The Juristic Conception of the State

1918 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. W. Willoughby
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Communal Life ◽  
Practical Standpoint ◽  
Phases Of Development ◽  
Ethical Criteria ◽  
Point Of Departure

A society of human individuals viewed as a politically organized unit is termed a state. The state, which, in its various activities and forms of organization, furnishes the material for political science, may be regarded from a number of standpoints. It may be studied sociologically as one of the factors as well as one of the results of communal life; it may be examined historically for the purpose of ascertaining the part which it has played in the life of humanity, its varying phases of development being traced and their several causes and results determined; it may be considered as an entity, to the existence and activities of which are to be applied the ethical criteria which the moralist and philosopher establish; it may be psychologically surveyed in order to make plain the manifestations of will, emotion and judgment which support and characterize its life; it may be regarded from the purely practical standpoint to determine how it may be most efficiently organized and operated; and, finally, it may be envisaged and studied simply as an instrumentality for the creation and enforcement of law. It is with the state, as viewed in this last aspect, that analytical political philosophy is concerned.The point of departure of the analytical jurist is that in all communities which have reached any degree of definite political organization, public affairs, whether domestic or international, are not carried on in a haphazard manner, without system or fixed principles, but are governed by bodies of rules logically related to one another and all depending, as deductive conclusions, upon certain assumptions regarding the juristic nature of the state, of its sovereignty, of its law, and of the relations which it bears towards other bodies politic as similarly viewed.

The Muslim Tradition of Political Philosophy

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahrough Akhavi
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Epistemological Foundation ◽  
The Individual

The doctrine of salvation in Islam centers on the community of believers. Contemporary Muslim political philosophy (or, preferably, political theory) covers a broad expanse that brings under its rubric at least two diverse tendencies: an approach that stresses the integration of religion and politics, and an approach that insists on their separation. Advocates of the first approach seem united in their desire for the “Islamization of knowledge,” meaning that the epistemological foundation of understanding and explanation in all areas of life, including all areas of political life, must be “Islamic.” Thus, one needs to speak of an “Islamic anthropology,” an “Islamic sociology,” an “Islamic political science,” and so on. But there is also a distinction that one may make among advocates of this first approach. Moreover, one can say about many, perhaps most, advocates of the first approach that they feel an urgency to apply Islamic law throughout all arenas of society. This article focuses on the Muslim tradition of political philosophy and considers the following themes: the individual and society, the state, and democracy.

Morality and the State

2019 ◽  
pp. 13-27
Author(s):  
Dan Moller
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Interpersonal Level

This chapter argues that moral norms constrain the state. It rejects the idea that a group of people forming a polity can appeal to emergent norms that contravene the morality we accept at the interpersonal level. This means that the state may not do things to individuals that appropriately situated individuals may not do to each other. It also argues that we should ignore revisionist versions of utilitarianism when doing political philosophy. Revisionist utilitarianism may be true, but that truth would upend so much of what we believe that we are better off setting it aside in a book that is about political organization.

scholarly journals Political Cosmogony

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 45-54
Author(s):  
Daniel Nunes Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The Unconscious

This essay intends to draw parallels between theories concerning the origins of the State and religion. The similarities are evident in three different matrices, namely, the Myth, the Domination and the Unconscious, studied, respectively, by Phenomenology, Sociology and Psychoanalysis, whereupon, from the perspective of Political Philosophy, the importance of rituals and signs is investigated. Furthermore, this essay undertakes to understand to what extent State and political organization can be parallelized to various cosmogonic and theogonic myths.

What is The State?

2019 ◽  
pp. 7-30
Author(s):  
Holly Lawford-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Intentional Action ◽  
The State ◽  
Alternative Conceptions ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Government Administration ◽  
Collective Agent ◽  
National Governments

Chapter 2 focuses on alternative conceptions of the state. It presents several different models of the state drawn from different academic disciplines: political science, international relations, political philosophy, and international law. These include states as political leaders; states as unified national governments; states as defined in the Montevideo Convention; states as the citizenry taken together (at least in democratic states); states as competing organizations; and states as competing leaders of organizations. It is argued that particular attention should be paid to two of these models: the citizenry taken together (because this accords well with ordinary intuitions about what the state is), and a version of the unified national governments model that restricts membership in the state to those involved in the wider government administration. Both of these models are taken forward into Chapters 3 and 4 (respectively), in asking whether each group counts as a collective agent, capable of intentional action.

