A history of political thought
Lecture 1
Allegory of good and bad governance: reminder for the rulers of the city of their
responsibilities, and effects that come with good or bad governance. Is an art
piece in sienna with personifications of concepts like justice, tyranny and peace.
It is meant to inform the ruler how to rule.
Political theory is the study of the essence, causes and effects of good and bad
governance.
3 core ideas:
1. Good and bad governance has a (tremendous) impact on the quality of life
2. Our type of government is not set in stone
3. We can (and should) distinguish between good and bad rule
The political philosophers shaped our ideas of how to govern and what good rule
consists of.
Their ideas are still relevant for thinking about current political affairs.
Their ideas have shaped our ideas about society
Political theory is normative: it seeks to clarify, question and challenge
norms/standards. It questions how we should live.
Lecture 2: Plato
Plato was born in Athens, into a Nobel, aristocratic family. He was engaged in
politics and a pupil of Socrates. His works are largely preserved as texts in
dialogue. His main political work is politeia (translated as: the republic, the state,
the constitution): about what justice is and why it is important in governing our
society.
The good life could only take shape in the political community. The only
good life is the political life.
Historical context: ancient Athens
507 BC: Emergence of democracy; moving from tyranny to democracy
480: Greeks defeat the Persians
469: Pericles comes to power. He was one of the nobles and a prominent
figure. It was a time of great prosperity
431: Start of the Peloponnesian war
427: Birth of Plato.
404: Rule of the thirty tyrants: a period in which democracy was destroyed
403: Democracy is restored
399: Execution of Socrates by democratic regime. They said he is
countering the norms of the city so they executed him. Plato loses faith in
democracy.
387: Plato founds the academy
Political theory arises during periods of social strife; only when conditions force
them do people ask fundamental questions about the nature of their societies
1
,and begin to rethink these matters. This was also the case with Plato; the
traditional polis was under attack.
He believed an alternative to scepticism and immoralism had to be
developed, as Athens moved away from the traditional self-sufficient,
agricultural polis that devoted itself to the education of its citizens towards
a commercialized, extreme democracy in which citizens were concerned
with their own good rather than that of society. So he opposed this and
opted for the traditional polis; he was hostile towards democracy.
He says “The human race will have no respite from evils until those who are
really philosophers acquire political power or until, through some divine
dispensation, those who rule and have political authority in the cities become real
philosophers.”
So he only sees 2 ways out; either philosophers rule, or we make sure that
the people who are in power embody the norms of philosophers.
He was influenced by Socrates, and a Poet which was apparent in his Socratic
dialogues. The democracy turned on Socrates, and Plato formed disillusion with
Athenian politics.
Existing cities are hopelessly corrupt and must remain so, unless they can
be rescued from this bad situation by philosophic rulers. So if their kings
become philosophers or philosophers become kings.
So he believed his city was in poor condition and required help. But he lost faith
in the ability of the city's political institutions to remedy the situation, viewing
them as corrupt. He said political reform must come from outside the existing
political process.
He was also a teacher with the purpose of training future lawgivers and
advisers of rulers.
Socrates was executed for corrupting the mind and souls of the youth and not
acknowledging the deities of the city. We mainly know him from the works of
Plato, where he figures in. At a certain moment, Socrates becomes more of a
vehicle for Plato’s own ideas (like in the piece for today). Socrates asked a lot of
questions to challenge people’s beliefs. And he problematized people’s answers
constantly, so people started doubting. They doubted their own world and own
ideas, so people found him annoying. He was doing it also to young people, which
upset authorities.
Plato lost faith in democracy and asked what other types to government
there are
The republic is among his best works (although he opposed republican or
democratic government). In this, he highlighted the theory of forms or ideas, and
the immortality of the soul. In the piece, arguments are conveyed through poetic
arguments instead of explicit statements. So Plato does not state his points
directly, but resorts to myths, images and symbols.
Glaucon present the first account of the social contract. He argues it is desirable
to take advantage of others, but undesirable to have others take advantage of
you. Because the damage from being injured by others outweighs the benefits of
injuring them, people made an agreement not to injure one another. So justice in
2
,this sense is obeying the law; it is only out of fear for being caught that people do
not act unjust (injustice seems a surer path to things we want).
