Political philosophy is the study of concepts such as
liberty,
justice,
property,
rights,
law, and the enforcement of a
legal code by
authority what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what makes a
government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should take and why, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown—if ever. In a
vernacular sense, the term "political philosophy" often refers to a general view, or specific ethic, political belief or attitude, about
politics that does not necessarily belong to the technical discipline of
philosophy.
[1] Political philosophy can also be understood by analysing it through the perspectives of
metaphysics,
epistemology and
axiology thereby unearthing the ultimate reality side, the knowledge or methodical side and the value aspects of politics. Three central concerns of political philosophy have been the
political economy by which
property rights are defined and access to
capital is regulated, the demands of
justice in distribution and punishment, and the rules of
truth and
evidence that determine judgments in the law.
As an academic discipline, Western political philosophy has its origins in ancient Greek society[this is argue by many modern scholars who claim that philosophy and religion had its roots in ancient Egypt, this is supported by books such as Stolen legacy by George James and Black Athena By Bernal], when city-states were experimenting with various forms of political organization including monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. One of the first, extremely important classical works of political philosophy is Plato's The Republic,[2] which was followed by Aristotle's Politics and Nichomachean Ethics.[3] Roman political philosophy was influenced by the Stoics, and the Roman statesman Cicero wrote on political philosophy, expressing clearly and to the point the main Stoic thesis.[4]
Independently, Confucius, Mencius, Mozi and the Legalist school in China, and the Laws of Manu[5] and Chanakya in India, all sought to find means of restoring political unity and political stability; in the case of the former three through the cultivation of virtue, in the last by imposition of discipline. In India, Chanakya, in his Arthashastra, developed a viewpoint which recalls both the Legalists and Niccolò Machiavelli. Ancient Chinese civilization and Indian civilization resembled Greek civilization in that there was a unified culture divided into rival states. In the case of China, philosophers found themselves obliged to confront social and political breakdown, and seek solutions to the crisis that confronted their entire civilization. The Confucian School always deals with political problems on the basis of ethics while the other schools of political thought, of which there are about twelve in China, do not necessarily include ethics in their discussion of political philosophy. In spite of the existence of these different schools of political philosophy, there are still some Western scholars who refuse to admit there is such a thing as Chinese political philosophy. The Chinese people would eventually accept the Confucian philosophy as the guardian spirit of politics.[6]
The early Christian philosophy of Augustine of Hippo was by and large a rewrite of Plato in a Christian context. The main change that Christian thought brought was to moderate the Stoicism and theory of justice of the Roman world, and emphasize the role of the state in applying mercy as a moral example. Augustine also preached that one was not a member of his or her city, but was either a citizen of the City of God (Civitas Dei) or the City of Man (Civitas Terrena). Augustine's City of God is an influential work of this period that refuted the thesis, after the First Sack of Rome, that the Christian view could be realized on Earth at all - a view many Christian Romans held.[7]
