Equality

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Wolff
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ronald Dworkin ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Economic Equality ◽  
Sexual Equality ◽  
History Of

To trace the history of the concept of equality in political philosophy is to explore the answers that have been given to the questions of what equality demands, and whether it is a desirable goal. Considerations of unjust inequality appear in numerous different spheres, such as citizenship, sexual equality, racial equality, and even equality between human beings and members of other species. Ancient Greek political philosophy, despite Aristotle's famous conceptual analysis of equality, is generally hostile towards the idea of social and economic equality. Plato's account of the best and most just form of the state in the Republic is a society of very clear social, political, and economic hierarchy. It is with Thomas Hobbes that the idea of equality is put to work. This article explores equality as an issue of distributive justice; equality in the history of political philosophy; equality in contemporary political philosophy; the views of Ronald Dworkin, Karl Marx, and David Hume; equality of welfare; equality, priority, and sufficiency; Amartya Sen's capability theory; and luck egalitarianism.

scholarly journals The Use ofKairosin Renaissance Political Philosophy*

2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Paul
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Important Concept ◽  
Niccolò Machiavelli ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
History Of

AbstractAlthough the Greek concept ofkairos (καιρός)has undergone a recent renewal of interest among scholars of Renaissance rhetoric, this revival has not yet been paralleled by its reception into the history of political thought. This article examines the meanings and uses of this important concept within the ancient Greek tradition, particularly in the works of Isocrates and Plutarch, in order to understand how it is employed by two of the most important political thinkers of the sixteenth century: Thomas Elyot and Niccolò Machiavelli. Through such an investigation this paper argues that an appreciation of the concept ofkairosand its use by Renaissance political writers provides a fuller understanding of the political philosophy of the period.

scholarly journals “They declared war and made their decision to prefer might to right”: Thucydides on the use of force among states

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Marcelo Araújo
Keyword(s):  
Historical Period ◽  
Peloponnesian War ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Strategic Value ◽  
Original Plan ◽  
Causes Of War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Source Of Information

When we think of the contributions made by the ancient Greek, the philosophy of Socrates and Plato, the plays by Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, or the historical thinking of Herodotus and Thucydides may come to or minds. Between the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, Athens set the stage for unprecedented cultural developments in the history of humankind. However, we sometimes forget that the historical period in which these authors lived and produced their masterpieces was also a time of war and plague. Some way or other, all these authors participated in the Peloponnesian War. And the Athenians, who were a major power at the beginning of the conflict, emerged as the defeated party in the end.The main source of information we have about the Peloponnesian War is Thucydides’ work known as the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides took an active part in the war as a general on the Athenian side. But after failing to protect a city, of strategic value for the Athenians, he lost his position as a general and was forced into exile. It is in the exile, then, that Thucydides writes the Peloponnesian War, seeking to take into consideration the accounts provided by all parties involved in the conflict. The text, though, remained unfinished. And it is unclear whether the order of chapters, as displayed in most modern editions, matches Thucydides’ original plan. It is not my intention here to examine the structure of the Peloponnesian War as a whole. My goal is far more modest: I intend to focus only on a few specific passages in which Thucydides discusses the causes of war and the reasons for violent conflict among human beings.

Epilogue

2020 ◽  
pp. 298-302
Author(s):  
Chiara Cordelli
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Organizational Theory ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Competitive Markets ◽  
Free World ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Particularism ◽  
Philosophical Foundations ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
State Authority

This chapter reviews the abstract reflection on the philosophical foundations of democratic state authority and the more mundane details of administrative decision that make their contextual bases. It covers a set of theoretical spaces that range from Kantian universalism to moral particularism, from conceptual analysis to the interpretation of legal doctrines, and from political philosophy to organizational theory. It also discusses the principle of politics that is drawn from experiential cognition of human beings, which have in view the mechanism for administering right and how it can be managed appropriately. The chapter analyses the claim that neoliberalism, of which the privatization of governance is a signature feature, is haunted by an internal and irresolvable contradiction between ideology and practice. It explores neoliberalism as an ideology that promises a free world where individuals or entrepreneurs can fully realize and express their independent selves through free and competitive markets.

