Western Political Thought

Plato’s Contribution to Western Political Thought What is Justice? Plato seeks to define justice as one of the cardinal human virtues, and he understands the virtues as states of the soul. So his account of what justice is depends upon his account of the human soul. According to the Republic, every human soul has three parts: (a) reason, (b) spirit, and (c) appetite.

Cont... Plato defines each of the cardinal virtues in terms of the complicated psychology he has just sketched. A person is wise just in case her rational attitudes are functioning well, so that her rational part “has in it the knowledge of what is advantageous for each part [of the soul] and for the whole in common of the three parts

Cont So the unwise person has a faulty conception of what is good for him. A person is courageous just in case her spirited attitudes do not change in the face of pains and pleasures but stay in agreement with what is rationally recognized as fearsome and not

Plato’s Just State Spirited Guardians Philosopher Kings Merchants

Plato’s Just State Philosopher Kings /Rulers The philosophers are initially distinguished from non-philosophers because they answer questions like ‘What is beautiful?’ by identifying the non-sensible property (form) of beauty instead of some sensible property or particulars In fact, his account of how philosophers would be educated in the ideal city suggests that the ability to give knowledgeable answers requires an enormous amount of (largely mathematical) learning in advance of the questions themselves.

Plato’s Just State Spirited Guardians educate the guardians for the ideal city offers a different approach. This education is most often noted for its carefully censored “reading list;” the young guardians-to-be will not be exposed to inappropriate images of gods and human beings A well-trained guardian will “praise fine things, be pleased by them, receive them into his soul, and, being nurtured by them, become fine and good,” and each will “rightly object to what is shameful, hating it while he's still young and unable to grasp the reason.

Plato’s Just State Merchants optimism about imperfect virtue among non-philosophers. Money-loving members of the auxiliary class have psychological harmony secured by their consistent attachment to what they have learned is honorable, but what about the members of the producing class

Niccolo Machiavelli’s Contribution Niccolo Machiavelli is lived between 1469 and 1527. His ideas and reputation are based on Machiavelli’s most famous work, The Prince, which was written in 1513-14. Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius, the Art of War, a History of Florence, and even some plays, poetry and biographical sketches

Niccolo Machiavelli Machiavelli’s political thought cannot be comprehended without an understanding of Machiavelli the man, of his personal motivations and experiences, and of his youthful dreams and his eventual professional disappointments

Niccolo Machiavelli The Prince Machiavelli recommended that ‘a prudent ruler cannot, and must not, honour his word when it places him at a disadvantage … Because men are wretched creatures who would not keep their word to you, you need not keep your word to them

Niccolo Machiavelli Machiavelli then recommended that ‘one must know how to colour one’s actions and be a great liar and deceiver’. Further on, Machiavelli explained that a prince who neglected what was actually done by people for what (by rights) should be done was doomed to self-destruction.

Machiavelli Machiavelli also warned rulers of the transient nature of political support, characterising men as ‘ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers’ who shunned danger and were greedy for profit. The solution to this problem was for a ruler to make themselves feared (although not hated), so that there was always a psychological dread of punishment.