Political PhilosophyWest:

Plato – Socrates The Republic

Thomas Hobbes Leviathan

John Locke

East

Confucius

Buddha

Feminism

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

• What is Justice? What is the relationship between the individual and the state?

• What is the best form of Government?

• Who should rule? Who should have the ultimate authority to rule?

• Why do need laws?

• Why should we obey the rules?

• Under these fundamental questions, there are some other essential questions:

• What is right?

• Are people naturally good/evil? Human Nature

• By which values shall I live in the world?

• Are we free or determined?

• Whose interest be more important, the interest of the individual or the interest of the state?

• Political and Social Philosophy deals with issues of moral value (Axiology) at the level of the group.

• The law is the traditional dividing line between the individual and society. Where do the individual’s rights end and the rights of the state begin, and which should receive the benefit of the doubt in cases of conflict?

• Some philosophers have argued that the state exists to serve and to protect the rights of the individual;others insisted that the individual exists to serve the state. This distinction is based on the view of human nature:– Humans are basically good and decent- altruistic– Humans are selfish and ego-centric- hedonistic

“We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain

unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Natural Law, Natural Rights and Human Rights

Natural Law, a rational principle of order, often the logos, by which the universe was created or is organized and the identifying principle for both the natural world and for human beings.

NATURAL LAW: STOICS, ARISTOTLE AND THOMAS AQUINAS

• Both the natural and human domains are governed by reason. Just as the universe displaced an appropriate place and relationship for the sun and moon, so in human relationships, societies there is a given order and hierarchy. With the use of reason we can discover the natural order of things. A strong state is to be a part of the natural order of things.

• The Stoics, called this principle logos- a principle that created and directs the natural system.

• Aristotle, described the human person as a political animal, meaning that by nature we will organize ourselves into political structures. We must discover the preexisting proper order and put this order into practice.

• Thomas Aquinas, If the natural law, which the stoics had seen as flowing from the logos, or rational principle of the universe, were derived from God, then divine law must be the basis for human society.

• All laws derived from Eternal Law: Is the most perfect and complete set of God’s Law, which govern “the whole community of the universe.”

• Natural Law: Is a subset of eternal law and includes only general rules of conduct.

• Human Law: An attempt to deduce more specific rules from the general rules of natural law.

• Divine Law: Is a special subset of eternal law that God reveals to us in divinely inspired texts- the Ten Commandments

Natural Rights

• Are socially recognized. Natural Rights, such as those of life, liberty, and property, with which the individual is born.

• What do we mean by nature?– Non Artificial Rights: Pre-legal rights, before written laws

( Parent-child)– Species Natural Rights: Aristotle- the potential contained

in one species nature ( birds have a right to fly)– Involuntary Enforced Rights: Enforced by laws of nature-

(Thought- Voluntary/Involuntary Action) Right to defend one’s life.

Human Rights:

• These are voluntarily exercised and enforced• Justification:

– A desire to fellowship of all external beings.– A desire to live in peace.– Dialogue among participants.

• Theological– Based on a doctrine: ‘All human beings merits respect

because she or he as a divine nature,”- made in the image of God.

• Non-Theological– Duty based: the existence of certain “duties” to myself

and others. (rational – Kant’s Moral respect and dignity)

Early Political, Religious, and Philosophical Sources• King John of England: After the king violated a

number of ancient laws and customs by which England had been governed, his subjects forced him to sign the Magna Carta, or Great Charter.– The right of the church to be free from

governmental interference. – The rights of all free citizens to own and inherit

property and be free from excessive taxes.– It established the right of widows who owned

property to choose not to remarry, and established principles of due process and equality before the law.

– It also contained provisions forbidding bribery and official misconduct.

Natural Rights XVIII & XIX Century

• In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe several philosophers proposed the concept of "natural rights," rights belonging to a person by nature and because he was a human being, not by virtue of his citizenship in a particular country or membership in a particular religious or ethnic group as a formulation of the underlying principle on which all ideas of citizens' rights and political and religious liberty were based.

• In 1789 the people of France overthrew their monarchy and established the first French Republic. Out of the revolution came the "Declaration of the Rights of Man."

The Philosopher King: Plato

The Republic

The Republic:• - All that is meant by the pursuit of wisdom• - The evils of human life will ever be cured by

the use of reason• - A profound analysis of Justice

• For Plato; there is a ‘good’(as a form/essence)

• - to posses it- is to attain happiness• - to know it- is to become wise• - to seek the knowledge of it- to practice it is

to be a Philosopher

• The life of Philosophy and the active life of a statesman is reflected in Education.