Life and Works

2019 ◽  
pp. 3-27
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
David Hume ◽  
John Locke ◽  
George Washington ◽  
John Adams ◽  
James I ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of

This biographical introduction begins with the formation of Catharine Macaulay’s political ideas from when, as Catharine Sawbridge, she lived at the family estate. It follows her through her mature development as the celebrated female historian, to her death in 1791, as Mrs. Macaulay Graham. It notes the influence on her of writings of John Milton, Algernon Sidney, and John Locke as well as other republican works. It covers her marriage to the physician and midwife George Macaulay, and sets out the circumstances which led to the composition, and influence of, her History of England from the Accession of James I (HEAJ). The content of her histories, political philosophy, ethical and educational views, and criticisms of the philosophers David Hume, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Edmund Burke are sketched, and it is argued that her enlightenment radicalism was grounded in Christian eudaimonism, resulting in a form of rational altruism, according to which human happiness depends on the cultivation of the self as a moral individual. It deals with her engagement with individuals in North America before and after the American Revolution, in particular her exchanges with, John Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Benjamin Rush, and George Washington, and also recounts her contacts with influential players in the French Revolution, in particular, Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville and Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti count of Mirabeau. The introduction concludes with her influence on Mary Wollstonecraft and an overview of her mature political philosophy as summarized in her response to Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France.

“The Natural History of My Inward Self”: Sensing Character in George Eliot's Impressions of Theophrastus Such

PMLA ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Pearl Brilmyer
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sensory Enhancement ◽  
Affective Dynamics ◽  
Habitual Responses ◽  
Individual Human

A large body of Eliot scholarship is dedicated to the question of human sympathy. My essay moves in a different direction, arguing that Eliot saw literature not only as a medium for intersubjective understanding but also as an amplificatory technology, a tool for sensory enhancement. This technology is embodied by the affective dynamics of character in Eliot's final published work, Impressions of Theophrastus Such (1879), a collection of character sketches and philosophical essays composed in conversation with the ancient Greek naturalist and sketch writer Theophrastus of Eresus. In Impressions Eliot invokes the descriptive traditions of natural history and the character sketch to suggest that human beings, like other animals, are conditioned by bodily frameworks and habitual responses that allow them to sense some things and not others. A meditation also on the history of characterization itself, Impressions puts pressure on the modern association of character with individual human psychology.

The Marxian Tradition

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrell Carver
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
World War ◽  
Revolutionary Change ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Historical Progress ◽  
History Of ◽  
Friedrich Engels

Karl Marx (1818–1883) and his sometime collaborator and long-term friend, Friedrich Engels (1820–1895), are rightly regarded as the founders of a highly significant tradition in the history of political philosophy. However, this was never their aim at the time of writing. Their relationship to politics as activists, and their broad political orientations as socialists, were both clear from the early stages of their careers. The Marxian tradition, established as such in Marx's later lifetime, was certainly one of political thought and action, but the reception of these ideas and selected texts into the mainstream and canon of the Anglophone history of political philosophy was largely a post-World War II development. The portmanteau term Marxism occludes a number of contextually crucial distinctions that bear on philosophical and other interpretative issues connected with the Marxian tradition. In general terms, the Marxian tradition contributes to the history of political philosophy by highlighting economic activity, social class, exploitation, the state, ideology, historical progress, revolutionary change, and a “good society” that is socialist or communist in character.

Book Reviews: Philosophy and the Historical Understanding, Transcendent Justice: The Religious Dimension of Constitutionalism, Papist Pamphleteers: The Allen-Persons Party and the Political Thought of the Counter-Reformation in England, 1572–1615, The Moral and Political Philosophy of David Hume, Statesmanship and Party Government, Readings from Liberal Writers: English and French, Middlingness: Juste Milieu Political Theory in England and France, 1815–1848, Intellectuals in Politics, Herder's Social and Political Thought: From Enlightenment to Nationalism, Karl Marx and the British Labour Movement, before the Socialists, Marx, Engels and Australia, The Basic Writings of Trotsky, Equality and Power, Equality in Political Philosophy, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups, Human Law and Human Justice, Labourrelations and the Law, Human Freedom and Responsibility, Politik Und Praktische Philosophie, Theorie Und Praxis, Democracy in a Changing Society, A Framework for Political Analysis, A Systems Analysis of Political Life, The Science and Method of Politics, The Future of Political Science, Introduction to Politics, Political and Sociological Theory and its Applications, The Laws of War in the Late Middle Ages, A Study of War, A Dictionary of the Social Sciences, Modern British Politics, Politics in England, The British Political Fringe, Les Partis Politiques En Grande Bretagne, The Conservative Party in Opposition 1945–51, The Liberal Party, The British General Election of 1964, Colour and the British Electorate, Immigration and Race in British Politics, Power in Co-Operatives, Constituency Politics, Town Councillors: A Study of Barking

1966 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 380-414
Author(s):  
Peter Munz ◽  
W. H. Greenleaf ◽  
John Day ◽  
T. D. Campbell ◽  
Morton R. Davies ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Political Life ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Juste Milieu

scholarly journals ABOUT THE SEQUENCE OF CREATION OF PLATO’S WORKS AS HIS PROGRESSIVE ASCENT TO THE APEX OF TRANSCENDENTAL THOUGHT