Plato argues that life of justice is preferable to that of injustice; justice
makes for happiness
Then they argue again that people say one should be just, not because justice is
desirable in itself but because of the benefits of a good reputation.
Socrates: because justice as it appears in a human soul is small and
therefore hard to observe, people will attempt to identify it in the larger
form in which it appears in a just city. So no, justice must have a basis in
natural order, not in human creating.
So a just city is sketched out, and used as a guide to identify justice in a
soul.
So Socrates needs to explain why we would want to act just and then what justice
is. In order to think about what justice is, we need to think about the city and the
soul. If we understand justice in the city, we understand justice in the soul.
We have four wrong conceptions of justice
1. Cephalus: justice is to be honest and give every man his due
- No, does not tell us what is due
2. Polemarchus: to do good to your friends, and to do harm to your enemies
- No, makes people worse off
3. Thrasymachus (1): justice is what is in the interest of the strongest
- No, incoherent
4. Thrasymachus (2): justice is what keeps men to promises (crime pays)
- No, if you benefit from unjust acts, you cannot be happy
Plato uses this as a guide, but does not base his view of the soul on his view of
the city. So the fact that the city has certain features is not his reason for
ascribing similar features to the soul.
His political theory includes that People are shaped by the societies in
which they live, but a particular city is shaped because of the kind of
people it contains.
He believes that people can be made just only by being raised in a just
society.
Plato’s political theory centres around 3 questions:
1. What is justice?
2. How does it pay?
3. The question of moral reform: how can people be made just?
Plato’s principle of specialization: is necessary for efficiency. People differ in
natural capacities and skills, so it is best that different people do the things they
are naturally suited for. Plato argues that people have different talents, and it is
mutually beneficial to use each other's talent. That's how cities emerge; division
of labor with different people having different talents, people work at what they
are best at, and the city prospers. As the city grows, people have needs. This
could lead to war, so how can we prevent this?
This results in a system of 3 distinct classes with regard to the city and the soul:
1. The rulers (philosopher-kings)
3
, 2. The auxiliaries (soldiers) the city’s fighting force that obey the Rulers and
defend it from enemies.
These 2 are the guardians. They come from the same group but you are trained
to be soldiers. At a certain age, people are eligible to become philosopher-king.
They don't have a normal life; they live in strict communities and are not allowed
to have property and family; otherwise you have attachments, but guardians
should only care about the common good. There is a very small group of the
guardians that are taught mathematics etc., a higher wisdom which was essential
to gain true knowledge. The rulers were a cyclical circle; you do this for like 2
years and then a new ruler comes in.
3. Productive class, producers: made up of farmers, craftsmen, traders.
important for the city, but they shouldn't rule. They were allowed to have
private property because it would help them satisfy their appetitive
desires.
The city builds on the monopolization of political decision-making by the Rulers,
and the separation between the first two classes and the third.
Highlighted is the education and training of the first two classes (the
Guardians). If education systems do their job, the result should be a
smoothly functioning city.
Then, this corresponds to 4 kinds of virtues: core virtue for a king is wisdom. For
auxiliaries it is courage. Producers don't have specific virtues; temperance and
justice apply to the whole society.
Temperance: if you are a farmer you don't want to be a trader. So there is a
strict division of labour in which you can't move up and down in hierarchy.
Plato’s 4 traditional virtues in a just city (and soul)
1. Wisdom; the city is wise because it has wise rules who can make
intelligent decisions about internal and external affairs.
2. Courage: the city is brave because it has a courageous fighting force who
will convict concerning what is good and bad in the face of danger.
These two are bounded to 2 specific classes.
3. Temperance: the willing acceptance of all classes of their places in
society. A kind of harmony, so about the relations between the classes.
4. Justice: to perform one’s own task (to do the job for which he is naturally
suited), and not to meddle with that of others. Related to temperance and
relates to individuals as well as classes. So you can switch jobs within the
producing class as long as you dedicate yourself to the tasks of that class.
Boils down to the requirement that important decisions be made by those
competent to make them.
These two concern relations between the classes (justice is about doing
your own job, temperance about accepting your role)
Element of temperance is important: temperance is about the entirety of society.
It’s a harmony between the naturally worse and naturally better elements of
society as to which of them should rule both in a community and in every
individual. Balance between various groups is essential for the wellbeing of
society. This also holds true for individuals; there should be balance in your body.
