associations, commentators should be facinated with how they looked at domination, and also, secondarily, how they viewed freedom from such domination (for example, the limits of power). In the measure that these thinkers dealt with politics, one might say, they concerned themselves with power, authority, leadership, and, coincidentally, with freedom. put another way, what is typically “political” about their views about the “political system”; that is, how they looked at the process whereby valued goods are allocated authoritatively. This “system” includes formal, publlic institutional arrangements, such as the “State”, and processes within these institutions, such as “conflict” and“conciliation”.

Some Recent Works on the Political Theories of the Medieval Canonists

Traditio ◽  
1954 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 594-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Literary History ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
International Diffusion ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
History Of

During the past decade there has been a significant shift of emphasis in work on the medieval canonists. The traditional studies on the literary history of canonistic sources and on problems of specifically ecclesiastical jurisprudence continue to flourish, and, indeed, have been stimulated by the plans for a new edition of Gratian's Decretum; but alongside this work, and complementary to it, there has appeared a new trend, a lively interest in the content and influence of canonistic doctrine concerning public law and political theory. This trend, moreover, shows all the international diffusion — and even, perhaps, something of the interplay of national susceptibilities — that its exponents have discerned in the work of the medieval canonists themselves. It is especially interesting that notable contributions have come from England and the United States as well as from the more established centers of canonistic studies.

Aristotle on the Foundations of the State

1988 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Everson
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Individual Liberty ◽  
In Virtue Of

Aristotle's Politics shows an apparent tension between a recognition of the desirability of individual liberty and his claim that ‘none of the citizens belongs to himself but all belong to the state’. We can start to resolve that tension by considering Aristotle's doctrine of man as a political animal. Artistotle offers a particular account of the nature of man according to which his specifically human capacities cannot be realized outside of the state. This is not an account adopted arbitrarily for Aristotle's political theory but follows directly from his analysis of substances in the Physics. On Aristotle's account of human nature, man is essentially rational and virtuous and the political theory allows the rational and virtuous man to be as free as possible without intefering with others. Some are less rational and are subject to authority in virtue of this. We can see that Aristotle's theory has advantages over rights-based theories since Aristotle has an account of what constitutes human flourishing, without which one cannot found rights claims.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document