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95-463: Ernesto Laclau ( Spanish: [laˈklaw] ; 6 October 1935 – 13 April 2014) was an Argentine political theorist and philosopher . He is often described as an 'inventor' of post-Marxist political theory. He is well known for his collaborations with his long-term partner, Chantal Mouffe . He studied history at the University of Buenos Aires Faculty of Philosophy and Letters , graduating with

190-604: A code of law in ancient India is the Manusmṛti or Laws of Manu. Chinese political philosophy dates back to the Spring and Autumn period , specifically with Confucius in the 6th century BC. Chinese political philosophy was developed as a response to the social and political breakdown of the country characteristic of the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period . Confucius was

285-761: A licenciatura in 1964, and received a PhD from the University of Essex in 1977. From 1986 he served as Professor of Political Theory at the University of Essex, where he founded and directed for many years the graduate programme in Ideology and Discourse Analysis , as well as the Centre for Theoretical Studies in the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Under his directorship, the Ideology and Discourse Analysis programme has provided

380-623: A referent . The term open signifier is sometimes used as a synonym due to the empty signifier's nature to "resist the constitution of any unitary meaning", enabling its ability to remain open to different meanings in different contexts. Daniel Chandler defines the term as "a signifier with a vague, highly variable, unspecifiable or non-existent signified". The concept of floating signifiers originates with Claude Lévi-Strauss , who identified cultural ideas like mana as "represent[ing] an undetermined quantity of signification, in itself void of meaning and thus apt to receive any meaning". As such,

475-427: A "floating chain of signifieds." Jacques Derrida also described the "freeplay" of signifiers, arguing that they are not fixed to their signifieds but point beyond themselves to other signifiers in an "indefinite referral of signifier to signified." In Emancipation(s) , Ernesto Laclau frames the empty signifier in the context of social interactions. For Laclau, the empty signifier is the hegemonic representative of

570-538: A "floating signifier" may "mean different things to different people: they may stand for many or even any signifieds; they may mean whatever their interpreters want them to mean". Such a floating signifier—which is said to possess "symbolic value zero"—necessarily results to "allow symbolic thought to operate despite the contradiction inherent in it". Roland Barthes , while not using the term "floating signifier" explicitly, referred specifically to non-linguistic signs as being so open to interpretation that they constituted

665-417: A "frantic ultra-Leftist stance, wrapped in a Leninism of kindergarten". Political theory Political theory also engages questions of a broader scope, tackling the political nature of phenomena and categories such as identity , culture , sexuality , race , wealth , human-nonhuman relations , ethics , religion , and more. Political philosophy is a branch of philosophy , but it has also played

760-617: A Persian scholar and vizier of the Seljuq Empire who composed the Siyasatnama , or the "Book of Government" in English. In it, he details the role of the state in terms of political affairs (i.e. how to deal with political opponents without ruining the government's image), as well as its duty to protect the poor and reward the worthy. In his other work, he explains how the state should deal with other issues such as supplying jobs to immigrants like

855-545: A collection of various demands, constituting a chain of equivalence whose members are distinguished through a differential logic (as in elements exist only in their differences to one another) but combine through an equivalential one. This chain of unsatisfied demands create an unfulfilled totality, inside of which one signifier subordinates the rest and assumes representation of the rest via a hegemonic process. The signifiers "empty" versus "floating" are distinct conceptually yet in practice meld as explained by Laclau: "As we can see,

950-427: A discipline had utility in two ways: the utility of political philosophy might be found either in the intrinsic ability of the best of past political thought to sharpen the wits of contemporary political thinkers, much as any difficult intellectual exercise sharpens the mind and deepens the imagination, or in the ability of political philosophy to serve as a thought-saving device by providing the political scientist with

1045-544: A distinction between the "Liberty of the Ancients" and the "Liberty of the Moderns". The Liberty of the Ancients was participatory republican liberty, which gave the citizens the right to directly influence politics through debates and votes in the public assembly. In order to support this degree of participation, citizenship was a burdensome moral obligation requiring a considerable investment of time and energy. Generally, this required

