INT 201 HISTORY OF POLITICAL

THOUGHT I
Lecture Notes I 12.10.2021

Introduction to Course

Dr. Zeynep SABANCI

What is political thought and philosophy?

• Philosophy comes from the Greek term, love of wisdom

(philo) love + (sophos) wisdom

• Ask the question why. Why are things the way they are? Should they be that way?

• Through a descriptive component (How things are?) The fundamental questions are like these;

What is the fundamental nature of reality?

Does God exist?
Do we have free will?

• So, it is the examination of the questions that do not yet have clear-cut answers. If there is still some
Room for the disagreement, all of us make philosophy in one or an other level. For example; the great scientists
Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr having intense discussion about how the interprete Quantum mechanics was
evidently a philosophical discussions even though both were physicists.
What is political thought and philosophy?

YET, is vital because the objective of philosophy is still to come up with clear-cut answers.

So, here comes the question…

If someone finds the clear-cut answer (is it possible tough? I am not sure) for the theoretical question?
Does that mean the end of the philosophical thinking? The manegemnt of practice would be success of
Theory. If there is no practice, there would be no theory.
What is political thought and philosophy?

It is a theory concerned with the fundamental questions about;

a. The state
b. Government
c. Governance
d. Politics
e. Liberty
f. Justice
g. Rights and Law
What is political thought and philosophy?

Only deals with questions or what?

1. Ethical considerations: contains analytical, descriptive and historical material through

ethical considerations.

2. Wisdom of the ideas: enriches the culmulative store of wisdom and ideas.

3. Criticism: Many of the thoughts are founded as critiques toward existing political, economic
and social conditions of the theorist’s time. (so, the discipline of history has a great importance
to understand the conditions of the time-line)

4. The oldest: It is the oldest branch of social science, not a part of political science, but also
answers the fundamental problems of international relations and history.

5. Great studies of the discipline: The sayings of the books or the great boks of the discipline.
What is political thought and philosophy?

• It is the oldest branch of social science; and it can boast a wealth of heavy hitters from Plato,
Aristotale, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Hegel, Tocqueville, Nietzsche and so on.

• Might be the best way to study the political philosophy is to read the works of those who have shaped
the field.

• Why study just these thinkers and not others? Isn’t any so called list of great thinkers or great texts?

• Is there any severe dangers of its own? Like; one might say that it would seem the great books or great
thinkers of the past can easily degenerate into a kind of antiquarianism and might be intimidated by a list
of famous names and end up not thinking for ourselves.

• Furthermore, doesn’t study of these very old boks risk overlooking the issues facing us today?
What is political thought and philosophy?

The early thinkers described mainly a utopian

political system. For example; Plato’s state was
an ideal one whose realization was doubtful.
Aristotle searched the best constitution that
Would govern the society where justice would
prevail.
What is political thought and philosophy?

• What can Aristotales or Plato tells us about the World of globalization, terrorism or ethnic conflict and the
like?

• Doesn’t political science make any progress? For example, in the classes of economics you may read more
contemporary scientists like; Adam Smith..or in a pshycology class you would possibly read Freud. So, why
political science apparently uniquely continue to study Aristotle, Locke and other old books?

• You will be obliged always throughout this course, ask yourselves these questions while you are reading the
texts.
Does political science make no progress?

• Are we somehow uniquely fixated on an ancient past? Absolutely no, because we may not accept their answers,
however their questions are often put with a kind of unrivaled clarity and insight.

• For example, there are many people in the world regard themselves Aristotelians, Thomists, Lockeans, even
Marxists in very top universities.

• These doctrines were never refuted, replaced or historically superceded. They are very much alive with us today.

So, yes it make progress, because those great thinkers have defined the problems that all later thinkers and
scholars have had to use in order to make sense of their World at all.
 Political thought was the invention of ancient thinkers

They are the seekers of the unknown

They allied great faith in the reason

Their attachment to intellectual truth was as

great as their curiosity

They had great propensity for criticism

There are no permanent answers in a study of political thought

 There are no permanent answers in a study of political thought

Among the great thinkers there is profound disagreement

over the answers to even the most fundamental questions
concerning;

Justice
Righs
Liberty

So, in political philosophy, it is never a sufficient answer

to answer a question with the statement « because Plato says
So,» or «because Nietzsche says so».

There are no final authorities in that respect..because they disagree

With one another.
 There are no permanent answers in a study of political
thought

• The disagreement between the thinkers makes it possible for us, the readers today to enter into their
conversation
• To judge, to understand , to rely on our own Powers of reason and judgement in other words,
the freedom human mind.
What are the fundament questions?

What would the political scientists ask?

1. What is Justice?
2. What are the goals of a decent society?
3. How should a citizen be educated?
4. Why should I obey the Law?
5. What are the limits, if any, to my obligation?
6. What constitutes the ground of human dignity?
freeedom?, virtue?, love?, friendship?
7. Last, but not least..quid sit deus, what is God? Does he exist? And what does that imply for
for our obligations as human beings and citizens?
8. What is a regime? How many kinds are there? How are they defined? What holds them together
and what causes them to fall?
What are the fundament questions?

Among them, the concept of the regime is perhaps the oldest and most fundamental
of political ideas.

It goes back Plato and even before, in fact the title of the book you will be reading Plato’s Republic,
İs actually a translation of the Greek Word politea, that means constitution or regime.

A regime indicates a form of government, whether it is ruled by the one, a few, the many or a
Mixture of a combination of these three ruling Powers.

How people are governed? And how public offices are distributed by election, by birth, by lot, by outstanding
Personal qualities and achievements.
What are the fundament questions?

Besides Plato, Aristotales also describes the ideal state. In Plato’s Republic which we will be discussing
İn a couple of weeks. They tell us what should be state like, they say that state should be run under
a reason. So, the job of ruling the people, ruling the community and state is the most important one
According to Plato. The whole state should be run under the rule of reason. Reason here is so
İmportant because whether they have never clear-cut answers, they knew that there are always answer
So, the reason is to find out and focus on the possible answers. So, in politics they say, we need people
For the tricky possibilities of the answers, like; justice, practicability, fairness and so on.
Why Plato?

The whole idea of Plato; the state is unified, kind of a static thing. In your readings, of Plato, you will find out
that he does not focus on the concept of development and change would be a bad thing. Once the state
would satisfy the basic needs, there is nothing else to get worried about. The State should be;

a. Static
b. Unified
c. Stable

The environmental and contemporary conditions in Plato’s time did for sure shaped his ideas about state. So,
Stability for example was pretty much important in a time of civil war and in an environment of post
Pelopnnesian war. Especially, after this war Plato needed to create a brand new political system.

His utopia for the future of the state was;

d. Non-moving
e. No agitation inside
f. Non-dynamic community governed by the rule of reason
g. İn a regime of justice (for Plato justice means not doing stuff that is not yours to do)