User:Phlsph7/Political philosophy - Basic concepts

Basic concepts

Political philosophers rely on various basic concepts to formulate theories and conceptualize the field of politics. Politics encompasses diverse activities associated with governance, collective decision-making, reconciliation of conflicting interests, and exercise of power. Some theorists characterize it as the art of skillfully engaging in these activities.

Government, power, and laws

The state, a fundamental concept in political philosophy, is an organized political entity. States are associations of people, called citizens. They typically exercise control over a specific territory, implement the rule of law, and function as juristic persons subject to rights and obligations while engaging with other states. However, the precise definition of statehood is disputed. Some philosophical characterizations emphasize the state's monopoly on violence and the subordination of the will of the many to the will of a dominant few. Another outlook sees the state as a social contract for mutual benefit and security. States are characterized by their level of organization and the power they wield, in contrast to stateless societies, which are more loosely ordered social groups connected through a less centralized web of relationships. Nation, a related concept, refers to a group of people with a common identity based on shared culture, history, or language. Many states today are nation-states, meaning that their citizens share a common national identity that aligns with the state's political boundaries. Historically, the first states in antiquity were city-states.

A government is an institution that exercises control and governs the people belonging to a political entity, usually a state. Some political philosophers see the government as an end in itself, while others consider it a means to other goods, such as peace and prosperity. Another philosophical discussion concerns the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of government, such as democracy, aristocracy, oligarchy, monarchy, and tyranny. Some governments set down fundamental principles, called constitution, that outline the structure, functions, and limitations of governmental authority, while others exercise unconstrained authority. Anarchists reject governments and advocate self-governance without a centralized authority.

A key aspect of governments and other political institutions is the power they wield. Power is the ability to produce intended effects or control what people and institutions do. It can be based on consent, like people following a charismatic leader, but can also take the form of coercion, such as a tyrannical ruler enforcing compliance through fear and repression. The powers of government typically include the legislative power to establish new laws or revoke existing ones, the executive power to enforce laws, and the judicial power to arbitrate legal disputes. Governments following the separation of powers have distinct branches for each function to prevent overconcentration and abuse of power.

Legitimacy, another fundamental concept, is the rightful or justified use of power. Political philosophers examine whether, why, and under what conditions the powers exercised by a government are legitimate. Often-discussed requirements include that power is acquired following established rules and used for rightful ends. For instance, the rules of representative democracies assert that elections determine who acquires power as the legitimate ruler. Authority, a closely related concept, is the right to rule or the common belief that someone is legitimized to exercise power. In some cases, a person may have authority even if they lack the effective power to act. Some theorists also talk of illegitimate authority in situations where the common belief in the legitimacy of a use of power is mistaken.

Governments typically use laws to wield power. Laws are rules of social conduct that describe how people and institutions may or may not act. According to natural law theory, laws are or should be expressions of universal moral principles inherent in human nature. This view contrasts with legal positivism, which sees laws as human conventions. Political obligation is the duty of citizens to follow the laws of their political community. Political philosophers examine in what sense citizens are subject to political obligations even if they did not explicitly consent to them. Political obligation may or may not align with moral obligation—the duty to follow moral principles. For example, if an authoritarian state imposes laws that violate basic human rights, citizens may have a moral obligation to disobey.

Laws governing property are foundational to many legal systems. Property is the right to control a good, including the rights to use, consume, lend, sell, and destroy it. It covers both material goods, like natural resources, and immaterial goods, such as copyrights associated with intellectual property. Public property pertains to the state or community, whereas private property belongs to other entities, such as individual citizens. Various discussions in political philosophy address the advantages and disadvantages of private property. For example, communism seeks to abolish most forms of private property in favor of collective ownership to promote economic equality.

Justice, equality, and liberty

Diverse concepts in political philosophy act as values or goals of political processes. Justice is a complex concept at the core of many political concerns. It is specifically associated with the idea that people should be treated fairly and receive what they deserve. More broadly, it also refers to appropriate behavior and moral conduct, but its exact meaning varies by context: it can be an aspect of actions, a virtue of actors, or a structural feature of social situations. In the context of social life, social justice encompasses various aspects of fairness and equality in regard to wealth, assets, and other advantages. It includes the idea of distributive justice, which promotes an impartial allocation of resources, goods, and opportunities. In legal contexts, retributive justice deals with punishment, with one principle being that the harm inflicted on an offender is proportional to their crime.