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1140-422: A hierarchical, meritocratic government based on empathy, loyalty, and interpersonal relationships. Legalism advocated a highly authoritarian government. Mohism advocated a communal, decentralized government centered on frugality and asceticism . The Agrarians advocated a peasant utopian communalism and egalitarianism . Taoism advocated a proto- anarchism . Legalism was the dominant political philosophy of

1235-468: A major part in political science , within which a strong focus has historically been placed on both the history of political thought and contemporary political theory (from normative political theory to various critical approaches ). In the Oxford Handbook of Political Theory (2009), the field is described as: "[...] an interdisciplinary endeavor whose center of gravity lies at the humanities end of

1330-411: A natural system based on nature in a particular given system. The theory of the divine right of kings became a passing fancy, exposed to the type of ridicule with which John Locke treated it. Unlike Machiavelli and Hobbes but like Aquinas, Locke would accept Aristotle's dictum that man seeks to be happy in a state of social harmony as a social animal. Unlike Aquinas's preponderant view on the salvation of

1425-481: A necessary consequence of the size of modern states, and also the inevitable result of having created a commercial society in which there are no slaves but almost everybody must earn a living through work. Instead, the voters would elect representatives, who would deliberate in Parliament on behalf of the people and would save citizens from the necessity of daily political involvement. Moreover, Constant believed that, in

1520-441: A research framework for the development of a distinct type of discourse analysis that draws on post-structuralist theory (especially the work of Saussure , and Derrida ), post-analytic thought ( Wittgenstein , and Richard Rorty ) and psychoanalysis (primarily the work of Lacan ) to provide innovative analysis of concrete political phenomena, such as identities, discourses and hegemonies. This theoretical and analytical orientation

1615-491: A rich source of concepts, models, insights, theories, and methods. In his 2001 book A Student's Guide to Political Philosophy , Harvey Mansfield contrasts political philosophy with political science . He argues that political science "apes" the natural sciences and is a rival to political philosophy, replacing normative words like "good", "just", and "noble" with words like "utility" or "preferences". According to Mansfield, political science rebelled from political philosophy in

1710-491: A sub-society of slaves to do much of the productive work, leaving the citizens free to deliberate on public affairs. Ancient Liberty was also limited to relatively small and homogenous societies, in which the people could be conveniently gathered together in one place to transact public affairs. The Liberty of the Moderns, in contrast, was based on the possession of civil liberties, the rule of law, and freedom from excessive state interference. Direct participation would be limited:

1805-403: A topic that was prevalent in his earliest writings: populism. In On Populist Reason , Laclau considered the nature of populism in political discourse, the creation of a popular hegemonic bloc such as "the people", and the importance of affect in politics. Building on his earlier work, Laclau argued that the basis of populism lies in the creation of " empty signifiers ": words and ideas that express

1900-432: A universal idea of justice, and symbolically structure the political environment. Against those who see populism as a threat to democracy, Laclau argued that it is an essential component of it. Laclau is known for his long standing dialogue with Lacanian "arch-Marxist" Slavoj Žižek . This dates back to at least 1989, when Laclau wrote the introduction to Žižek's first book in English ( The Sublime Object of Ideology ). Žižek

1995-459: A way of asserting that the word is more concrete than the concept it describes, where the concept may not be stable, but the word is. It is often applied to non-linguistic signs , such as the example of the Rorschach inkblot test . The concept is used in some more textual forms of postmodernism , which rejects the strict anchoring of particular signifiers to particular signifieds and argues against

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2090-448: A wide variety of different groups if they are to be successful and establish a left-wing 'hegemony'. In the final chapter of the book, the project of "radical and plural democracy" was advocated: a democracy in which subjects accept the importance of the values of liberty and equality, but fight over what the terms mean. In Hegemony and Socialist Strategy Laclau and Mouffe also offered a constructivist account of 'discourse'. By drawing on

2185-468: A woman was married, she entered legally binding coverture with her husband; once she married her legal existence as an individual was suspended under "marital unity". While it is easy to presume that a woman would not marry under these circumstances, being unmarried had social consequences. A woman could only advance in social stature and wealth if she had a rich husband to do the groundwork. Mill uses his Utilitarian ethics to assess how gender equality would be

