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SECTION A
1. In your own words, define and provide relevant examples from political philosophy of the
following concepts:
Question 1: Empiricism
Empiricism is the epistemological position that knowledge arises primarily from sensory experience.
It asserts that humans are born as a tabula rasa (blank slate), and all ideas, concepts, and justified
beliefs derive from empirical evidence—what we see, hear, touch, taste, or smell. Reason alone,
without experience, cannot yield substantive knowledge about the world. In political philosophy,
empiricism leads to a focus on observable institutions, behaviours, and historical outcomes rather
than abstract metaphysical principles.
Example from political philosophy:
John Locke’s political theory in Two Treatises of Government (1689) is grounded in empiricism.
Locke rejected innate ideas about authority and instead argued that legitimate government arises
from the consensual agreement of individuals based on their experienced needs (life, liberty,
property). He derived political principles from observed human behaviour and historical examples of
social cooperation, not from divine right or pure reason (Locke, 1689). Later, David Hume extended
this by arguing that political rules are conventions born from repeated experience of utility, not from
rational a priori contracts (Hume, 1739).
Question 2: Teleology
Teleology is the philosophical explanation of phenomena in terms of their purposes, ends, or final
causes (from Greek telos, meaning “end” or “goal”). A teleological account holds that something is
best understood by what it is for or what it naturally aims to achieve, rather than merely by its
material components or efficient causes. In political philosophy, teleology often implies that human
societies, laws, or individuals have a natural or divinely ordained purpose toward which they should
strive.
Example from political philosophy:
Aristotle’s Politics (c. 350 BCE) is a classic teleological work. He argues that every community aims
at some good, and the highest community (the polis) aims at the highest good—human flourishing
(eudaimonia). For Aristotle, humans are “political animals” whose natural telos is to live virtuously
in a just state. Thus, political institutions are evaluated by how well they enable citizens to realise
their inherent purpose: rational, ethical activity (Aristotle, c. 350 BCE/1984). Similarly, Thomas
Aquinas integrated Aristotelian teleology into Christian political thought, arguing that human law
must direct citizens toward their ultimate end (God), with temporal authority serving the purpose of
moral virtue (Aquinas, c. 1270).
, Question 3: Existentialism
Existentialism is a philosophical movement centred on individual existence, freedom, and
subjectivity. It typically rejects predetermined essences (including teleological or divine blueprints),
holding instead that “existence precedes essence”: humans are born without a fixed nature and must
create meaning and values through their own choices and actions. Existentialism emphasises anxiety,
absurdity, authenticity, and personal responsibility. In political philosophy, existentialism tends to be
sceptical of large-scale deterministic systems (e.g., Hegelian historicism or Marxist materialism) and
instead foregrounds the individual’s lived decisions in concrete situations.
Example from political philosophy:
Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947) applies existentialist principles to politics.
She rejects traditional moral systems that claim fixed human essences. Instead, she argues that
freedom is the fundamental value, and oppression is the denial of a person’s ability to project their
own future. For de Beauvoir, authentic political action requires recognising that we are “condemned
to be free” and that ethical politics involves actively liberating others’ freedom (de Beauvoir, 1947).
Similarly, Jean-Paul Sartre, in Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960), attempts to reconcile
existentialist individual responsibility with Marxist political commitment, arguing that group action
(e.g., a revolutionary collective) arises from free individuals making practical choices, not from
historical laws (Sartre, 1960).
Question 4: Phenomenology
Phenomenology is the philosophical study of structures of conscious experience as experienced from
the first-person point of view. Developed by Edmund Husserl, its core method is “bracketing”
(epoché)—setting aside assumptions about the external world to describe phenomena exactly as they
appear to consciousness. In political philosophy, phenomenology shifts attention from abstract
institutions or rights to the lived, embodied, and intersubjective experience of political life—how
power, justice, or belonging are actually perceived and felt by individuals.
Example from political philosophy:
Hannah Arendt, though not a pure phenomenologist, draws heavily on phenomenological insights in
The Human Condition (1958). She analyses political action not through formal legal categories but
through the lived experience of plurality, natality (the capacity to begin anew), and the public realm
as a space of appearance. Arendt describes how totalitarianism destroys the very possibility of
political experience by making individuals feel isolated and superfluous (Arendt, 1951). Another
example is Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Humanism and Terror (1947), where he uses
phenomenological descriptions of embodied perception and intersubjectivity to examine the
paradoxes of revolutionary violence, asking how political decisions appear to a concrete, situated
consciousness rather than an abstract rational agent (Merleau-Ponty, 1947).
