Political philosophy

Marx, Karl. “After the Revolution.” In Princeton Readings in Political Thought. Edited by Mitchell Cohen and Nicole Fermon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996. This very short essay, from the much longer “Critique of the Gotha Program,” highlights some of the key concepts of Marx’ ideas about the situation society would be in directly following the dissolution of capitalism. This is where the concepts of each according to his ability, to each according to his work, and “From…

John Stuart Mill Biography John Stuart Mill was born in London on May 20, 1802. He was an economist, philosopher and political theorist. He was the eldest of nine children of historian and economist, James Mill and his wife, Harriet Barrow Mill. By the age of fourteen, John had learned Greek, Latin, mathematics, history, logic and political economy. At the age of fourteen, John went to pursue his studies in France and in the following years, he edited Jeremy Bentham’s manuscripts on the theory…

Enlightenment Era consisted of numerous changes in politics, philosophy, and government. France had always been ruled under kings and his supporters, however, the common citizens grew impatient with this form of government and started questioning whether or not it was the best style. Jean Jacques Rousseau greatly impacted the changes in government during the Enlightenment Era. Rousseau, like the other philosophes, pushed to benefit the social and political power of the common citizen. He argued…

The purpose of a political letter is to try to inform and convince the audience to think about a problem that should be of public interest, however, the audience is what makes the letter powerful. The audience sets the context and message of the letter. An example is, Martin Luther King’s infamous “Letter from Birmingham jail”. This letter shows that the audience of a political letter can be much more than just the directly announced audience. Eight Alabama clergymen issued a letter to King…

John Locke (1632-1704) is another modern political philosopher who also had strong views on political nature, but differed from Hobbes. One of Locke’s main hopes through his writing is to destroy the idea of monarchial theory: “it is impossible that the rulers now on earth should make any benefit, or derive any the least shadow of authority from that, which is held to be the fountain of all power, Adam 's private dominion and paternal jurisdiction; so that he that will not give just occasion to…

The Enlightenment, taking place in France and dominating European philosophy during the eighteenth-century, gave birth to many new ideas regarding legitimacy of authority and governmental power. Many philosophers of the time such as Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Hobbes, and Locke had many different ideal forms of government and major beliefs, shaping today’s world. Rousseau wrote that the process made by civilization and enlightenment had corrupted the human nature. Montesquieu had a…

American began to form a separate identity from England during the American Revolution and the early years of the nationhood, they began to rely on a universally appealing ideology of liberty. This unified them ideologically but also highlighted the political, social, and economic divisions of the early republic. Geography underscored those tensions by creating literal and figurative divisions among the newly formed American people. The ideology of independence and the continental geography…

Legalism is all about politics and how you should rule an empire. It “is a classical chinese philosophy that emphasizes the need for order above all other human concerns”(Legalism and Chinese Philosophy 1). Harsh punishment was used and effective to keeping people in line and so that people would behave morally. Legalism arose in response to the period of warring states. They needed a strong military power and “..., believed that part of strengthening rules was to force everyone to simply obey…

Supreme Court justices do have personal views. They are appointed through a political process. Observers naturally must ask how great a role their political views actually play. Some scholars argue that the justices’ political preferences play a large role, essentially dictating their decisions in many cases. They point to the fact that justices appointed by conservative presidents tend to vote in a conservative fashion and those appointed by liberal presidents vote the opposite way. The…

Throughout philosophy, there have been many different philosophers with their ideas of how the topic and ideas should be. Two philosophers that have shown this many times are Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Both of them have their ideas and thoughts on the state of nature. What is the state of nature like, and what motives this philosopher to form these ideas, forms or social contracts? In my opinion, I believe that one philosopher have a better point being made, to make sure that there are…