2280-472: Is commonly considered the father of modern anarchism , specifically mutualism . Peter Kropotkin is another classic anarchist thinker, who was the most influential theorist of anarcho-communism . Mikhail Bakunin 's specific version of anarchism is called collectivist anarchism . Max Stirner was the main representative of the anarchist current known as individualist anarchism and the founder of ethical egoism which endorses anarchy. Henry David Thoreau

2375-567: Is does not mean that is how it ought to be, which was a very influential idea on normative politics. Known as the father of liberalism, Adam Smith explained emergence of economic benefits from the self-interested behavior (the invisible hand ) of artisans and traders. While praising its efficiency, Smith also expressed concern about the effects of industrial labor (e.g., repetitive activity) on workers. His work on moral sentiments sought to explain social bonds which enhance economic activity. Immanuel Kant argued that participation in civil society

2470-518: Is essentially restricted to the areas of speech and writing, but any complex of elements in which relations play the constitutive role. This means that elements do not pre-exist the relational complex but are constituted through it. Thus 'relation' and 'objectivity' are synonymous. Saussure asserted that there are no positive terms in language, only differences — something is what it is only through its differential relations to something else." Laclau subsequently used this account of discourse to re-consider

2565-403: Is found in traditional societies in which there is rule by one (a monarchy) or a few (an aristocracy). Though one could be worried about restrictions on liberty by benevolent monarchs or aristocrats, the traditional worry is that when rulers are politically unaccountable to the governed they will rule in their own interests, rather than the interests of the governed. Mill's explicit theory of rights

2660-452: Is introduced in Chapter V of Utilitarianism in the context of his sanction theory of duty, which is an indirect form of utilitarianism that identifies wrong actions as actions that it is useful to sanction. Mill then introduces justice as a proper part of the duty. Justice involves duties that are perfect duties—that is, duties that are correlated with rights. Justice implies something which it

2755-564: Is known today as the ' Essex School of discourse analysis '. Over his career Laclau lectured extensively in many universities in North America, South America, Western Europe, Australia, and South Africa. He also held positions at SUNY Buffalo and Northwestern University , both in the US. Laclau died of a heart attack in Seville in 2014. Laclau studied history at the University of Buenos Aires and

2850-493: Is not only right to do, and wrong not to do, but which some individual person can claim from us as a matter of right. These perfect duties will thus create liberty and collective freedom within a state. He uses, On Liberty to discuss gender equality in society. To Mill, Utilitarianism was the perfect tool to justify gender equality in The Subjection of Women, referring to the political, lawful and social subjection of women. When

2945-632: Is notable for the theories that humans are social animals, and that the polis (Ancient Greek city state) existed to bring about the good life appropriate to such animals. Roman political philosophy was influenced by the Stoics and the Roman statesman Cicero . Medieval political philosophy in Europe was heavily influenced by Christian thinking. It had much in common with the Mutazilite Islamic thinking in that

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3040-504: Is scholarly debate surrounding the place of canon law within the Thomistic jurisprudential framework. Aquinas was an incredibly influential thinker in the Natural Law tradition . In synthesizing Christian theology and Peripatetic (Aristotelian) teaching in his Treatise on Law , Aquinas contends that God's gift of higher reason—manifest in human law by way of the divine virtues—gives way to

3135-630: Is that I cannot aid you in this noble enterprise, the finest and most respectable which the human mind can point out." After Voltaire, religion would never be the same again in France. John Locke in particular exemplified this new age of political theory with his work Two Treatises of Government . In it, Locke proposes a state of nature theory that directly complements his conception of how political development occurs and how it can be founded through contractual obligation. Locke stood to refute Sir Robert Filmer 's paternally founded political theory in favor of

3230-532: Is undertaken not for self-preservation, as per Thomas Hobbes , but as a moral duty. He was the first modern thinker who fully analyzed structure and meaning of obligation. He also argued that an international organization was needed to preserve world peace. John Stuart Mill 's work on political philosophy begins in On Liberty , the most influential statement of his liberal principles. He begins by distinguishing old and new threats to liberty. The old threat to liberty

