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A Short History of Western Political Thought
This brief narrative survey of political thought over the past two millennia explores key ideas that have shaped Western political traditions. Beginning with the Ancient Greeks' classical emphasis on politics as an independent sphere of activity, the book goes on to consider the medieval and early modern Christian views of politics and its central role in providing spiritual leadership. Concluding with a discussion of present-day political thought, W. M. Spellman explores the return to the ancient understanding of political life as a more autonomous sphere, and one that doesn't relate to anything beyond the physical world.
Setting the work of major and lesser-known political philosophers within its historical context, the book offers a balanced and considered overview of the topic, taking into account the religious values, inherited ideas and social settings of the writers. Assuming no prior knowledge and written in a highly accessible style, A Short History of Western Political Thought is ideal for those seeking to develop an understanding of this fascinating and important subject.
Setting the work of major and lesser-known political philosophers within its historical context, the book offers a balanced and considered overview of the topic, taking into account the religious values, inherited ideas and social settings of the writers. Assuming no prior knowledge and written in a highly accessible style, A Short History of Western Political Thought is ideal for those seeking to develop an understanding of this fascinating and important subject.
189 pages, Paperback
First published June 8, 2011
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August 23, 2024
Western political thought across eons, characterizes a sequence of struggles to comprehend and resolve the complications of group life and association. Frequently, those labours begin through elementary queries about the human condition itself. We tend to ask:
1) How can we as individuals, given our nature and characters, best accomplish whatever definition of the good life is accepted as proper?
2) Can we actually balance the claims of the individual with the well-being of the entire community?
3) To what degree is human conduct formed by milieu and ethos?
4) Are there substratum coefficients, such as ‘reason’ and an inborn ethical sense, that distinguish humans in their efforts to live in community?
5) Or are we inspired predominantly by vile desires and self-centered penchants that must be measured or subdued before any sort of collective social reality is likely?
Political thought is by its very nature concerned with public matters, the inclusive property of a community. Not only do such matters typically include common defense, domestic peace, economic advancement, and the administration of justice, but they also include a more abstract sense of collective purpose and direction, a network of social meaning embedded in a precise time and place. The exact form taken by political institutions responsible for public matters and the institutionalized practices whose purpose is to direct human action are the concerns of the entire community since every member is eager to secure some approximation of a meaningful life.
Six chapters, plus an Introduction and Conclusion make this book up. The chapters are as follows:
Chapter 1 - City-States and Republics c. 400 BCE - c. 400 CE
Chapter 2 - Heavenly Mandates, 400-1500
Chapter 3 - The Emergence of the Sovereign State, 1500-1700
Chapter 4 - From Subject to Citizen, 1700-1815
Chapter 5 - Ideology and Equality, 1815-1914
Chapter 6 - Breakdown and Uncertainty, 1914-2010
The narrative commences with an ephemeral valuation of early efforts at social organization before turning to the sizable Greek and Roman achievements. For Plato and Aristotle (384-322 BCE), the Greek polis or city-state served as the focus of political thinking, and the question of living justly and happily in that community served as the ethical starting point of most early writing. But as it was Aristotle who wielded the greatest inspiration in later centuries, his visualization of the state as a natural response to human needs will play a central role in the opening Chapter.
Many surveys of political thought treat the medieval period in a cursory fashion, inadvertently endorsing the Enlightenment's disparagement of the ten centuries after the fall of Rome. Chapter 2 attempts to address this false impression, focusing instead on continuities with the political thought of the ancient world, and on the dynamic tension between the Church and the State that began with the collapse of Roman authority in the fifth century, reaching prominence with the rise of the Carolingians in the eighth century.
Chapter 3 centers on the formation of early modern national identities in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther's (1483-1546) challenge to Catholic universalism spurred the growth, again inadvertently, of early forms of nationalism and emboldened resistance theorists who claimed divine sanction for civil disobedience.
Chapter 4 explores the nature of Enlightenment skepticism and its impact on divine right theory. This chapter delves deep into the advent of social contract theory; the central (and problematic) role of natural law and natural rights theory in the political thought of leading figures and revolutionaries in Europe and North America; and the appeal of popular claims for a new science of politics. This chapter also deals with the political engagement of the middle and lower classes that accompanied the American and French Revolutions.
Chapter 5 treats the major "isms" of the 19th century, including conservatism, liberalism, utilitarianism, socialism, Marxism, and nationalism.
The rights and exemptions of the sovereign nation-state became the troubled centerpiece of 20th century political life, and this is the subject of Chapter 6.
The best part about this book is the fact that it carries the discussion right down to the present day. One must be mindful of the fact that by the start of the 20th century, the forces of economic and cultural globalization, in common with the challenges of environmental degradation, resource depletion, and population growth, all pointed in the direction of a need for greater international cooperation, and perhaps for a new direction in political action and debate.