• The philosopher king is a result of the education:

• The State is in charge of the most prominent and promising young students:– First ten years: education would be mainly physical.

– Second ten years: music and mathematics

– At the end of the twenty years: The Great Elimination, would use academic exams, toils, pains and conflicts to weed out those unqualified.

– Those who remained would receive a ten more years of training in body, mind and character.

– The survivors will then study philosophy.

– Any future ruler must learn to survive in the world as well as in the world of the academy.

• A future ruler was not to be an ivory tower: a place or condition of withdrawal from the world of action into a world of ideas and dreams; aloofness.

The Republic and the concept of Justice:

In the Book I-V of the Republic the following concepts are addressed and defined:

• Justice, Power and Knowledge.– Justice:

– - Give what is owed

– - It is the advantage of the stronger – ‘status quo’

– - It is obeying the law

• - Justice is the virtue of the soul, which allows it to perform its telos: Function/Nature

• The Philosopher wants the good not pleasure: To attain the good: education is necessary- the best natures need the best education- The Myth of the Cave.

• POLITICS IS TO ETHICS AS THE CITY IS TO MAN

• The Republic, seems to fall in four treatises;• - A discourse on Metaphysics – idea of the good• - A discourse on Moral Philosophy- the virtues of the

human soul• - A discourse on Education- the ideal Greek Paideia• - A discourse on Political Science- the proper form of

Government

Plato’s Republic and Forms of Government:

• Aristocracy: Historically, the word aristocracy referred to a form of government controlled by a few wealthy or socially prominent citizens. The word comes from the Greek term meaning rule by the best.

• Timocracy: a form of government in which love of honor is the dominant motive of the rulers.

• Oligarchy: a form of government in which a few people have the ruling power.

• Democracy: The word democracy comes from the Greek words demos, meaning people, and kratos, which means rule or authority. Is the government of the poor.

• Tyranny: is a term used throughout history to describe various forms of government by rulers who have unrestricted power. In ancient Greece, for example, tyranny simply meant absolute rule by one person.

• “so if either the male or the female gender turns out to be better than the other gender at some profession or occupation, then we’ll claim that this is an occupation which ought to be assigned to that gender. But if the only difference turns out to be that females bear offspring, while males mount females, then…we’ll continue to think that…there’s no administrative job in a community which belongs to a woman qua woman, or to a man qua man…Innate qualities have been distributed equally between the two sexes, and women can join in every occupation just as much as men, although they are the weaker sex in all respects.

• Plato’s Republic

Thomas Hobbes- Leviathan

“there is no such thing as perpetual tranquility of mind, while we live

here, life itself is but motion, and can never be without desire”

“We need government to protect us from the worst in ourselves”

Why do we need laws?• Conception of the nature of People: Human Beings,

are unsocial- without effective government there would be a “war of all against all”

• The subject of a government is to prefer in its citizens- simple obedience.(morally required to obey) This provides the subject with security, from external and internal threats.

• A civil society is formed for the sake of Peace-Civil Harmony.

• How do we arrive to that civil harmony even though in the state of nature, without effective government we are unsocial?

Basic Questions:

• Human Nature, a realistic theory of human nature.

• What do people want?

• The war of all against all?

• Can we escape the state of nature?

Human NatureHobbes thinks, that disinterested benevolence and action

for the sake of duty are uncommon enough that Political Theory (morality) should not rely on them.

• We must not entertain any illusion about Human Goodness.

• To be just is done for self interest. • Private interest vs. Public interest.

• ‘Without the restraint provided by fear of government, every man would distrust and dread every other men” – all men are evil , evil by nature.

What do people want?• - Self Preservation: the desire to avoid death is universal

– o This passion incline men to PEACE.

• - Glory: Praise, Fame, Recognition, can it be entirely satisfied?

• - Power: it is define as a one’s means to attain some future apparent good. – o The desire for power, leads to a desire of power over others– o Individual power, since we need to compete with others for

something we desire (ability)– o Human Power, uniting our power.

The war of all against all.• In the state of nature people live in a war of all against all• People’s Goals:

– Self Improvement– Glory – Power

• Men quarrel when any two man desire the same thing, and they cannot both enjoy, then they become enemies.