3325-508: Is widely recognized as responsible for Laclau's increased acceptance of Lacanian ideas and his essay "Beyond Discourse Analysis", which was published in Laclau's New Reflections on the Revolutions of Our Time (1990), provided a psychoanalytic critique of Laclau's work. In 2000, Laclau, Žižek and Judith Butler published the trialogue Contingency, Hegemony, Universality , in which each responded to

3420-564: The Medici family. At any rate, Machiavelli presents a pragmatic and somewhat consequentialist view of politics, whereby good and evil are mere means used to bring about an end—i.e., the acquisition and maintenance of absolute power. Thomas Hobbes , well known for his theory of the social contract , goes on to expand this view at the start of the 17th century during the English Renaissance . Although neither Machiavelli nor Hobbes believed in

3515-571: The Qin dynasty , but was replaced by State Confucianism in the Han dynasty . Each had religious or mythic aspects as well that played into how they viewed fairness in governance. Prior to China's adoption of communism , State Confucianism remained the dominant political philosophy of China up to the 20th century. Western political philosophy originates in the philosophy of ancient Greece , where political philosophy dates back to at least Plato . Ancient Greece

3610-474: The Renaissance . Some medieval political philosophers, such as Aquinas in his Summa Theologica , developed the idea that a king who is a tyrant is no king at all and could be overthrown. Others, like Nicole Oresme in his Livre de Politiques , categorically denied this right to overthrow an unjust ruler. Magna Carta , viewed by many as a cornerstone of Anglo-American political liberty, explicitly proposes

3705-610: The Roman Catholics thought subordinating philosophy to theology did not subject reason to revelation but in the case of contradictions, subordinated reason to faith as the Asharite of Islam. The Scholastics by combining the philosophy of Aristotle with the Christianity of St. Augustine emphasized the potential harmony inherent in reason and revelation. Scholastic political philosophy dominated European thought for centuries even unto

3800-463: The Turkmens who were coming from the north (present day southern Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). The 14th-century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun is considered one of the greatest political theorists. The British philosopher-anthropologist Ernest Gellner considered Ibn Khaldun's definition of government , "...an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself,"

3895-567: The "core" terms of the Qur'an—i.e., ibadah (worship), din (religion), rab (master) and ilah (deity)—is taken as the basis of an analysis. Hence, not only the ideas of the Muslim political philosophers but also many other jurists and ulama posed political ideas and theories. For example, the ideas of the Khawarij in the very early years of Islamic history on Khilafa and Ummah , or that of Shia Islam on

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3990-409: The 1970s, such as the role of the state, the dynamics of capitalism, the importance of building popular movements, and the possibility of revolution. Laclau's most significant book is Hegemony and Socialist Strategy , which he co-authored with Chantal Mouffe in 1985. The position outlined in this book is usually described as post-Marxist because it rejects (a) Marxist economic determinism and (b)

4085-920: The Asharites, reason must be subordinate to the Quran and the Sunna. Islamic political philosophy , was, indeed, rooted in the very sources of Islam —i.e., the Qur'an and the Sunnah , the words and practices of Muhammad—thus making it essentially theocratic. However, in Western thought, it is generally supposed that it was a specific area peculiar merely to the great philosophers of Islam: al-Kindi (Alkindus), al-Farabi (Abunaser), İbn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Bajjah (Avempace) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes). The political conceptions of Islam such as kudrah (power), sultan , ummah , cemaa (obligation)-and even

4180-497: The Christian religion] is assuredly the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world. Your Majesty will do the human race an eternal service by extirpating this infamous superstition, I do not say among the rabble, who are not worthy of being enlightened and who are apt for every yoke; I say among honest people, among men who think, among those who wish to think. ... My one regret in dying

4275-506: The Martians". Their disagreement escalated in the pages of Critical Inquiry in 2006, when in a spate of essays the two argued in an increasingly hostile manner about political action, Marxism and class struggle, Hegel, populism, and the Lacanian Real. More recently in a 2014 interview with David Howarth, Laclau stated that his relationship with Žižek had deteriorated due to the latter adopting