2018 ◽  
pp. 458-475
Author(s):  
Vyacheslav M. Meshkov
Keyword(s):  
Karl Marx ◽  
Considerable Extent ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Historical Reconstruction ◽  
Existential Analysis ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Actual Problem ◽  
Research Task ◽  
History Of

Introduction. The purpose of the article is to study the actual problem of the creative heritage of Plato’s historical interrelation of his works as they are created. Unfortunately, this work of paramount importance in the study of Platonism is still largely not completed. Materials and methods. The author used the methods of historical and logical, empirical and theoretical, as well as thematic and existential analysis. The method of considering the material developed by Karl Marx in the dialectical interrelation of the historical and logical aspects of its construction essentially helps in the affairs of historical reconstruction. Discussion. The peculiarity of the epistemological situation in which Plato remained was expressed in the fact that he was forced to proceed practically from a pure empirical language of observation. Therefore, in his philosophical studies, he had to display remarkable constructive abilities to create complex abstract-theoretical constructs from a poor arsenal of verbal means of the emerging secular ancient Greek language. In the history of world philosophy, I do not know a deeper and more productive philosopher in this regard. In working with Plato’s texts these points should be monitored. With the help of a thematic approach, an opportunity has been opened to study the formation and development of the main themes and concepts of Plato’s philosophy, developed in his dialogues, and build them in the appropriate sequence of their creation. Since the works of the great Athenian sage are to a considerable extent confessional in nature, the analysis of the existential component presented in them greatly helped to solve the research task. The Results of the Study. Using the above methods allowed us to build a fairly reasonable and productive version of the historical sequence of the creation of works of Plato. Keywords: transcendental discourse, transcendental philosophy, patriarch of western philosophy, true being, transcendental being, writer-philosopher.

Emotions, philosophy of

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Working Together ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Right

Emotions have always played a role in philosophy, even if philosophers have usually denied them centre stage. Because philosophy has so often been described as first and foremost a discipline of reason, the emotions have often been neglected or attacked as primitive, dangerous or irrational. Socrates reprimanded his pupil Crito, advising that we should not give in to our emotions, and some of the ancient Stoic philosophers urged a life of reason free from the enslavement of the emotions, a life of apatheia (apathy). In Buddhism, too, much attention has been given to the emotions, which are treated as ‘agitations’ or klesas. Buddhist ‘liberation’, like the Stoic apatheia, becomes a philosophical ideal, freedom from the emotions. Philosophers have not always downgraded the emotions, however. Aristotle defended the view that human beings are essentially rational animals, but he also stressed the importance of having the right emotions. David Hume, the eighteenth-century empiricist, insisted that ‘reason is, and ought to be, the slave of the passions’. In the nineteenth century, although Hegel described the history of philosophy as the development of reason he also argued that ‘nothing great is ever done without passion’. Much of the history of philosophy can be told in terms of the shifting relationship between the emotions (or ‘passions’) and reason, which are often at odds, at times seem to be at war, but ideally should be in harmony. Thus Plato painted a picture of the soul as a chariot with three horses, reason leading the appetites and ‘the spirited part’, working together. Nietzsche, at the end of the nineteenth century, suggested that ‘every passion contains its own quantum of reason’. Nietzsche’s suggestion, that emotion and reason are not really opposites but complementary or commingled, has been at the heart of much of the debate about emotions since ancient times. Are emotions intelligent, or are they simply physical reactions? Are they mere ‘feelings’, or do they play a vital role in philosophy and in our lives?

Lectures on the History of Moral and Political Philosophy

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Wolff ◽  
G. A. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
David Hume ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Volume Editor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theory Of History

G. A. Cohen was one of the leading political philosophers of recent times. He first came to wide attention in 1978 with the prize-winning book Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence. In subsequent decades his published writings largely turned away from the history of philosophy, focusing instead on equality, freedom, and justice. However, throughout his career he regularly lectured on a wide range of moral and political philosophers of the past. This volume collects these previously unpublished lectures. Starting with a chapter centered on Plato, but also discussing the pre-Socratics as well as Aristotle, the book moves to social contract theory as discussed by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and David Hume, and then continues with chapters on Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel, and Friedrich Nietzsche. The book also contains some previously published but uncollected papers on Marx, Hobbes, and Kant, among other figures. The collection concludes with a memoir of Cohen written by the volume editor who was a student of Cohen's. A hallmark of the lectures is Cohen's engagement with the thinkers he discusses. Rather than simply trying to render their thought accessible to the modern reader, he tests whether their arguments and positions are clear, sound, and free from contradiction. Ultimately, his lectures teach us not only about some of the great thinkers in the history of moral and political philosophy, but also about one of the great thinkers of our time: Cohen himself.

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