Political Philosophy Research Articles

Teaching the People by Example: Mill on the Exemplary Influence of Deliberative Elites

ABSTRACT The notion of moral exemplarity, though repeatedly alluded to in John Stuart Mill’s writings, is rarely treated as an essential element of his democratic theory. This article, however, highlights and explains the centrality of exemplarity in Mill’s project of fostering public-minded citizens for a successful democracy. In Representative Government, Mill conceives the exemplary influence of deliberative elites as a necessary condition for making local deliberative bodies the main site for the cultivation of a public spirit. Mill’s Romantic reading of Plato’s Gorgias suggests that this move resulted from his radical skepticism about the power of reason to motivate virtuous behavior along with his corresponding faith in the moral exemplar’s aesthetic force of beauty to improve the spectator’s conduct. Mill’s emphasis on the necessity of exemplary influence for achieving a civic ideal based on a detailed account of its moral psychology reveals him to be a unique political thinker who continues to invite contemporary interest.

The Age of Melancholy: The Imagination in the History of Modern Political Thought

The Age of Melancholy: The Imagination in the History of Modern Political Thought

Insights on health policies from a political philosophy perspective

Health policies play a crucial role in shaping people’s well-being. While public health often relies on evidence-based policy to improve health outcomes, many non-scientific factors determine the health policy-making process....

The Sustainable Development Goals of the Commodity Economy Deeply Influence the Diversity of Sexual Life

Human sexuality is different from other species in nature in that it is creative, accessible, and responsible; however, it is this creativity that makes sexual life differentiated, and sexual orientations become rich and diverse. Discrimination against people is not only about occupation, income, sexuality, or gender becomes discrimination against people. To achieve the goal of sustainable development, there is no discrimination against people, so this content is approached from the methodology of human philosophy and social philosophy, at the same time combining qualitative methods to analyze, synthesize, compare, contrast, and reverse to clarify the transformation of sexual life in the commodity economy. The result of this content is to explain that human sexual life is creative; it depends on the object of satisfaction. Sex does not depend on space, time, or specific objects, but occupation, goods, and money also govern the market economy. The conclusion of the article affirms that life is human satisfaction. Sexual satisfaction is not only human instinct but also human creativity. Human satisfaction differs from satisfaction with things without humans, which is satisfaction with loneliness, isolation, and unhappiness. Humans become different types of goods serving the life of money, posing a challenge to the goal of sustainable development in the commodity economy. However, there must be practical solutions to survive and maintain the race, bringing humans back to a creative sexual life and responsible reproduction to achieve the goal of sustainable development in the commodity economy.

The Cognitive Trap of Rousseau's "Organic Metaphor" and the Construction of U.S. Policy in Europe and Eurasia

The ideological dimension of international relations and foreign policy represents a distinct area of interaction, often situated at the intersection of political theory and philosophy. This study explores how metaphors, particularly Rousseau’s Organic Metaphor and its adaptation by Woodrow Wilson in his conceptualization of nationalism, function as powerful cognitive tools within the political sphere. These metaphors can act as "cognitive keys" that shape the perception of socio-political realities, influencing both the understanding and actions of political actors. However, while they provide a framework for understanding the internal logic of events, they also limit cognitive freedom by acting as implicit filters. This article traces the instrumental use of these metaphors in U.S. foreign policy, particularly how Wilson’s conceptualization of nationalism, derived from Rousseau’s metaphor, was utilized to reshape the ideational landscape of European politics in the 20th century and is now being applied in Eurasia. The concept of nationalism allowed for the fragmentation of competing political entities, aligning with the U.S. strategy of divide et impera to oppose integration movements. The article further examines how these strategies, which once targeted European empires, are now being employed against emerging integration unions in Eurasia, thereby highlighting the continuity of ideological tools in American foreign policy across different historical contexts.