4370-758: The Peronist politician Arturo Jauretche , a strong opponent of Justo 's dictatorship during the Infamous Decade of the 1930s, was a close friend of his father. In his later years, he had close ties with the Argentine Socialist Confederation (Spanish: Confederación Socialista Argentina ), and in Argentina he is associated with Peronism . Laclau's early work was influenced by Althusserian Marxism and focused on issues debated within Neo-Marxist circles in

4465-557: The West. A minority (including Jean-Jacques Rousseau ) interpreted The Prince as a satire meant to be given to the Medici after their recapture of Florence and their subsequent expulsion of Machiavelli from Florence. Though the work was written for the di Medici family in order to perhaps influence them to free him from exile, Machiavelli supported the Republic of Florence rather than the oligarchy of

4560-399: The academic field was wholly scholastic and therefore Christian in nature. One of the most influential works during this burgeoning period was Niccolò Machiavelli 's The Prince , written between 1511–12 and published in 1532, after Machiavelli's death. That work, as well as The Discourses , a rigorous analysis of classical antiquity , did much to influence modern political thought in

4655-494: The assembly of righteous government. The rise of Islam , based on both the Qur'an and Muhammad strongly altered the power balances and perceptions of origin of power in the Mediterranean region. Early Islamic philosophy emphasized an inexorable link between science and religion , and the process of ijtihad to find truth —in effect all philosophy was " political " as it had real implications for governance. This view

4750-404: The best form for a state could be. These fundamental questions involved a conceptual distinction between the concepts of "state" and "government." It was decided that "state" would refer to a set of enduring institutions through which power would be distributed and its use justified. The term "government" would refer to a specific group of people who occupied the institutions of the state, and create

4845-527: The best in the history of political theory. For Ibn Khaldun, government should be restrained to a minimum for as a necessary evil, it is the constraint of men by other men. During the Renaissance secular political philosophy began to emerge after about a century of theological political thought in Europe. While the Middle Ages did see secular politics in practice under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire ,

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4940-420: The best way to achieve "the greatest good for the greatest number" : "The principle that regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes … and is now one of the chief obstacles to human improvement…" The 'chief obstacle' to Mill relates to women's intellectual capability. The Subjection of Women looks at this in the women of society and argues that diminishing their intellectual potential wastes

5035-471: The best." According to Mansfield, political science and political philosophy are two distinct kinds of political philosophy, one modern and the other ancient. He stresses that the only way to understand modern political science and its ancient alternative fully is to enter the history of political philosophy and to study the tradition handed down over the centuries. Although modern political science feels no obligation to look at its roots, and might even denigrate

5130-624: The case of the Solidarność movement led by Lech Walesa at the Lenin shipyards in Gdansk, Poland, in 1980. At the beginning, the demands of this movement were linked to a set of precise demands of the workers of the ship industry. However, they started to be employed in the context in which many other demands in different areas were also articulated. At the end, Solidarność became the signifier of something much broader. When this universality comes about, it cuts off

5225-473: The categories of ‘empty’ and ‘floating’ signifiers are structurally different. The first concerns the construction of a popular identity once the presence of a stable frontier is taken for granted; the second tries conceptually to apprehend the logic of the displacements of that frontier." In an interview in December 2013, Laclau clarified the distinction with an example: Laclau exemplified an empty signifier with

5320-629: The church in France was François Marie Arouet de Voltaire , a representative figure of the enlightenment. Historians have described Voltaire's description of the history of Christianity as "propagandistic". Voltaire is partially responsible for the misattribution of the expression Credo quia absurdum to the Church Fathers. In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, dated 5 January 1767, he wrote about Christianity: La nôtre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde. "Ours [i.e.,

5415-513: The concept of Imamah are considered proofs of political thought. The clashes between the Ehl-i Sunna and Shia in the 7th and 8th centuries had a genuine political character. Political thought was not purely rooted in theism, however. Aristotleanism flourished as the Islamic Golden Age saw rise to a continuation of the peripatetic philosophers who implemented the ideas of Aristotle in

5510-451: The concept of natural order was not introduced, the social sciences could not evolve independently of theistic thinking. Since the cultural revolution of the 17th century in England, which spread to France and the rest of Europe, society has been considered subject to natural laws akin to the physical world. Political and economic relations were drastically influenced by these theories as