The state of political science, 2020

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Rom Jensen ◽  
Jonathon W. Moses
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
The State

The Open Society and the Democracy to Come: Bergson, Deleuze and Guattari

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 352-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Baugh
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The State ◽  
Open Society ◽  
Minor Literature ◽  
Deleuze And Guattari ◽  
The People ◽  
To Come ◽  
Polar Opposite ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Gain Access

In Bergsonism, Deleuze refers to Bergson's concept of an ‘open society’, which would be a ‘society of creators’ who gain access to the ‘open creative totality’ through acting and creating. Deleuze and Guattari's political philosophy is oriented toward the goal of such an open society. This would be a democracy, but not in the sense of the rule of the actually existing people, but the rule of ‘the people to come,’ for in the actually existing situation, such a people is ‘lacking’. When the people becomes a society of creators, the result is a society open to the future, creativity and the new. Their openness and creative freedom is the polar opposite of the conformism and ‘herd mentality’ condemned by Deleuze and Nietzsche, a mentality which is the basis of all narrow nationalisms (of ethnicity, race, religion and creed). It is the freedom of creating and commanding, not the Kantian freedom to obey Reason and the State. This paper uses Bergson's The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, and Deleuze and Guattari's Kafka: For a Minor Literature, A Thousand Plateaus and What is Philosophy? to sketch Deleuze and Guattari's conception of the open society and of a democracy that remains ‘to come’.

“Promising” Ideas: Hobbes and contract in Spinoza’s political philosophy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Garrett
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The State ◽  
Key Topics ◽  
The Right ◽  
Good And Evil

Like Hobbes, Spinoza prominently invokes promising and contracts (covenants) in his discussion of the foundations of the state—primarily, but not exclusively, in his Theological-Political Treatise. His understanding of their nature and significance, however, differs in important ways from that of Hobbes. This chapter poses four related puzzles concerning Spinoza’s claims about promises and contracts as they invoke or relate specifically to Hobbes: “whether the right of nature is preserved intact”; whether “reason urges peace in all circumstances”; whether breaking a promise is ever “in accordance with reason”; and whether one is obligated to keep a pledge extorted by a robber. Next, it analyzes and compares the doctrines of Hobbes and Spinoza on several key topics: rights and powers, good and evil, reason and passion, and faith and deception (both “evil deception” [“dolus malus”] and “good deception” [“dolus bonus”]). Finally, it employs these doctrines to resolve the four puzzles.

Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, Volume 3

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Just War Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Personal Morality ◽  
George Sher ◽  
Parent Child Relationships ◽  
David Enoch

This volume features ten papers in political philosophy, addressing a range of central topics and represent cutting-edge work in the field. Papers in the first part look at equality and justice: Keith Hyams examines the contribution of ex ante equality to ex post fairness; Elizabeth Anderson looks at equality from a political economy perspective; Serena Olsaretti’s paper studies liberal equality and the moral status of parent–child relationships; and George Sher investigates doing justice to desert. In the second part, papers address questions of state legitimacy: Ralf Bader explores counterfactual justifications of the state; David Enoch examines political philosophy and epistemology; and Seth Lazar and Laura Valentini look at proxy battles in just war theory. The final three papers cover social issues that are not easily understood in terms of personal morality, yet which need not centrally involve the state: the moral neglect of negligence (Seana Valentine Shiffrin), the case for collective pensions (Michael Otsuka); and authority and harm (Jonathan Parry).

Combating Problems in Teaching State and Local Government

1981 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 19-20
Author(s):  
Mary H. Waite
Keyword(s):  
Community Colleges ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
The State ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Science Instructors

Because many political science instructors come from another region or state; they feel insufficiently informed in teaching about the state and local government wherein they presently reside. Consequently, instructors generalize about these governments. Yet in many public universities and community colleges, students find the politics in their area pertinent and care less for comparative analysis. In truth, the students probably have a valid point, since the majority will reside in the state where they are attending college.

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