Great Political Thinkers series – serie

Plato of Athens (c 429-347 BC) is the earliest European thinker whose thoughts on politics survive to any great extent. His work, contained in The Republic, the Statesman, the Laws and the unfinished Critias, amongst other works, has made major contributions to the agenda of Western Political thought and its content. [In The Republic, Plato’s preoccupation was the concept of the just individual and the just state.] His view that intellect and political authority should be correlated has been a major theme of political thought down the centuries, influencing both authoritarian and egalitarian attitudes to government and democracy. In his later work Plato’s concern shifted from the question of justice to questions of the competence of rulers, which in The Statesman he treated as of the first importance, and eventually to the role of law and a mixed constitution, along with religion, in guaranteeing political order.The papers in this authoritative selection explore various aspects of Plato’s thought including social structure, education, freedom, property, the status of women, human motivation and racism in addition to his views on law, reason and justice. The vast array of topics covered shows how Plato’s work adumbrates many of the concerns of political thought up to the present day and indeed is still relevant in our modern age.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) was born in Northern Greece. He moved to Athens where he associated himself with Plato’s academy. He later became tutor to the young Alexander the Great at the Macedonian court but returned to Athens in 335 to found his own school of philosophy.Aristotle’s basic political contention was that the state is a natural entity and is the perfect form of human community. This view of man’s relation to the state has been one of the most persistent in the history of political thought and has been developed in many ways by a multitude of thinkers. [In his own writings Aristotle developed and explained existing political arrangements rather than offering radical alternatives, and this conservative practicality was highly regarded by political thinkers prior to 1789. On the other hand, the high evaluation which Aristotle placed on the middle orders of society appeals to readers of a more egalitarian age.]The articles in this scholarly collection offer insights into many areas of Aristotle’s work, including ‘forms of government, the place of the individual in relation to the state and ethical, economic and ‘sociological considerations.

Born in what is now Algeria, Augustine trained in classical Latin rhetoric and became a professor of rhetoric in Rome. He later studied neo-Platonic philosophy and experienced a conversion to Christianity in 386.[Through his numerous theological writings, Augustine became one of the major architects of Latin Christian political theory at a time when Roman civilization was in decline.] In his work ‘The City of God’, Augustine developed his most influential doctrines: on history, grace and predestination, free will, a true republic, the duties of Christians to the state, the just war, the relationship of the institutional Church to secular government and the ‘city of God’ to 'the city of man'. This notion of the two cities influenced political theory throughout the next 800 years and beyond.[The political theories of Augustine rest on his profoundly pessimistic view that human nature is corrupted beyond any hope of rational self-amelioration and that man tends naturally to do evil rather than to do good. As a consequence of this, political association is, for Augustine, an instrument of coercion and protection from harm rather that an instrument of human fulfilment.]Augustine’s ideas were adopted and rejected in turn throughout the middle ages as men attempted to reconcile his negative views of the necessity of the state with the more optimistic views of Aristotle, rediscovered in the 13th century. The Reformation in the 16th century saw a revival of the influence of Augustine’s thought and his political opinions have special resonances for the 20th century.The stimulating articles contained in these two volumes serve to explain and to explore the development of Augustine’s ideas on society and politics.

Thomas Aquinas (1224-74) was born in Naples of a powerful Italian family. He took part in the major philosophical and theological controversies of his day and fought the decisive battle which re-admitted the study of the works of Aristotle.In his work he attempted to harmonise the rational insights of the classical world with revealed Christian truths. [He reinterpreted the Augustinian view of history and politics by concluding that the state did have positive value in itself, as an expression of God's providence and will for mankind. Man fulfilled himself in two ways - as a good citizen and as a Christian seeking salvation. Aquinas is therefore seen as reconciling the views of the pagan Aristotle with the teachings of Christianity.] Aquinas' theory of the state helped to put European political thought on a new plane.This wide-ranging collection of papers investigates and illuminates various aspects of Aquinas’ thought regarding Church and State, society, natural law, justice and political authority.