5605-544: The concept of the guild was subordinated to the theory of free trade , and Roman Catholic dominance of theology was increasingly challenged by Protestant churches subordinate to each nation-state , which also (in a fashion the Roman Catholic Church often decried angrily) preached in the vulgar or native language of each region. Free trade, as opposed to these religious theories, is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as

5700-406: The concept that there are any ultimate determinable meanings to words or signs. In his 2003 book City of Gold , David A. Westbrook refers to money as a "perpetually floating signifier" of pure potential, noting that "its promise to represent anything in particular is never fulfilled." The Oxford Dictionary of Critical Theory gives the example that " Fredric Jameson suggests that the shark in

5795-571: The connection between the signifier and the signified. In the case of Solidarność, in the beginning it had a signifier but then, because the appeal increased too much, the reference to a particular signified was diluted. A floating signifier is different. It can be connected to different contexts, so the function of meaning therein is fully realized. Even when it is ambiguous, it is not empty. It fluctuates between different forms of articulation in different projects. The notion of floating signifiers can be applied to concepts such as race and gender , as

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5890-480: The context of the Islamic world. Abunaser, Avicenna and Ibn Rushd where part of this philosophical school who claimed that human reason surpassed mere coincidence and revelation. They believed, for example, that natural phenomena occur because of certain rules (made by god), not because god interfered directly (unlike Al-Ghazali and his followers). Other notable political philosophers of the time include Nizam al-Mulk ,

5985-412: The divine right of kings, they both believed in the inherent selfishness of the individual. It was necessarily this belief that led them to adopt a strong central power as the only means of preventing the disintegration of the social order. The main practical conclusion of Hobbes' political theory is that state or society can not be secure unless at the disposal of an absolute sovereign. From this follows

6080-405: The dramatic opening lines, "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they." Rousseau claimed that the state of nature was a primitive condition without law or morality, which human beings left for the benefits and necessity of cooperation. As society developed, the division of labor and private property required

6175-499: The evil of discord and civil war. Beginning from a mechanistic understanding of human beings and their passions, Hobbes postulates what life would be like without government, a condition which he calls the state of nature. In that state, each person would have a right, or license, to everything in the world. This, Hobbes argues, would lead to a "war of all against all". During the Enlightenment period, new theories emerged about what

6270-405: The first thinker to relate ethics to the political order. The major philosophies during the period, Confucianism , Legalism , Mohism , Agrarianism and Taoism , each had a political aspect to their philosophical schools. Philosophers such as Confucius , Mencius , and Mozi , focused on political unity and political stability as the basis of their political philosophies. Confucianism advocated

6365-406: The free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold liberal economic positions while economically left-wing and nationalist political parties generally support protectionism, the opposite of free trade. However, the enlightenment was an outright attack on religion, particularly Christianity. The most outspoken critic of

6460-418: The happily still undisciplined discipline of political science ... For a long time, the challenge for the identity of political theory has been how to position itself productively in three sorts of location: in relation to the academic disciplines of political science, history, and philosophy; between the world of politics and the more abstract, ruminative register of theory; between canonical political theory and

6555-509: The human race to adopt institutions of law. In the degenerate phase of society, man is prone to be in frequent competition with his fellow men while also becoming increasingly dependent on them. This double pressure threatens both his survival and his freedom. G. W. F. Hegel emphasized the "cunning" of history, arguing that it followed a rational trajectory, even while embodying seemingly irrational forces. Hegel influenced Marx, Kierkegaard , Nietzsche , and Oakeshott . Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

6650-940: The human was and is and about the definition of reality and the way it was perceived, along with the discovery of other societies in the Americas, and the changing needs of political societies (especially in the wake of the English Civil War , the American Revolution , the French Revolution , and the Haitian Revolution ). These new theories led to new questions and insights by thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes , John Locke , Benjamin Constant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau . These theorists were driven by two basic questions: one, by what right or need do people form states; and two, what

6745-593: The knowledge and skill of half of the population; such knowledge lost could formulate ideas that could maximize pleasure for society. James Madison was an American politician considered to be "Father of the Constitution " and "Father of the Bill of Rights " of the United States. As a political theorist, he believed in separation of powers and proposed a comprehensive set of checks and balances that are necessary to protect

