Understanding Political Philosophy: Key Concepts & Theories
Understanding Political Philosophy
Political philosophy is a branch of philosophy concerning reason and knowledge in practice.
Aristotle divided knowledge into three sections:
- Theoretical knowledge: Seeking the truth.
- Practical knowledge: Guiding human behavior individually and collectively.
Political Ethics
Ethics is individual, while policy concerns collective behavior. It critically judges the knowledge society and what is productive, producing things based on rules, techniques, and principles (e.g.
Read MoreDavid Hume’s Empiricism: Principles and Implications
Hume’s Empiricism: Main Characteristics
Hume’s empiricism is a philosophical current that emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries, with its primary representatives being British. This doctrine posits that the origin and validity of our knowledge are contingent upon experience. Similarly, only that which we perceive through our senses is considered real.
David Hume: Perceptions
According to Hume, all contents of the human mind are perceptions. These are further distinguished into:
- Impressions: Perceptions
Nihilism, Death of God, and Existentialism: Key Concepts
Nihilism and the Death of God
Nihilism is the devaluation of life at the hands of the real world. This world is deemed worthless because it has transferred all value to another world. Nihilism is also a will to power decadent reactive, which, by dint of not wanting anything, gives up. Just wanting nothing means the loss of all critical values. The transfer of securities to the transcendent world has led to the nihilism of Western culture. Zarathustra is the harbinger of the death of God, having discovered
Read MoreUnderstanding Key Concepts: From Philosophy to Society
Problems and Complexities
Problem: Questions, difficulties, or obstacles for which a theoretical or practical solution is uncertain.
Complex: Part or parcel of reality that is difficult to describe; the way in which multi-component parts are structured.
Understanding and Reflection
To Understand: To capture something directly through thought.
To Reflect on Something: To consider something determinedly; to concentrate and pay attention to a problem or an object.
Universal and Epistemological Concepts
Universals:
Read MoreRealism and Liberalism in International Relations
Basic Realist Ideas
- Pessimistic view of human nature.
- Conviction that international relations are conflictual and that international conflicts are resolved by war.
- High esteem for the values of national security and state survival.
- No faith in the fact that there can be progress in international politics which is comparable to that in domestic political life.
- These are pervasive ideas.
Classical Realism
- Traditional approach to international relations.
- It is a normative approach; there exist various ways
Marx’s Influences: Key Thinkers and Their Impact
Heraclitus: Dialectics and the World
Heraclitus used dialectics to explain the world and humanity.
Democritus and 18th-Century French Materialism
Democritus and the French materialists of the 18th century represent classical materialism. Marx criticized this for being abstract and mechanistic, reducing the subject to mechanical laws. Marx advanced beyond this with dialectical materialism.
Hegel: Dialectic and Alienation
For Hegel, alienation is the process by which the Idea becomes something radically
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