Political Philosophy

Political philosophy is a branch of philosophy concerned with political opinion, government, and the purpose of the political process in the context of human life. Questions in political philosophy seek to engage in topics of political obligation, individual rights, sovereignty, power relations, and the nature of liberty. Political philosophy differs from political science in that the “science” latter is generally more empirical and based on settled descriptions. Political philosophers, however, grapple with conceptual questions requiring interpretation that may not necessarily have a reachable answer - in this way, for its more subjective nature, political philosophy often generates visions of “good” societies ruled by “just” institutions. Though, the terms are interchangeable in a colloquial sense. Ethics serves as the very foundation of political philosophy (for many, political philosophy is a sub-field of ethics, and thus a sub-field of axiology), as political philosophers apply this idea of goodness to try and define the purpose and scope of public power in a beneficial civilization. For example, utilitarianism prioritizes the majority and seeks the most happiness for the most people - that is, a utilitarian believes that achieving good means more pleasure than pain in society’s outcomes. This ethical claim would thus prompt the support of political institutions that best serve the happiness of as many citizens as possible (i.e., majority over minority). Political philosophers study various concepts in competing contexts - individual versus group rights, individual dignity versus group duties, individual versus group self-determination, etc. In political philosophy, many philosophers examine politics through a more extreme methodological individualist or holist framework. Methodological individualists focus on individual action, regarding society as a sum of individual living parts. Alternatively, methodological holists favor collectivist theories where society is a collective entity or state above the individual. On top of individualist and holist frameworks, rationalism and irrationalism differ in philosophical methodology. The main difference is the commitment to reason and logic. Rationalists claim that reason is the chief political unifier, whereas irrationalists argue against it, favoring other driving forces like emotions, culture, religion, class, etc. Despite these extreme methodological standpoints, there are some big political schools of thought, including liberalism (theory of social contact and individual freedom), conservatism (security over rebellion and institutional respect), socialism (central ownership), anarchism (lack of hierarchical structures), and environmentalism (rights of the planet and other non-human species).