6840-467: The laws and ordinances by which the people, themselves included, would be bound. This conceptual distinction continues to operate in political science , although some political scientists, philosophers, historians and cultural anthropologists have argued that most political action in any given society occurs outside of its state, and that there are societies that are not organized into states that nevertheless must be considered in political terms. As long as

6935-479: The modern world, commerce was superior to war. He attacked Napoleon's martial appetite, on the grounds that it was illiberal and no longer suited to modern commercial social organization. Ancient Liberty tended to be warlike, whereas a state organized on the principles of Modern Liberty would be at peace with all peaceful nations. Rousseau analyzed the social contract as an expression of the general will , and controversially argued in favor of absolute democracy where

7030-448: The most influential political philosopher of medieval Europe was St. Thomas Aquinas who helped reintroduce Aristotle 's works, which had only been transmitted to Catholic Europe through Muslim Spain, along with the commentaries of Averroes . Aquinas meticulously dealt with the varieties of philosophy of law . According to Aquinas, there are four kinds of law: Aquinas never discusses the nature or categorization of canon law . There

7125-439: The nature of identity, arguing that all political identities are discursive - even if they are experienced by individuals as 'natural' (even to the point where one's identity is not recognised as an identity). For example, though an individual may think that they are just 'born male' this is, for Laclau not the case: 'maleness' is a socially constructed category that has no innate meaning. In his more recent works Laclau returned to

7220-404: The newer resources (such as feminist and critical theory , discourse analysis , film and film theory , popular and political culture, mass media studies , neuroscience , environmental studies , behavioral science , and economics ) on which political theorists increasingly draw." In a 1956 American Political Science Review report authored by Harry Eckstein , political philosophy as

7315-466: The others' works in a three-essay cycle. Although Žižek and Laclau noted their similarities and mutual respect, significant political and theoretical differences emerged between all three interlocutors. Following several acrimonious publications in the early 2000s, Laclau wrote in On Populist Reason (2005) that Žižek had an impractical and confused approach to politics, describing him as "waiting for

7410-523: The people at large would act as sovereign . The Social Contract (1762) outlines the basis for a legitimate political order within a framework of classical republicanism, becoming one of the most influential works of political philosophy in the Western tradition. It developed some of the ideas mentioned in earlier work, the article Discours sur l'oeconomie politique ( Discourse on Political Economy ), featured in Diderot's Encyclopédie . The treatise begins with

7505-472: The principal governing body of these states, consisted of the King, Prime Minister, Commander in chief of army, Chief Priest of the King. The Prime Minister headed the committee of ministers along with head of executive (Maha Amatya). Chanakya was a 4th-century BC Indian political philosopher. The Arthashastra provides an account of the science of politics for a wise ruler, policies for foreign affairs and wars,

7600-767: The purpose of abolitionist efforts, writing A Plea for Captain John Brown and The Last Days of John Brown . Noam Chomsky is a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, neoliberalism and contemporary state capitalism, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mainstream news media. His ideas have proven highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements, and aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism. Empty signifier In semiotics and discourse analysis , floating signifiers (also referred to as empty signifiers , although these terms have been made distinct ) are signifiers without

7695-453: The right to revolt against the ruler for justice's sake. Other documents similar to Magna Carta are found in other European countries such as Spain and Hungary. The early Christian philosophy of Augustine of Hippo was heavily influenced by Plato. A key change brought about by Christian thought was the moderation of the Stoicism and theory of justice of the Roman world, as well emphasis on

7790-464: The rights of an individual from the tyranny of the majority . Thomas Paine defended liberal democracy , the American Revolution , and the French Revolution in Common Sense and The Rights of Man . One of the first thinkers to go by the name of "liberal", Benjamin Constant looked to Britain rather than to ancient Rome for a practical model of freedom in a large, commercial society. He drew

7885-523: 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 Earthly City ( Civitas Terrena). Augustine's City of God is an influential work of this period that attacked the thesis, held by many Christian Romans, that the Christian view could be realized on Earth . Perhaps