4
Lecture 1
Allegory of good and bad governance: reminder for the rulers of the city of their
responsibilities, and effects that come with good or bad governance. Is an art
piece in sienna with personifications of concepts like justice, tyranny and peace.
It is meant to inform the ruler how to rule.
Political theory is the study of the essence, causes and effects of good and bad
governance.
3 core ideas:
1. Good and bad governance has a (tremendous) impact on the quality of life
2. Our type of government is not set in stone
3. We can (and should) distinguish between good and bad rule
The political philosophers shaped our ideas of how to govern and what good rule
consists of.
Their ideas are still relevant for thinking about current political affairs.
Their ideas have shaped our ideas about society
Political theory is normative: it seeks to clarify, question and challenge
norms/standards. It questions how we should live.
Lecture 2: Plato
Plato was born in Athens, into a Nobel, aristocratic family. He was engaged in
politics and a pupil of Socrates. His works are largely preserved as texts in
dialogue. His main political work is politeia (translated as: the republic, the state,
the constitution): about what justice is and why it is important in governing our
society.
The good life could only take shape in the political community. The only
good life is the political life.
Historical context: ancient Athens
507 BC: Emergence of democracy; moving from tyranny to democracy
480: Greeks defeat the Persians
469: Pericles comes to power. He was one of the nobles and a prominent
figure. It was a time of great prosperity
431: Start of the Peloponnesian war
427: Birth of Plato.
404: Rule of the thirty tyrants: a period in which democracy was destroyed
403: Democracy is restored
399: Execution of Socrates by democratic regime. They said he is
countering the norms of the city so they executed him. Plato loses faith in
democracy.
387: Plato founds the academy
Political theory arises during periods of social strife; only when conditions force
them do people ask fundamental questions about the nature of their societies
1
,and begin to rethink these matters. This was also the case with Plato; the
traditional polis was under attack.
He believed an alternative to scepticism and immoralism had to be
developed, as Athens moved away from the traditional self-sufficient,
agricultural polis that devoted itself to the education of its citizens towards
a commercialized, extreme democracy in which citizens were concerned
with their own good rather than that of society. So he opposed this and
opted for the traditional polis; he was hostile towards democracy.
He says “The human race will have no respite from evils until those who are
really philosophers acquire political power or until, through some divine
dispensation, those who rule and have political authority in the cities become real
philosophers.”
So he only sees 2 ways out; either philosophers rule, or we make sure that
the people who are in power embody the norms of philosophers.
He was influenced by Socrates, and a Poet which was apparent in his Socratic
dialogues. The democracy turned on Socrates, and Plato formed disillusion with
Athenian politics.
Existing cities are hopelessly corrupt and must remain so, unless they can
be rescued from this bad situation by philosophic rulers. So if their kings
become philosophers or philosophers become kings.
So he believed his city was in poor condition and required help. But he lost faith
in the ability of the city's political institutions to remedy the situation, viewing
them as corrupt. He said political reform must come from outside the existing
political process.
He was also a teacher with the purpose of training future lawgivers and
advisers of rulers.
Socrates was executed for corrupting the mind and souls of the youth and not
acknowledging the deities of the city. We mainly know him from the works of
Plato, where he figures in. At a certain moment, Socrates becomes more of a
vehicle for Plato’s own ideas (like in the piece for today). Socrates asked a lot of
questions to challenge people’s beliefs. And he problematized people’s answers
constantly, so people started doubting. They doubted their own world and own
ideas, so people found him annoying. He was doing it also to young people, which
upset authorities.
Plato lost faith in democracy and asked what other types to government
there are
The republic is among his best works (although he opposed republican or
democratic government). In this, he highlighted the theory of forms or ideas, and
the immortality of the soul. In the piece, arguments are conveyed through poetic
arguments instead of explicit statements. So Plato does not state his points
directly, but resorts to myths, images and symbols.
Glaucon present the first account of the social contract. He argues it is desirable
to take advantage of others, but undesirable to have others take advantage of
you. Because the damage from being injured by others outweighs the benefits of
injuring them, people made an agreement not to injure one another. So justice in
2
,this sense is obeying the law; it is only out of fear for being caught that people do
not act unjust (injustice seems a surer path to things we want).
