Classical/Enlightenment Philosophers
He said that any state that is not working for the good of the people should be overthrown, even if violence is required in the process.
John Locke
This philosopher's work has inspired much political theory and progress with respect to women's rights.
Simone de Beauvoir
Who did Plato say could lead the citizens to better understanding and higher levels of knowledge?
The philosopher king
An agreement between citizens and their sovereign power or state.
A social contract
According to Judith Butler, who gets to define what constitutes hate speech?
State authorities
He came up with the idea of the general will, which he said all citizens in a state should work toward and value.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
This philosopher was concerned with decolonizing societies, and his work inspired a lot of anti-colonial activism and progress.
Frantz Fanon (and his wife, Josie!)
This philosopher said that the ruler of a state does not love the people; the ruler's reward is their ability to be the person in power.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A philosophical reflection on how to best arrange our collective life
Political philosophy
A central concern for political philosophers is...
trying to rationalize and decipher the concept of the ideal or ‘best’ state.
Which theorist said that God’s will is done through the sovereign, so all of the sovereign’s laws are natural and should be followed?
Thomas Hobbes
A central question that concerned this philosopher was: How can political power be made legitimate given reasonable disagreement about the nature of the good life?
John Rawls
This philosopher believed that the average person was neither educated, nor intelligent enough to make rational decisions regarding governance.
Aristotle
A set of ethical principles, doctrines, institutions, and social movements that prescribes how society should work.
Which two philosophers give the ideal state personhood?
Hobbes (he calls the commonwealth an "artificial man") and Rousseau (he calls the people a "body politic")
He proposed the controversial idea that a successful ruler is one who will do anything to gain and maintain power, even if that means breaking moral codes.
Niccolò Machiavelli
This theorist's work focuses largely on the role of public gatherings in politics and who has the power to define what are seen as acceptable subjects for public discussion.
Judith Butler
Which three theorists all concur that the ideal state requires social order, lest we all fall victim to our base impulses and create chaos?
A thought experiment developed by John Rawls in which people deliberately select what kind of society they would choose to live in if they did not know which social position they would personally occupy.
The original position
Michel Foucault said that societal institutions are a form of ________________ that the state uses to keep citizens in line and encourage them to self-police.
social control
What were the names of the three social classes Plato proposed for the ideal society, and what were their roles?
Gold class - the philosopher king - leads people to knowledge
Silver class - the guardians of society
Bronze class - all others in society, including workers
Michel Foucault put his political philosophy about power, knowledge, and social justice into practice by co-founding the Groupe d'Information sur les __________________.
Prisons
What three things does Rawls' theory of "justice as fairness" recommend?
It recommends (1) equal basic liberties, (2) equality of opportunity, and (3) facilitating the maximum benefit to the least advantaged members of society in any case where inequalities may occur.
A theorization for how those in power keep control over populations. It focuses on how power is maintained through norms which are internalized by people, rather than external force. People then self-police in order to meet the expected norms.
Biopower
Name the seven political ideologies we discussed.
Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, Absolutism, Anarchism, Marxism, Communitarianism