7980-463: The seventeenth century and declared itself distinct and separate in the positivist movement of the late nineteenth century. He writes: "Today political science is often said to be 'descriptive' or 'empirical,' concerned with facts; political philosophy is called 'normative' because it expresses values. But these terms merely repeat in more abstract form the difference between political science, which seeks agreement, and political philosophy, which seeks

8075-416: The social contract theory of John Locke and others as resting on a myth of some actual agreement. Hume was a realist in recognizing the role of force to forge the existence of states and that consent of the governed was merely hypothetical. He also introduced the concept of utility , later picked up on and developed by Jeremy Bentham . Hume also coined the is–ought problem , i.e. that just because something

8170-417: The soul from original sin , Locke believes man's mind comes into this world as tabula rasa . For Locke, knowledge is neither innate, revealed nor based on authority but subject to uncertainty tempered by reason, tolerance and moderation. According to Locke, an absolute ruler as proposed by Hobbes is unnecessary, for natural law is based on reason and seeking peace and survival for man. David Hume criticized

8265-572: The subject as if it could not be of any real significance, he says, "our reasoning shows that the history of political philosophy is required for understanding its substance". Indian political philosophy in ancient times demarcated a clear distinction between (1) nation and state (2) religion and state. The constitutions of Hindu states evolved over time and were based on political and legal treatises and prevalent social institutions. The institutions of state were broadly divided into governance, diplomacy, administration, defense, law and order. Mantranga ,

8360-477: The system of a spy state and surveillance and economic stability of the state. Chanakya quotes several authorities including Bruhaspati, Ushanas, Prachetasa Manu, Parasara, and Ambi, and described himself as a descendant of a lineage of political philosophers, with his father Chanaka being his immediate predecessor. Another influential extant Indian treatise on political philosophy is the Sukra Neeti. An example of

8455-530: The view that class struggle is the most important antagonism in society. In their 2001 introduction to the second edition Laclau and Mouffe commented on this label, stating that whilst ' post -Marxist' they were also 'post- Marxist ': their work, though a departure from traditional Western Marxism, retained similar concerns and ideas. A key innovation in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy was Laclau and Mouffe's argument that left-wing movements need to build alliances with

8550-421: The view that no individual can hold rights of property against the sovereign, and that the sovereign may therefore take the goods of its subjects without their consent. In Leviathan , Hobbes set out his doctrine of the foundation of states and legitimate governments and creating an objective science of morality. Much of the book is occupied with demonstrating the necessity of a strong central authority to avoid

8645-474: The work of the later Wittgenstein, they argued that social entities only become meaningful through both linguistic and non-linguistic discursive articulation. As such, the meaning of something is never pre-given but is, instead, constructed through social practices. In a later summary of his view, Laclau claims there is support for this broad sense of discourse in Saussure. "By discourse... I do not mean something that

8740-605: Was a member of the PSIN (Socialist Party of the National Left) until 1969, when the British historian Eric Hobsbawm supported his entrance to Oxford. He had close links with Jorge Abelardo Ramos , the founder of the PSIN, although he stated in 2005 that the latter had evolved in a direction he did not appreciate. In the same interview, he claimed that he came from a Yrigoyenista family, and that

8835-540: Was an influential anarchist thinker writing on topics such as pacifism , environmentalism and civil disobedience – notably with his written work Civil Disobedience – who influenced later important political activists such as Leo Tolstoy , Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Hard-lining on the individual citizen's right to seek justice over the state's, he was also an outspoken advocate and apologist for John Brown following his raid on Harper's Ferry for

8930-487: Was challenged by the "rationalist" Mutazilite philosophers, who held a more Hellenic view, reason above revelation, and as such are known to modern scholars as the first speculative theologians of Islam; they were supported by a secular aristocracy who sought freedom of action independent of the Caliphate . By the late ancient period, however, the "traditionalist" Asharite view of Islam had in general triumphed. According to

9025-444: Was dominated by city-states, which experimented with various forms of political organization. Plato grouped forms of government into five categories of descending stability and morality: republic , timocracy , oligarchy , democracy and tyranny . One of the first, extremely important classical works of political philosophy is Plato's Republic , which was followed by Aristotle 's Nicomachean Ethics and Politics . Aristotle

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