The work of Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) has a variety of meanings for different interpreters. Some attribute to him a new 'scientific method' of drawing conclusions from practical or historical experience in order to form rules for successful political behaviour, with its emphasis on man's behavioural patterns rather than on moral precepts as a basis for politics. Others attribute to him a belief in the autonomy of the state - that the state is a structure governed by its own laws of development and that it finds its justification only in terms of its success. Others again emphasise his republicanism and see him as a theorist of the modern state. [Some believe his first name is the proper basis of an appellation of the Devil.]Although a lucid writer in many respects, the metaphorical way in which Machiavelli expressed some of his key concepts and his preference for working through examples rather that elaborating principles has given much scope for debate about his actual intentions. These volumes present in chronological order the most significant articles on Machiavelli written in the 20th century and offer a representative selection of the numerous interpretations of his work.

Thomas More (1478-1535), English statesman, author and saint, was a lawyer, politician and diplomat, a leading member of the Renaissance of northern Europe and a defender of the Roman Catholic faith. In the history of political thought More is remembered as the author of Utopia, a little book which gave rise to a genre of literature and a name for a mode of theorising, which explicitly criticises existing political and social arrangements from a radical perspective and also offers new ideals and illustrates how these might be realised in an imaginery society. For over four hundred years the meaning of More's Utopia has confounded scholars. Many of the ideas advanced in the book, e.g. on rational religion and religious toleration, seem to be at odds with the events of More's political career and his practical religious position. Moreover there is much disagreement about the meaning and importance of the substantial satiric elements it contains. This collection contains a great variety of authoritative articles which not only investigate More's life and the influences on his work, but also offer the reader a selection of the various interpretations and comparisons of his writings that scholars have made in the course of this century.

Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), the Dutch jurist and philosopher, is a key theorist of the post-mediaeval state. According to Grotius, the state is not subject to any terrestrial superior, either political or ecclesiastical. His political writings develop the consequences of this condition including the construction of state authority in terms of 'natural rights', acknowledging the right to self-protection and the needs of individuals. A further development is the idea that the state is the instrument of justice beyond its own boundaries. He asserted that there were universal moral standards that could be used to judge questions of international conflict. This universal morality was based on two prinicples: that self-preservation is always legitimate; and that wanton injury of another is always illegitimate. [On this foundation, rules for reconciling conflict could be erected and the existence of civil society explained.] These views have characterised much political thought from Grotius' day to the present and have played their part in the history of international law.This collection of articles presents in chronological order the writings of 20th century authors on Grotius and covers such topics as the life of Grotius, the evolution of his ideas, his contribution to the theory of ‘natural law’ and his wider significance as a political thinker.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is best known for his development of the concept of sovereignty, which was treated most clearly in his great work, Leviathan. Whilst Hobbes was not the first theorist of sovereignty, he remains perhaps the most thorough exponent of the concept. His accounts of morality and religion, as well as of government, are set out in a way that precludes legitimate challenge to the sovereign's authority: and the soovereign, whether monarchical or republican or parliamentary, was taken by Hobbes to be fundamental to civil life.Much of the literature on Hobbes has been devoted to his work on sovereignty. However, this does not exhaust the interest of Hobbes' thought, and recent scholars have also investigated such topics as his conception of historiography, his natural philosophy and his account of religion, and considered how these relate to his political thought. The articles selected in these three volumes reflect these concerns and offer an exploration of Hobbes' political philosophy.

John Locke (1632-1704), the English philosopher, has had a wide-ranging influence on modern political thought. Locke’s political philosophy is based on the premise that by nature human beings are equal and that therefore no-one is under the authority of another unless by his own consent. In Locke’s view, natural law constitutes and protects rights of life, liberty and property. His writings are a turning point in the theory of natural rights, linking constitutionalism and toleration. The impact of his ideas can be seen in the American constitution, in the French Revolution and in the development of modern liberalism. His theory of property is a basis for modern discussion of the subject and its emphasis on labour as a source of value and entitlement forms the background for the later economics of both Adam Smith and Karl Marx.The articles contained in these volumes have been carefully selected in order to put Locke’s work in a wider context. They explore various aspects of Locke’s political theory and investigate his theories on property, natural law, the ‘state of nature’ and toleration.