Moreover, the unlooked-for power of religious fundamentalism and ethnic nationalism posed real challenges to the viability of multiparty democracy in some states. Yet the primacy of the sovereign nation-state continued, and with the end of the Cold War, some policy makers in the world's lasting superpower embraced a universalist argument in support of the spread of Western-style political and economic forms. This led to bitterness and repercussion in some developing states, and has intensified an anti-Western strain in several Islamic countries.
And if we go back to the initial five questions posed, we’d find that many of these questions persist into our own day. However, the ideas that inform creative answers are many and extremely varied over the past two-and-a-half millennia, and in some cases still inspire contemporary debate.
This book is thus of contemporary value. Most recommended.
1) How can we as individuals, given our nature and characters, best accomplish whatever definition of the good life is accepted as proper?
2) Can we actually balance the claims of the individual with the well-being of the entire community?
3) To what degree is human conduct formed by milieu and ethos?
4) Are there substratum coefficients, such as ‘reason’ and an inborn ethical sense, that distinguish humans in their efforts to live in community?
5) Or are we inspired predominantly by vile desires and self-centered penchants that must be measured or subdued before any sort of collective social reality is likely?
Political thought is by its very nature concerned with public matters, the inclusive property of a community. Not only do such matters typically include common defense, domestic peace, economic advancement, and the administration of justice, but they also include a more abstract sense of collective purpose and direction, a network of social meaning embedded in a precise time and place. The exact form taken by political institutions responsible for public matters and the institutionalized practices whose purpose is to direct human action are the concerns of the entire community since every member is eager to secure some approximation of a meaningful life.
Six chapters, plus an Introduction and Conclusion make this book up. The chapters are as follows:
Chapter 1 - City-States and Republics c. 400 BCE - c. 400 CE
Chapter 2 - Heavenly Mandates, 400-1500
Chapter 3 - The Emergence of the Sovereign State, 1500-1700
Chapter 4 - From Subject to Citizen, 1700-1815
Chapter 5 - Ideology and Equality, 1815-1914
Chapter 6 - Breakdown and Uncertainty, 1914-2010
The narrative commences with an ephemeral valuation of early efforts at social organization before turning to the sizable Greek and Roman achievements. For Plato and Aristotle (384-322 BCE), the Greek polis or city-state served as the focus of political thinking, and the question of living justly and happily in that community served as the ethical starting point of most early writing. But as it was Aristotle who wielded the greatest inspiration in later centuries, his visualization of the state as a natural response to human needs will play a central role in the opening Chapter.
Many surveys of political thought treat the medieval period in a cursory fashion, inadvertently endorsing the Enlightenment's disparagement of the ten centuries after the fall of Rome. Chapter 2 attempts to address this false impression, focusing instead on continuities with the political thought of the ancient world, and on the dynamic tension between the Church and the State that began with the collapse of Roman authority in the fifth century, reaching prominence with the rise of the Carolingians in the eighth century.
Chapter 3 centers on the formation of early modern national identities in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther's (1483-1546) challenge to Catholic universalism spurred the growth, again inadvertently, of early forms of nationalism and emboldened resistance theorists who claimed divine sanction for civil disobedience.
Chapter 4 explores the nature of Enlightenment skepticism and its impact on divine right theory. This chapter delves deep into the advent of social contract theory; the central (and problematic) role of natural law and natural rights theory in the political thought of leading figures and revolutionaries in Europe and North America; and the appeal of popular claims for a new science of politics. This chapter also deals with the political engagement of the middle and lower classes that accompanied the American and French Revolutions.
Chapter 5 treats the major "isms" of the 19th century, including conservatism, liberalism, utilitarianism, socialism, Marxism, and nationalism.
The rights and exemptions of the sovereign nation-state became the troubled centerpiece of 20th century political life, and this is the subject of Chapter 6.
The best part about this book is the fact that it carries the discussion right down to the present day. One must be mindful of the fact that by the start of the 20th century, the forces of economic and cultural globalization, in common with the challenges of environmental degradation, resource depletion, and population growth, all pointed in the direction of a need for greater international cooperation, and perhaps for a new direction in political action and debate.
Moreover, the unlooked-for power of religious fundamentalism and ethnic nationalism posed real challenges to the viability of multiparty democracy in some states. Yet the primacy of the sovereign nation-state continued, and with the end of the Cold War, some policy makers in the world's lasting superpower embraced a universalist argument in support of the spread of Western-style political and economic forms. This led to bitterness and repercussion in some developing states, and has intensified an anti-Western strain in several Islamic countries.
And if we go back to the initial five questions posed, we’d find that many of these questions persist into our own day. However, the ideas that inform creative answers are many and extremely varied over the past two-and-a-half millennia, and in some cases still inspire contemporary debate.
This book is thus of contemporary value. Most recommended.
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