The humanomics underpinning free market productivity: synthesizing insights from social philosophy, systems thinking, and neuroeconomics

The humanomics underpinning free market productivity: synthesizing insights from social philosophy, systems thinking, and neuroeconomics

Technology and Progress in Islamicate Political Thought

Abstract This study compares how technology is theorised in an early sixteenth-century description of China, ʿAlī Akbar Khaṭāyī’s Khaṭāy-nāmeh (‘Book of China’), and two major works of late medieval Islamic political theory, Ibn Khaldūn’s (d. 1406) Muqaddimah and Jalāl al-Dīn Davānī’s (d. 1502) Akhlāq-i Jalālī (‘Jalālian Ethics’). Concepts of artifice and distinctions between the natural and artificial, as well as the social division of labour, are critical to all three authors’ views of political authority and statecraft. Khaṭāyī and Ibn Khaldūn express diametrically opposed views within a common theoretical framework concerning the effects of artificial law and technical training on social relations, a difference in attitude likely due in part to the great importance Khaṭāyī attributed to Chinese firearms.

A Perfectionist Theory of Justice: Replies to Billingham, Laborde and Quong

ABSTRACT This paper responds to contributions by Paul Billingham, Cécile Laborde and Jonathan Quong to a symposium on A Perfectionist Theory of Justice in Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

Making or faking capitalism? Socialist dreams and postsocialist experiences in East-Central Europe

ABSTRACT Our paper proposes to rethink the concepts of modernization and modernity in the context of state socialist and postsocialist transformations in Eastern and Central Europe. By focusing on historical transformations, we seek to challenge normative and static constructions of the state socialist legacy and show that such perceptions are rooted in the Cold War ideological division. One way to contest this division is to reconceptualize socialist modernity. Drawing on James Ferguson’s seminal study on the “expectations of modernity,” we argue that modernization was central to the Eastern European Communist parties’ claims to legitimacy. While the state socialist experiment proved to be a failed political and social project, the dreams of modernity bereft of socialism continued to shape people’s self-images and social visions beyond the borders of “Eastern” Europe. In order to better understand the state socialist legacy and the political and social thinking of “postsocialist” people, we propose to link the study of the small transformations of everyday life with the critique of binary constructions of the concepts of socialism and capitalism.

What Should We Say to Denmark? Mentalism as an Essential Complement to Behavourism

AbstractShould answers to fundamental questions of political philosophy be ‘convincing’ and ‘meaningful’ to real people with vested interests? Normative behaviourists argue that they should, and this can be achieved by avoiding the use of intuitions in our normative theorizing and instead relying on long-term empirical evidence of human behaviour. In this paper, I argue that to obtain the full benefits of behaviourism, it needs to be accompanied by some form of mentalism. Normative behaviourism sacrifices critical distance from the status quo to provide answers that are convincing and meaningful. However, there is no clear benefit obtained from this sacrifice. Furthermore, because of behaviourism’s institutional focus in its current form, it does not have much to say about how to achieve its goals. Behaviourists can solve both problems by incorporating a mentalist account of political agency, one that determines what values and ideals political agents should fight for and helps political agents develop strategies to achieve their goals.

The Distinction between Refugees and Immigrants

Abstract International law obliges states to admit refugees while allowing discretion in accepting voluntary immigrants. This study, based on a 26-country survey, examines citizen attitudes towards these groups. With reference to the debate in political philosophy, the authors distinguish between different attitudinal groups: Nationalists, who advocate for border control; Cosmopolitans, who support unrestricted immigration rights; Legalists, who align with international law by supporting state discretion for voluntary immigrants but mandating refugee acceptance; and Inconsistents, who believe the state should have the right to reject refugees but not voluntary immigrants. The findings reveal that most citizens do not differentiate between refugees and voluntary immigrants, challenging the legal distinction in international law. Nationalists make up 44% of respondents, Cosmopolitans 31%, Legalists 15%, and Inconsistents 9%. Nationalists and Cosmopolitans have clear social profiles based on structural and cultural characteristics, while Legalists and Inconsistents do not.