• Three principal causes:– - Competition- gain desire– - Diffidence- safety– - Glory – reputation

• Without a common power , men would be in a condition called WAR, every man is enemy to every man.

Can we escape the state of Nature?• The right of nature• The liberty each man has to use his own power to

defend himself.• The law of nature• A man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his

life or to others.• There is also a right to laid aside the power, by:• - Renouncing to one’s own power• - Transferring one’s power to another

• Individuals have an obligation to:– Not to hinder those to whom such right is granted by nature.

• The mutual transferring of right is called: CONTRACT• This SOCIAL CONTRACT, will ensure Safety, Peace,

and Civil Harmony.• The existence of the state requires of a sovereign, a

person authorized by the community to act on their behalf, for peace and safety.

• A Political State, might occur by natural force or by voluntary agreement.– Natural Force- a commonwealth by acquisition– Voluntary Agreement- a commonwealth by institution

• If the sovereign acquired power, and has the power to protect us we owe him obedience: Government comes about from the state of Nature.

John Locke

The Natural Rights of Citizens.

“Governments…derive their just powers from the consent of the

governed.”

• Locke had a more benign view of human nature, as is reflected in his version of the social contract. Locke valued a social contract to preserve what is best in us-namely our natural rights. Rooted in Natural Law, Locke’s concept of natural rights assumes that anyone consulting the law of reason will recognize the God-given rights of others to life, health, liberty, and property.

• Looking at the theoretical ‘state of nature,’ Locke saw the natural rights of citizens. Endowed with natural rights, Locke asserted, citizens may voluntary create a state to assist them in safeguarding those rights. The resulting social contract, however is conditional rather that absolute(Hobbes). If the state abuses the power entrusted to it by the citizens, they retain the right to rebel.

• The point for Locke was that the contract is temporary and contingent upon the good performance of the state, which is the servant of the people. We also, renegotiate our social contract whenever we vote elected officials of office or remove them midterm through impeachment.

• Without the consent of the governed, continually given, the state has no justification for its existence.

• Political Referendum:• Thomas Jefferson, there is "no safer depository of the

ultimate power of society but the people themselves." • "I believe in the Initiative and Referendum, which should

be used not to destroy representative government, but to correct it whenever it becomes misrepresentative." Teddy Roosevelt

Politics & Ethics in Eastern Thought

Buddha and Confucius

Some general remarks:• Eastern thought is not a variation of western

thought.– There is no single term in classic Indian-Asian thought to

translate ETHICS into Western/Greek Tradition.

• Eastern Philosophical systems are described as paths (spiritual)- path that required action to resolve life’s ultimate problems rather than intellectual understanding (reason)

• Questions that are shared by both Eastern and Western Perspectives:– What is ethical wisdom?– What is the good life?– What constitutes human nature?– What constitutes human character?– Is ethics a private, public or social enterprise?

Buddhist Ethics in India• Early Buddhism and some basic concepts:

– “To be moral is to lessen suffering”– There is no deity to worship or pray to– There is no spiritual benefits– No original sin– No external damnation for sins– No eternal God– No first cause– No prime mover– No Creator

• The Buddha is not a divinity- no reward (Virtue) no punishment (Vice)

• “You yourself must make the effort-the Buddha points the way”

Buddha – The Man (k.Jaspers)

• Born in Nepal/India, part of the Guatama Family- given the name ‘Sidharta (one who accomplishes his goals)

• Siddharta Guatama is the founder of Buddhism.– Grew up on a Hedonistic, luxury lifestyle– Isolated from the world where pain, suffering,

grief, sickness and death occurred.– Siddharta is dissatisfied of a “pleasurable life”

• “To realize the depths of Pain and Suffering in the world”

Buddhism and life’s most basic questions?

• Why live, if suffering is inescapable?

• Is it possible to be happy in the face of sickness, old age, and sickness?

• What is the real meaning of life?

Hedonism vs. Asceticism • The Ascetic Life:

– To renounce to the life of pleasure- the world.– Renounce to the hedonistic life.– To live a life of extreme self-mortification– Siddharta practice ascetism for six years– The ascetic life did not lead to ENLIGHTMENT.

• The attainment of “Duhka”– Idea of anguish, frustration, dissatisfaction and suffering.

