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Brief Definitions
- Autonomy - A group or individual who has the ability to govern themselves, make decisions and act upon those decisions. Self-Government.
- Democracy – A government ruled by the people, and consisting of ‘the people’.
- Direct Democracy – Electors (the people) vote on every Government Issue.
- Representative – Electors vote in a person to represent ‘the people’.
- Ideology – A set of rules, morals and political views that governments base their ideals on. Usually includes a view of human nature.
- Social Contract – The mutual agreement between the people and the government on issues that affect the country and the people within, such as rights and duties.
- Theocracy – Government, which subscribes to the ideals of religion. Rule by god.
- Tyranny – Government by one unelected individual who imposes his will upon the population.
- Note: Some Tyrannies may be elected into power through deception. Eg, Hitler’s German Nazi Party
- Capitalism – A society in which everybody works for their own gain, and/or financial development. Can lead to massive growth in middle classes.
Political Philosophy is aimed at analysing how a society works and how they are governed by a ruling power. It seeks to evaluate the different ethical and political standpoints in different political parties, and analyse how they affect the citizens of the country/state. Some key ideologies include;
- Conservatism
- Tradition and custom is more important than change, unless change is desperately needed.
- Will tend to view human nature as innately selfish.
- It is government’s job to create legislation in order to provide a secure and supportive social context in which people can realise their full potential. Concentrates on maximising Positive Freedom.
- If Thomas Hobbes had lived in the modern era, he would probably have been conservative.
- Liberalism
- The individual should have the maximum liberty possible as long as his actions affect only him.
- Socialism
- Response to Capitalism. Government in which wealth and state owned property is distributed among the population. According to Marx, the Proletariat rises against the bourgeoisie and seizes the privately owned property.
- Anarchism
- Abolishment of the state. Individuals live together in harmony, usually in groups, and work for the survival and benefit of that group.
Types of Government
Democracy
- Literally means, “Rule by the People”
- Criticised by Plato as “committing the conduct of state affairs to the whims of the multitude”. The people do not have the political experience to be able to make decisions that are best for everybody. Instead, people tend to vote for things that they want rather than what they need.
Two types of democracy –
- Representative Democracy – Electors (aka, ‘the people’) vote a representative into government who will carry out the will of the people. This is the type of government that is seen in many western countries today. The person voted in will be expected to vote for issues that concern the multitude most, as he is the ‘figurehead’ of the people.
- Sometimes the elected representatives do not always carry out the will of the people, but more so the will of the ruling majority.
- The horse is taken to water and made to drink. In this context, it means that ‘the people’ can not nominate a representative for the vote. The people are only given a choice between several government nominated individuals, whether they reflect the true will of the people or not
- Direct Democracy – All the electors are gathered to vote on every Government Issue. An example of a Direct Democracy would be Plato’s Athens, which in those times only housed about 250,000 people. Out of those, 50000 would be entitled to vote on every Government Issue at hand. As Athens grew though, it became too hard to continue using this system, so it is much easier for governments to use an individual to represent the multitude.
Also See
Comments
These notes are aimed at A Level Philosophy students for the module on 'Political Philosophy'.
Originally written by coldplasma on TSR Forums.
