1. Introduction

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Kymlicka
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Ronald Dworkin ◽  
Fundamental Idea ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
The Relationship

This edition provides an introduction to the major schools of thought that dominate contemporary debates in political philosophy. The focus is on theories which have attracted a certain allegiance, and which offer a more or less comprehensive vision of the ideals of politics. The text examines the notion, advanced by Ronald Dworkin, that every plausible political theory has the same ultimate value, which is equality. It considers another, more abstract and more fundamental, idea of equality in political theory — namely, the idea of treating people ‘as equals’. It also explores what it might mean for libertarianism to have freedom as its foundational value, or for utilitarianism to have utility as its foundational value. Finally, it analyses the relationship between moral and political philosophy and argues that the ultimate test of a theory of justice is that it should be concordant with, and help illuminate, our convictions of justice.

Kant’s Political Philosophy as a Theory of Non-Ideal Normativity

Kant-Studien ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Horn
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Categorical Imperative ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract:Kant’s political philosophy confronts its interpreters with a crucial difficulty: it is far from clear if (or how) Kant, in his political theory, makes use of the Categorical Imperative (CI). It is notoriously demanding to clarify the relationship that exists between his political thought on the one hand and the ethics of the

Sovereignty and freedom: Immanuel Kant's liberal internationalist ‘legacy’

2001 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTONIO FRANCESCHET
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Freedom ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
The Relationship

This article explores a fundamental division among contemporary liberal internationalists regarding the relationship between state sovereignty and the goal of freedom. The article suggests that, in spite of his popular status among a wide variety of contemporary liberal international theorists, Immanuel Kant's political philosophy is an extraordinarily ambiguous ‘legacy’ because of the dualistic doctrine of state sovereignty to which he subscribed. Kant's thought is committed to state sovereignty while providing the grounds for a profound critique of its existence. The reason that sovereignty is ambiguous in Kant's political theory is that it is justified by his bifurcated understanding of human freedom.

scholarly journals On the difference between the reasonable and the rational in normative political theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-146
Author(s):  
Ivan Mladenovic
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Fair Principles ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Normative Political Theory

In this paper I will explore the importance of making the difference between the reasonable and the rational for normative political theory. The starting point of my analysis is Rawls?s distinction between the rational and the reasonable in his later political philosophy. For Rawls one of the main characteristics of reasonable persons is that they are able to offer the justifications for their actions, but also for fair principles of cooperation, in terms of reasons that all can accept. There are many criticisms of this view of reasonable persons and its role within normative political theory. My main concern, however, is whether the presupposition of reasonableness is necessary if one already assumes that all individuals are rational. I will argue that not only the reasonable, but the relationship between the reasonable and the rational is crucially important for normative political theory.

scholarly journals Individual morality and the morality of institutions

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Scanlon
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Moral Standards ◽  
The Relationship

This paper discusses the relationship between moral philosophy and political philosophy. It holds that political philosophy in some way is part of moral philosophy as the former deals with the content of moral standards governing the relations between individuals and institutions. That would be the purpose of the ?morality of institutions?, while the so-called "individual morality" would inform the standards applicable to individuals. On the basis of a conception of individual morality as it relates to contractualism and a discussion of the morality of institutions that closely follows John Rawls? theory of justice, the paper addresses the question of the foundations of the obligation to comply with institution-defined standards that are directed towards individuals. At the end, it focuses in particular on the difficulty of rationalizing that obligation in the case of unjust institutions.

Modern Political Philosophy and Prehistoric Anthropology: Some Preliminary Issues

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Widerquist ◽  
Grant S. McCall
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
The State ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Theory Section ◽  
To Receive ◽  
The Relationship

Because this book involves two very different academic disciplines, political philosophy and anthropology, some background about the relevant topics in each one is helpful. In this chapter, Section 1 introduces the relevant political theory. Section 2 discusses some of the anthropological methods and conceptual issues involved in the examination of the evidence relevant to these philosophical arguments. Section 3 discusses how the state and the state of nature are defined in relation to each other. Section 4 addresses some responses this book is likely to receive. Section 5 discusses the relationship between this book and modern indigenous peoples.

scholarly journals Historicizing Rawls

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Sophie Smith
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Archival Studies ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Early Readers ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time