Justice is closely related to equality, the ideal that individuals should have the same rights, opportunities, or resources. Equality before the law is the principle that all individuals are subject to the same legal standards, rights, and obligations. Political equality concerns the abilities to vote for someone and to become a candidate for a political position. Equal opportunity is the ideal that everyone should have the same chances in life, meaning that success should be based on merit rather than circumstances of birth or social class. This contrasts with equality of outcome, the idea that all people should have similar levels of material wealth and living standards. Philosophers of politics examine and compare different conceptions of equality, discussing which of its aspects should guide political action. They also consider the influence of discrimination, which refers to unfair treatment based on race, gender, sexuality, and class that can undermine equality. The school of political thought known as egalitarianism sees equality as one of the main goals of political action.

Liberty or freedom is the ideal that people may act according to their will without oppressive restrictions. Political philosophers typically distinguish two complementary aspects of liberty: positive liberty—the power to act in a certain way—and negative liberty—the absence of obstacles or interference from others. Liberty is a key value of liberalism, a school of political philosophy. Competing schools of thought debate whether laws necessarily limit liberty by restricting individual actions to protect the common good or enable it by creating a safe framework in which individuals can exercise their rights freely. Liberty as an ability to do something is sometimes distinguished from license, which involves explicit permission to do something. Autonomy, another closely related concept, is the ability to make informed decisions and govern oneself by being one's own master.

Welfare, well-being, and happiness express the general quality of life of an individual and are central standards for evaluating policies and political institutions. Some philosophers understand these phenomena as subjective experiences, linked to the presence of pleasant feelings, the absence of unpleasant ones, and a positive self-assessment of one's life. Others propose an objective interpretation, arguing that the relevant factors can be objectively measured, such as economic prosperity, health, education, and security. Various schools of political thought, such as utilitarianism and welfarism, see happiness or well-being as the ultimate goal of political actions. Welfare states are states that prioritize the social and economic well-being of their citizens through measures such as affordable healthcare systems, social security, and free access to education for all.

References

Sources

• McLean, Iain; McMillan, Alistair (2009). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-101827-5.
• Friedrich, Carl J. (1972). "Authority and Legitimacy". Tradition and Authority. Macmillan Education UK. pp. 89–98. ISBN 978-1-349-01046-2.
• Walzer, Michael (2005). "Political Obligation". In Honderich, Ted (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press. p. 730. ISBN 978-0-19-926479-7.
• Miller, David (2025). "Justice". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
• Ricciardi, Mario (2016). "13. Liberty". In Besussi, Antonella (ed.). A Companion to Political Philosophy. Methods, Tools, Topics. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-18867-4.
• Carter, Ian (2016). "14. Equality". In Besussi, Antonella (ed.). A Companion to Political Philosophy. Methods, Tools, Topics. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-18867-4.
• Tuckness, Alex; Wolf, Clark (2016). This Is Political Philosophy: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-76600-2.
• Bradley, Ben (2015). Well-being. Polity Press. ISBN 978-0-7456-6272-5.
• Bramble, Ben (2020). "Welfarism". In LaFollette, Hugh (ed.). International Encyclopedia of Ethics. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4443-6707-2.
• Campbell, Stephen M. (2015). "The Concept of Well-Being". In Fletcher, Guy (ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Well-Being. Routledge. pp. 402–414. ISBN 978-1-317-40265-7.
• Griffin, James P. (2005). "State, The". In Honderich, Ted (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press. pp. 893–894. ISBN 978-0-19-926479-7.
• Beetham, David (1998). "Legitimacy". In Craig, Edward (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780415249126-S034-1. ISBN 978-0415073103.
• Jori, Mario (1998). "Legal Positivism". In Craig, Edward (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780415249126-T008-1. ISBN 978-0415073103.
• Grunebaum, James O. (2005). "Property". In Honderich, Ted (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press. p. 762–763. ISBN 978-0-19-926479-7.
• Feinberg, Joel (1998). "Freedom and Liberty". In Craig, Edward (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780415249126-S026-1. ISBN 978-0415073103.
• Green, Leslie (1998). "Authority". In Craig, Edward (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780415249126-S004-1. ISBN 978-0415073103.
• Smith, George H. (2013). The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-00507-5.