Trace the evolution of Western Political Thought from ancient to contemporary period. (UPSC CSE Mains 2020 - Political Science and International Relations, Paper 1)
- Western political thought is based on history, but its history, Professor Sabine rightly says, has no concluding chapter. It has grown and is growing, and in fact, will always keep growing. It has grown in a typical way; each subsequent philosopher condemns/criticises the philosophy or political ideas of an earlier philosopher, and in the process builds his own philosophy. Aristotle did so with Plato; Locke did so with Filmer; Bentham with Blackstone; John Stuart Mill with Bentham; Marx did so with Hegel, Adam Smith, Proudhon. So western political thought has grown; it proceeds on polemics, it changes, but it continues. It is continuing since the days of Plato and Aristotle. No wonder if then it is said that all philosophy is a footnote of Plato. Plato and Aristotle together gave the base on which stands the whole fabric of western political thought.
- Western political thought traces its lineage to ancient Greece. The Greek civilisation knew of democracy and politics was seen as an extension of ethics. The political philosophers of ancient Greece questioned the basis and purpose of government. And the major thinkers of the times included Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
- This was followed by the medieval period of thinkers like Aquinas and St. Augustine who lived during the early Christian era and infused Christian morality into politics. The medieval period witnessed renaissance, which, along with the scientific revolution, brought in the idea of humanism and rationality. The moment was of turmoil and gave birth to the first modern Western thinker, Machiavelli who separated ethics from politics and gave birth to realism. In his book the Prince, Machiavelli gives absolute power to the monarch, reflecting the circumstances of his time. Hobbes lived during the era of reformation and glorious revolution, a time of violence and trouble. the masses chose to keep the absolute monarchy in order to get rid of church dominance. Hobbes rejected the theory of the divine rights of the king and came up with the social contract theory of the state. It was also the contemporary of Hobbes, John Locke who gave the fundamental idea of classical liberalism that the state is brought in by social contract to protect the natural right to life, liberty and property. Classical liberalism was taken forward by the utilitarian theory of Bentham, the philosophy of the greatest good of the greatest number.
- At the same time, the French Revolution, a beacon of liberalism gave rise to conservative thoughts led by Edmund Burke who believed rights come from society and tradition. In the late 19th century when industrialisation increased the inequality in Western Europe, the idea of liberty was relooked by Modern liberals like TH Green who gave the idea of positive liberty and gave birth to the welfare democracies of the 20th century. Simultaneously, the gore consequences of industrialisation also gave birth to socialism which questioned individualism and the right to property. Karl Marx gave the philosophy of scientific communism and the idea of dialectical materialism, surplus value and importantly his critical analysis of capitalism.
- The mid-20th century saw the rise of fascism when the middle class was squeezed between the growing business class and labour union. The mid-20th century also saw the debate on the end of ideology which was followed by the rise of postmodernists who reject the objectivity and foundationalism of the modern period. Today, we are in a world full of ‘posts’, post-industrial, post-colonial, post-capitalist world. Western political thought has come a long way since its inception, but the original concerns of justice, equality and liberty still hold their place.
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