The opening, in 2004, of John Rawls's personal archive prompted a new wave of Rawls scholarship. This work has deepened our understanding of the development and impact of Rawls's ideas and of the broader contours of twentieth-century analytical political philosophy. This article places these recent archival histories, for the first time, in the context of the longer history of attempts to historicize Rawls, beginning with the publication of A Theory of Justice fifty years ago. Doing so does three things. First, it shows that early readers were more interested in how to think historically about Rawls than is sometimes assumed. Second, it reveals that partisan accounts of Rawls's place in history, popularized by those close to him, have sometimes made their way into the archival studies. Third and finally, it offers an opportunity to rethink how the twentieth-century history of political philosophy and political theory is often told.

scholarly journals Scipio’s Rome and Critias’ Athens: Utopian Mythmaking in Cicero’s De Republica and Plato’s Timaeus

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Evan Dutmer ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
De Legibus ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Relationship

Scholarly debate on the relationship between Cicero’s De republica (On the Republic) and De Legibus (On the Laws) and the thought of Plato tends to focus on the supposed congruities or incongruities of the De republica and De legibus with Plato’s own Republic and Laws. Still, Plato’s discussion of ideal constitutions is not constrained to the Republic and Laws. In this essay I propose that we look to another of Plato’s dialogues for fruitful comparison: the Timaeus-Critias duology. In this essay I bring these two texts into substantive dialogue to illuminate mysterious features of both. Sketched in these complementary passages, I think, is an outline for a particular kind of approach to political theory, one proposed as novel by Cicero’s Laelius, but, as this essay hopes to show, with an interesting forerunner in Plato. I’ve called this approach ‘retrospective ideal political philosophy’ (RIPP). I end my essay with a few prospective theoretical notes on how this approach binds these two texts together.

On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice, and Other Essays in Political Philosophy

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Amartya Sen ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Ronald Dworkin ◽  
Isaiah Berlin ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Egalitarian Justice

G. A. Cohen was one of the most gifted, influential, and progressive voices in contemporary political philosophy. At the time of his death in 2009, he had plans to bring together a number of his most significant papers. This is the first of three volumes to realize those plans. Drawing on three decades of work, it contains previously uncollected articles that have shaped many of the central debates in political philosophy, as well as papers published here for the first time. In these pieces, Cohen asks what egalitarians have most reason to equalize, he considers the relationship between freedom and property, and he reflects upon ideal theory and political practice. Included here are classic essays such as “Equality of What?” and “Capitalism, Freedom, and the Proletariat,” along with more recent contributions such as “Fairness and Legitimacy in Justice,” “Freedom and Money,” and the previously unpublished “How to Do Political Philosophy.” On ample display throughout are the clarity, rigor, conviction, and wit for which Cohen was renowned. Together, these essays demonstrate how his work provides a powerful account of liberty and equality to the left of Ronald Dworkin, John Rawls, Amartya Sen, and Isaiah Berlin.

scholarly journals Hercules in the Colombian Constitutional Court

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Iván Garzón Vallejo ◽  
Cristian Rojas González
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Ronald Dworkin ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
State Neutrality ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Law Clerks

Abstract This paper explores how the Colombian Constitutional Court has used the legal and political philosophy of Ronald Dworkin to show that the use of the concepts of rights as trump cards, individual autonomy, and state neutrality, have configured the reception of egalitarian liberalism. This conclusion is reached by means of an analysis of the meaning and use of these concepts in certain judicial decisions and of personal interviews with certain head justices and law clerks of said Court, which also made it possible to frame this question within the larger issue of the relationship of philosophy to the decisions of the judges.

Political philosophy, Indian

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sohail Inayatullah
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Material World ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Priestly Class ◽  
The Relationship

While Western political theory has been framed as the struggle between the state and the individual, Indian political philosophy has been more concerned with issues of self-liberation, morality and leadership. Until recently, with the advent of institutionalized or syndicated Hinduism, Indian society made a softer distinction between state and religion. Classical Indian political theory, as with Kauṭilya, centred on axioms on how to maintain and expand power. Kauṭilya argued that reason, the edicts of the king, and his own rules of governance, the Arthaśāstra, were as important for decision-making as the ancient religious treatises, which defined social structure and one’s duty to family, caste and God. With the exception of the Arthaśāstra, politics was expressed through the ability not so much to govern as to define social and moral responsibility, what one could or could not do and who could oversee these rules. Like all civilizations, India had periods of rule by accumulators of capital and traders, warriors and kings, and Brahmans and monks; there were also revolts by peasants. Still, philosophy was in the hands of the Brahmans, the priestly class. This philosophy was primarily not about artha (economic gain) or kāma (pleasure), but about dharma (virtue) and mokṣa (liberation from the material world). The attainment of salvation, of release from the bonds of karma, was far more important than the relationship between the individual and the sovereign, as was the case in Western political philosophy.

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