• Study the causes of suffering and evil through meditation.– Recognition of the cause-effect patterns in life– Put an end to self-centered grasping of the world and

develop insight into the nature of the world• The causes of evil and suffering:

– Sensual desire / Desire for continued existence– Self-centered craving

ENLIGHTMENT & Buddhism• All things are interdependent and interconnected.• There is no mysterious unchanging substance that underlies

changing reality.• All phenomena is changing and caused.• All things depend on prior causes and conditions.• Siddharta attained ENLIGHTMENT- end of DUHKHA –

NIRVANA (one who woke up)• Eliminating ignorance, self-centered attachment-anger.• Was it possible for him to explain to others what he had

experienced and understood?• Buddhism as a religion and a pathway begin with the need

to explain to others the realization under the “Bodhi Tree”.• Followers are called ‘Arhats’• Buddha discovered the initial path and pointed out the way,

the ‘arhats’ followed it, to arrive to Nirvana.

• It is said that soon after his enlightenment the Buddha passes a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha's extraordinary radiance and peaceful presence. The man stopped and asked,

• "My friend, what are you? Are you a celestial being or a god?" "No," said the Buddha. "Well, then, are you some kind of magician or wizard?" Again the Buddha answered, "No." "Are you a man?" "No." "Well, my friend, then what are you?" The Buddha replied, "I am awake."

Buddhist Ethics• The Greeks asked:

What is the good life for a human being?

• The Buddha asked:• Why do we experience so much dissatisfaction and

suffering, and how it is possible to eliminate it?• Ethics is a way of life to be followed, practiced and

develop by each individual. It has nothing to do with belief, prayer, worship or ceremony.

• The awakening of the Buddha let him to answer the question for the Good Life:

• The Good Life is a life free from “Duhkha”

Buddha

LIFE OF ASCETICS LIFE OF PLEASURE

MIDDLE WAY THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS‘BEHAVIORAL PATHWAY’

The Four Noble Truths.1. All existence is suffering and frustration.2. Suffering and Frustration arises from several causes3. Duhkha can end.4. What can be done to eliminate Duhkha – Eight Principles.0

The Four Nobel Truths

1. All Existence is Suffering:• Everything we do is

impermanent• Nothing is solid to sustain us• Life only provide change.

2. Suffering and Frustration arises from several causes:

• Desire for power and wealth / Desire to find absolute truth

• Three Poisons:• Self Centered Craving• Envi-Anger- Hatred• Confusion or Ignorance

3. Duhkha can end• Knowing the causes of suffering

and reaching ENLIGHTMENT• The moral person will try to

perfect Buddhist Virtues: Generosity, Kindness, Compassion, Morality, Wisdom, Patience, Peacefulness, Honesty, Truthfulness.

4. The Four Nobel Truths

Eight Practices• Ethical Conduct (Morality)• Mental Discipline (Meditation)• Wisdom (Wisdom)

• Buddhist Ethics is teleological, the consequences of actions determine their morality.

• Act– Increases Duhkha- wrong

– Decreases Duhkha- right

• Buddhist Morality:

• What sort of a person do I want to be?

• “a person who is free from duhkha and from the cycle of ‘birth and death’

Confucius

How can we bring about order and harmony among individual humans

and well-ordered society?

What is the right thing to do?

•

• Overview of Confucian Ethics/Politics:– Confucius is not concern with creating or justifying

moral laws.– Morality is ground in a supernatural being/force.– Morality is grounded in Nature:

• We know what is right and wrong and have known since the Golden Age: Tradition/past teaches us.

• What is the right thing to do? JEN and LI provides the answers.

– The HARMONY/ORDER within the individual projects into society.

– There are moral virtues that need to be cultivated in order to attain MORAL CHARACTER.

– By cultivating JEN and LI, human beings can perfect themselves, perfect society, and achieve peace, harmony, and happiness.

Li=Social Order & Jen= Central VirtueHOW DO THEY RELATE?

• The public rites of Li are the expression of the internal virtue Jen

• Jen, is a state of being, your essence

• Li, is the unique human activity that express Jen.• To lead a life according to Li (traditional) is to live a

life that allows the Jen to flourish- to raise and develops.

Confucian Ethics- The Analects

• The Analects are a record of:– Moral Maxims, Anecdotes, Saying of Confucius

and Conversations of Confucius with his students.

• The Analects stressed the importance of Ethics that apply to both the personal and the social and political ideology.

• In the Analects we find no discussion of preferences to Gods, no mention of life after death, no immortality of the soul.