Plato argues that life of justice is preferable to that of injustice; justice
makes for happiness
Then they argue again that people say one should be just, not because justice is
desirable in itself but because of the benefits of a good reputation.
Socrates: because justice as it appears in a human soul is small and
therefore hard to observe, people will attempt to identify it in the larger
form in which it appears in a just city. So no, justice must have a basis in
natural order, not in human creating.
So a just city is sketched out, and used as a guide to identify justice in a
soul.
So Socrates needs to explain why we would want to act just and then what justice
is. In order to think about what justice is, we need to think about the city and the
soul. If we understand justice in the city, we understand justice in the soul.
We have four wrong conceptions of justice
1. Cephalus: justice is to be honest and give every man his due
- No, does not tell us what is due
2. Polemarchus: to do good to your friends, and to do harm to your enemies
- No, makes people worse off
3. Thrasymachus (1): justice is what is in the interest of the strongest
- No, incoherent
4. Thrasymachus (2): justice is what keeps men to promises (crime pays)
- No, if you benefit from unjust acts, you cannot be happy
Plato uses this as a guide, but does not base his view of the soul on his view of
the city. So the fact that the city has certain features is not his reason for
ascribing similar features to the soul.
His political theory includes that People are shaped by the societies in
which they live, but a particular city is shaped because of the kind of
people it contains.
He believes that people can be made just only by being raised in a just
society.
Plato’s political theory centres around 3 questions:
1. What is justice?
2. How does it pay?
3. The question of moral reform: how can people be made just?
Plato’s principle of specialization: is necessary for efficiency. People differ in
natural capacities and skills, so it is best that different people do the things they
are naturally suited for. Plato argues that people have different talents, and it is
mutually beneficial to use each other's talent. That's how cities emerge; division
of labor with different people having different talents, people work at what they
are best at, and the city prospers. As the city grows, people have needs. This
could lead to war, so how can we prevent this?
This results in a system of 3 distinct classes with regard to the city and the soul:
1. The rulers (philosopher-kings)
3
, 2. The auxiliaries (soldiers) the city’s fighting force that obey the Rulers and
defend it from enemies.
These 2 are the guardians. They come from the same group but you are trained
to be soldiers. At a certain age, people are eligible to become philosopher-king.
They don't have a normal life; they live in strict communities and are not allowed
to have property and family; otherwise you have attachments, but guardians
should only care about the common good. There is a very small group of the
guardians that are taught mathematics etc., a higher wisdom which was essential
to gain true knowledge. The rulers were a cyclical circle; you do this for like 2
years and then a new ruler comes in.
3. Productive class, producers: made up of farmers, craftsmen, traders.
important for the city, but they shouldn't rule. They were allowed to have
private property because it would help them satisfy their appetitive
desires.
The city builds on the monopolization of political decision-making by the Rulers,
and the separation between the first two classes and the third.
Highlighted is the education and training of the first two classes (the
Guardians). If education systems do their job, the result should be a
smoothly functioning city.
Then, this corresponds to 4 kinds of virtues: core virtue for a king is wisdom. For
auxiliaries it is courage. Producers don't have specific virtues; temperance and
justice apply to the whole society.
Temperance: if you are a farmer you don't want to be a trader. So there is a
strict division of labour in which you can't move up and down in hierarchy.
Plato’s 4 traditional virtues in a just city (and soul)
1. Wisdom; the city is wise because it has wise rules who can make
intelligent decisions about internal and external affairs.
2. Courage: the city is brave because it has a courageous fighting force who
will convict concerning what is good and bad in the face of danger.
These two are bounded to 2 specific classes.
3. Temperance: the willing acceptance of all classes of their places in
society. A kind of harmony, so about the relations between the classes.
4. Justice: to perform one’s own task (to do the job for which he is naturally
suited), and not to meddle with that of others. Related to temperance and
relates to individuals as well as classes. So you can switch jobs within the
producing class as long as you dedicate yourself to the tasks of that class.
Boils down to the requirement that important decisions be made by those
competent to make them.
These two concern relations between the classes (justice is about doing
your own job, temperance about accepting your role)
Element of temperance is important: temperance is about the entirety of society.
It’s a harmony between the naturally worse and naturally better elements of
society as to which of them should rule both in a community and in every
individual. Balance between various groups is essential for the wellbeing of
society. This also holds true for individuals; there should be balance in your body.
4
