Aristotle War of all against all: Individuals in this state of nature seek power to achieve appetites -Realpolitik is when
ndividuals in this state of nature seek power to achieve appetites -Realpolitik is when there is a certain benefit in crossing a really hard line in order to
Politikon Zoon: political animals and are naturally social.
Teleology: accounts for features by appealing to their contribution to optimal conditions,
normal functioning, or the attainment of goals of the whole systems they belong to.
A priori: based on theory not observed or empirical data-- the concept comes before
the physical reality
Household: Part of the Creation of the Political Association of the State, combination of
individuals, sustainable life-- a collection of which is a village
Village: (easy life) combination of families, now have ability to provide goods beyond
need -- a combination of these leads to the state
State: (the good life is possible) combination of villages, justice is only possible in the
state
Arete: Excellence-- the ultimate goal of aristotle
Natural: Authority figure like between a parent and a child
Slavery: Certain people are naturally suited to be ruled or even enslaved
Ship of state: Organization of a political society, sailors participate in the political
system and get more benefits
Statesman: rulers and city managers-- their only job is in politics.
Kingship: ruled by one in common interest (Benevolent)
Aristocracy: ruled by the few in common interest
Middle class polity: most realistic form of government is a polity with a large middle
class because the mean/middle is the balance.
Polity: ruled by the many in common interest
Tyranny: ruled by one in self interest
Oligarchy: ruled by the few in own interest
Democracy: ruled in the many in own interest (mob rule)
Mean: referring to the balance of the middle class (large mean)
Machiavelli
Fortuna: Arbitrary fate. One cannot control fate but may attract good and prepare for
bad
“dreamed up republics”: Socrates and old Philosophers are full of shit with their
idealistic theories-- Machiavelli focuses on the procedural element of polysci as opposed
to the moral aspects that would drive hypothetical societies
Moral virtue:(Christian) excellence and proper conduct (faith, love, hope, charity)
Civic Virtue: (Greek) expressed highest qualities, the appropriate way of life (wisdom,
justice, courage, temperance) job of the state to provide protection
Necessity: Do what is necessary to maintain order and security. Different context gives
rise to new necessity. for a prince involves lying, cheating, killing, and stealing if it will
protect the people
Glory: Long term legacy with positive connotation
Political realism/realpolitik: when there is a certain benefit in crossing a really hard
line in order to achieve order and stability in this context, emphasis on pragmatism--
operating without attention to some underlying ideology
Lion and Fox: analogy refers to both acting as a strong and feared ruler while
outsmarting the faithless and harmful people to keep the peace and support of the
people
Economy of violence: The most effective results from the most minimal investment of
brutality. When violence is needed, one should be ready to commit fully.
Agathocles: A successful tyrant who came to power by criminal means. Criminal acts
may give a prince power, but they cannot place him among the truly great rulers of
history, whose acts are to be admired and imitated.
Raison d’etre: of state is order and stability (not making people better).
Romirro de Orco: A ruthless lieutenant Cesare Borgia-- was so cruel that everyone
hated him, so to deflect bad feeling from himself, Borgia had him publicly executed.
Hobbes/ Locke
Leviathan: (Hobbes) (all powerful gov) whose purpose is to provide oder, stability and
defense. Citizens are bound absolutely to follow the dictates of the sovereign except
when it fails to provide peace and security or violates self preservation. for Hobbes a
monarchy would be the best/most effective.
Appetite: (hobbes) Desire for a given object or goal-- namely power
Aversion: (Hobbes) That which one wishes to avoid-- like the loss of power
Reason: (Locke) The unique gift to humanity which can lead us out of the state of
nature-- The power of reason to understand and follow nature law makes the state of
nature for locke potentially civil
Felicity: (Hobbes) continued success in achieving desires and continual prospering, we
seek it but like a cat chasing its tail it cannot be achieved.