SECTION A
1. In your own words, define and provide relevant examples from political philosophy of the
following concepts:
Question 1: Empiricism
Empiricism is the epistemological position that knowledge arises primarily from sensory experience.
It asserts that humans are born as a tabula rasa (blank slate), and all ideas, concepts, and justified
beliefs derive from empirical evidence—what we see, hear, touch, taste, or smell. Reason alone,
without experience, cannot yield substantive knowledge about the world. In political philosophy,
empiricism leads to a focus on observable institutions, behaviours, and historical outcomes rather
than abstract metaphysical principles.
Example from political philosophy:
John Locke’s political theory in Two Treatises of Government (1689) is grounded in empiricism.
Locke rejected innate ideas about authority and instead argued that legitimate government arises
from the consensual agreement of individuals based on their experienced needs (life, liberty,
property). He derived political principles from observed human behaviour and historical examples of
social cooperation, not from divine right or pure reason (Locke, 1689). Later, David Hume extended
this by arguing that political rules are conventions born from repeated experience of utility, not from
rational a priori contracts (Hume, 1739).
Question 2: Teleology
Teleology is the philosophical explanation of phenomena in terms of their purposes, ends, or final
causes (from Greek telos, meaning “end” or “goal”). A teleological account holds that something is
best understood by what it is for or what it naturally aims to achieve, rather than merely by its
material components or efficient causes. In political philosophy, teleology often implies that human
societies, laws, or individuals have a natural or divinely ordained purpose toward which they should
strive.
Example from political philosophy:
Aristotle’s Politics (c. 350 BCE) is a classic teleological work. He argues that every community aims
at some good, and the highest community (the polis) aims at the highest good—human flourishing
(eudaimonia). For Aristotle, humans are “political animals” whose natural telos is to live virtuously
in a just state. Thus, political institutions are evaluated by how well they enable citizens to realise
their inherent purpose: rational, ethical activity (Aristotle, c. 350 BCE/1984). Similarly, Thomas
Aquinas integrated Aristotelian teleology into Christian political thought, arguing that human law
must direct citizens toward their ultimate end (God), with temporal authority serving the purpose of
moral virtue (Aquinas, c. 1270).
, Question 3: Existentialism
Existentialism is a philosophical movement centred on individual existence, freedom, and
subjectivity. It typically rejects predetermined essences (including teleological or divine blueprints),
holding instead that “existence precedes essence”: humans are born without a fixed nature and must
create meaning and values through their own choices and actions. Existentialism emphasises anxiety,
absurdity, authenticity, and personal responsibility. In political philosophy, existentialism tends to be
sceptical of large-scale deterministic systems (e.g., Hegelian historicism or Marxist materialism) and
instead foregrounds the individual’s lived decisions in concrete situations.
Example from political philosophy:
Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947) applies existentialist principles to politics.
She rejects traditional moral systems that claim fixed human essences. Instead, she argues that
freedom is the fundamental value, and oppression is the denial of a person’s ability to project their
own future. For de Beauvoir, authentic political action requires recognising that we are “condemned
to be free” and that ethical politics involves actively liberating others’ freedom (de Beauvoir, 1947).
Similarly, Jean-Paul Sartre, in Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960), attempts to reconcile
existentialist individual responsibility with Marxist political commitment, arguing that group action
(e.g., a revolutionary collective) arises from free individuals making practical choices, not from
historical laws (Sartre, 1960).
Question 4: Phenomenology
Phenomenology is the philosophical study of structures of conscious experience as experienced from
the first-person point of view. Developed by Edmund Husserl, its core method is “bracketing”
(epoché)—setting aside assumptions about the external world to describe phenomena exactly as they
appear to consciousness. In political philosophy, phenomenology shifts attention from abstract
institutions or rights to the lived, embodied, and intersubjective experience of political life—how
power, justice, or belonging are actually perceived and felt by individuals.
Example from political philosophy:
Hannah Arendt, though not a pure phenomenologist, draws heavily on phenomenological insights in
The Human Condition (1958). She analyses political action not through formal legal categories but
through the lived experience of plurality, natality (the capacity to begin anew), and the public realm
as a space of appearance. Arendt describes how totalitarianism destroys the very possibility of
political experience by making individuals feel isolated and superfluous (Arendt, 1951). Another
example is Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Humanism and Terror (1947), where he uses
phenomenological descriptions of embodied perception and intersubjectivity to examine the
paradoxes of revolutionary violence, asking how political decisions appear to a concrete, situated
consciousness rather than an abstract rational agent (Merleau-Ponty, 1947).