State of Nature: (Hobbes/Locke)- is a pre-political and pre-social condition, it shows
what humans are like in their purest form before any laws
Natural Rights: (Locke) life, liberty, property, punish
Radical equality: (Hobbes) belief that individuals, regardless of their racial
characteristics, are morally, politically, and legally equal and should be treated as such.
Laws of nature: Preserve his or her own life; Preserve, insofar as possible, humanity;
Neither take away not damage anything that contributes to the preservation of
someone’s else’s life, liberty. provides a map for how to escape the SON.
Social contract: Terms of the social contract are to give up rights to judge, enforce, and
punish. The goal of entering society is to protect core rights of life, liberty and
property. (Locke) made whereby we all agree to give up all of our rights (except self
pres) to a leviathan(Hobbes)
and avoid aversions, a constant pursuit of power
Self-preservation: Locke’s understanding of human nature, rational and self-interested
Tacit consent: is sufficient to become obligated but not enough for full membership-- if
you’re in a country you consent to its laws without necessarily being a citizen-- despite
not explicitly stating you intend to do so, or signing some sort of formal compact
Political contract: In the social contract we agree with each other to give up some of
our rights, but that act does not create form of government. A second, political, contract
is then created by the commonwealth to hire a government to perform prescribed tasks.
The political contract takes the form of a trusteeship. Government is granted limited
power
Spoilage: (Locke) an only take what you can use before it spoils
Sufficiency: Must leave as much and as good for others. Exceptions, Coins don't spoil,
conveniently allows for unlimited accumulation of wealth.
Civil Society: The power of reason to understand and follow natural law makes the
state of nature for Locke potentially.
Commonwealth: rights cannot be completely alienable, doesn't make logical sense
that one could completely give up their rights. In so doing creates a commonwealth
based on consent of majority
Explicit consent: explicitly stating you are willing to do or not do something. Ex. signing
a contract.
Trusteeship: The political contract between the government and its people
Revolution-The political contract is void when government breaks its trust- this creates
a state of war (force without right) and individuals have right to defend
themselves. Despotism- absolute, arbitrary power. Usurpation- exercise of power
without right. Negligence- failure to enforce law and protect rights.
Mill
Mill Utilitarianism:Intended to be a moral theory, a way to “calculate” the goodness of
actions, serve as a guide to behavior. “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to
promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness”
Happiness: Greatest happiness principle-- do whatever action leads to the greatest
happiness General utility: Greatest good for largest # of people
Act utilitarianism: (Bentham) an approach that judges every act on its own and in each
particular circumstance. the calculation is all relative, seems to justify clearly “bad”
actions, does not provide a clear guide for morality
Rule utilitarianism: an action is right as it conforms to a rule that leads to the greatest
good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the
correctness of the rule of which it is an instance". Much more long term focused than act
utilitarianism.
Summum Bonum/finis ultimus: greatest good
Marx
Labor theory of value: argues that the economic value of a good or service is
determined by the total amount of "socially necessary labor" required to produce it,
rather than by the use or pleasure its owner gets from it
Dialectic: Change in a linear manner. From Despotism- Feudalism- Mercantilism-
Capitalism- Socialism- Communism. We must have the prior states in order to
progress. History is not static. “You never step in the same river twice”
Withering away of the state: When socialism transitions into communism, the state as
an instrument of power and subjugation will no longer be necessary-- it will wither away
and solely focus on the administration of things
***Historical materialism: Physical world is all that is real. Our relationship with the
material world determines social relations materials shape thought. Despotism (Gods
and Slaves) -Feudalism (New tech)-Mercantilism(Rid the aristocracy) -Capitalism-
Socialism-Communism Prior to this we forced to work all the time in order to survive.
Therefore we have very powerful individuals. Yet we learn how to produce in more
efficient ways and therefore share power/material.
Bourgeoisie: the capitalist class who own most of society's wealth and means of
production.
Proletariat: workers or working-class people, regarded collectively. A class of laborers
must sell themselves as a commodity
Means of production: the facilities and resources for producing goods-- think factories,
natural resources, money-- things like that.
Subsistence wage: Giving the workers the bare minimum to survive and work. Not a
dime more. This in turn. Company towns.
Dictatorship of the proletariat: a worker’s state where the working class (proletariat)
are the driving and dominant force behind the government. Contrasted with a
dictatorship of the bourgeoisie Marx saw as the default form of government under
capitalism
Aristotle
-Aristocracy would be the ideal form of government a group of people in relatively strong
skills in several forms instead of one individual statesman.
-The most realistic form of government is a polity with a large middle class because the
mean/middle is the balance.
Aristotle is more idealistic since he addresses how most societies do not have a
statesman, so governments tend to naturally go from common interest to their own
interests, so it would be extremely unlikely for an aristocracy to function without self
interest. He is also a realist because he addresses this issue in his Theory of Entropy
(natural destruction).
Mach
achieve order and stability in this context.
-Power politics, emphasis on pragmatism
--Courage, impetuousness aggressiveness — but tempered with prudence (pg 17) using
the economy of violence
--Practical application
---Loved or feared ( pg. 43-44)
---Lion and the fox (pg. 46) analogy refers to both acting as a strong and feared ruler
while outsmarting the faithless and harmful people to keep the peace and support of the
people (Borgia)
---Be flexible, do what is necessary in the situation to achieve the goal of the state.
--Machiavelli’s description of functioning societies are more realistic which considers him
the bridge into entering modern political science.
Locke
-A state of nature is sometimes hypothetical, sometimes real, condition of affairs in
which there is either no government or no legitimate one.
--Humans are social/rational people due to their nature to not self-destruct.
---Under the State of Nature, individuals are: perfectly free — not license, just lack of
authority, are naturally equal — no rank or authority, have natural rights — life, liberty,
property, punish
----Increased power of reason means we not only know natural law but see it as binding,
do feel obligation to follow it.
-----Do not harm others
-----Preserve self
-----Preserve humanity
----The power of reason to understand and follow natural law makes the state of nature
for Locke potentially civil. Though we all can know laws of nature, we might understand
or interpret them differently — potential for conflict.
--Social Contract: In order to leave SON, agree to be bound by the will of the collective
which is part of the contract.
---Tacit consent is sufficient to become obligated but not enough for full membership.
---A second, political, contract is then created by the commonwealth to hire a
government to perform prescribed tasks.
----The political contact takes the form of a trusteeship.
----Government is granted limited power. …Democracy
Hobbes:
-state of Nature is a state which there is no government
--Humans are self-interested.
--In a state of nature, life would be “nasty, brutish, and short.”
--Constantly in a default state of war
--The only standard for “good and bad” where “good” is anything that we like or want
which is entirely subjective.
---Neither just nor unjust
--There’s no justice where there are no enforceable contracts.
--No rights other than the right or ability to self-defense
-In the state of nature, individuals:
--Have radical rights — even to another’s body
--Are radically free — nothing is impermissible
--Are radically equal — equally liable to be killed (478)
--Individuals in this state of nature seek power to achieve appetites and avoid aversions,
a constant pursuit of power.
-Social Contract: In order to leave SON, contracts are only real provided they are
enforceable must include means of enforcement.
-Natural laws are knowledge in the state of nature through the empower of reason
1.Endeavor peace if possible 2. Lay down rights as much as others 3. Perform
covenants (keep promises)
-The problem is that the laws of nature are not consistently enforceable in the state of
nature and no one has legitimate authority over others .
--The only way out is for everyone to agree to create an authority to enforce the laws.
--The commonwealth is related and vests power in the Leviathan (all powerful
government) whose purpose is to provide order, stability, and defense.
---Citizens are bound absolutely to follow the dictates of the sovereign except when it
fails to provide peace and security to violates self preservation (falls back into SON).
---Monarchies
SON: Locke, vigilante justice, things are unsafe as opposed to being in direct conflict.
Hobbes, essentially, everything is in the state of war/ conflict all of the time, zero
sum game