The Theory of State Emergence in Western Political Thought: Between Theoretical and Practical Rooting

Objectives:This study aimed at identify the state's emergence theories in Western political thoughts. Methods The study employs three interrelated approaches to examine the research problem. The approaches are historical, descriptive-analytical approach, and the structural-functional. Results: The study concluded with a set of results, the most important of which is although intellectual propositions and theories through which the pioneers of Western political thought presented to justify state's existence; however, this did not contribute to developing a single intellectual theory that would be agreed on by Western thinkers Conclusions: the study attempts to reveal whether theorizing the origin of the state in Western political thought contributes to developing a theory that provides an explanation of state's emergence. Meanwhile, the study sought to identifying the roots of state's concept, its constituent elements, and its functions. In the same context, it examines state's practical efforts, propositions, and intellectual theories through which Western thinkers tried to reach a clear interpretation of the idea of the state.

The Role of Education in Shaping National Political Identity

The purpose of this study is to examine the development of national political education in PTKI Bengkulu as a preventive measure against the dangers of identity politics, especially ahead of the 2024 elections. This study aims to identify effective strategies for integrating identity politics discussion into national political education. This qualitative study employed basic data gathering techniques through direct interviews and documentation, as well as secondary data collection from social media, scientific journals, and news websites. Research data were then reduced, classified/classified, and methodological conclusions drawn. This study identifies two primary measures for the development of national political education at PTKI Bengkulu. First, curriculum integration involves incorporating discussion of identity politics into representative topics, particularly through National Political Education (PKN) and Panchasheel, sub-discussion education. This approach enables students to critically analyze identity politics in the context of national values and principles. Second, the organization of academic forums such as seminars, workshops, interactive talk shows, panel discussions, and debates facilitates open dialogue, critical thinking, and awareness of identity politics, fostering deeper understanding among students, educators, and the wider community. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the importance of national political education in mitigating risks associated with identity politics. By integrating identity politics discussions into the curriculum and organizing academic forums, PTKI Bengkulu can play an important role in promoting national unity and resilience. The results of this study provide valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and stakeholders in addressing the challenges posed by identity politics.

Thinking about prisons: A response to O’Flaherty, Sethi, and Murphy

I provide a response to the commentaries on my book The Idea of Prison Abolition (2022) by Brendan O’Flaherty and Rajiv Sethi and by Colleen Murphy. With respect to the first commentary, I briefly discuss the comparison of US prisons to Norwegian prisons; the deterrent effect of well-crafted sentences; and the prospects of a world without prisons. In response to the second commentary, I argue that the methods of the scholar-activist and those of the analytic political philosopher are not incompatible with meaningful engagement and disagreement on the abolition-versus-reform question despite these methodological differences.

The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought by Melvin L. Rogers (review)

The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought by Melvin L. Rogers (review)

Thrasymachus’ government: an analogy with Machiavelli’s <i>Prince</i>

In Book I of Plato's Republic, Thrasymachus' proposal opens an important field of analysis within political philosophy, as it is through his discourse that justice becomes associated with the existing government policy in cities, given that, regardless of the political constitution, force always belongs to the governments and it is these who make the laws that it is fair for the governed to obey. This work aims, first, to analyze Thrasymachus' proposal for the whole of political philosophy and, second, to relate this proposal with Machiavelli's The Prince.

Polifem między nomos oraz physis. Homer, Sofiści i „prawa ludzkiej miary” w dramacie satyrowym "Cyklop" Eurypidesa

At the height of their development and popularization, the Odyssey and the Iliad were part of a rich tradition of oral epic poetry. And while the transmission of Homer’s epics was facilitated by a Panhellenic framework, these works themselves became catalysts for the consolidation and unification of Greek culture; they shaped a shared Greek identity and a common value system. Particularly significant in this regard is the episode from Book IX of the Odyssey, namely the scene of the Odysseus-Polyphemos encounter. The island of the Cyclopes, as I argue in this article, represents a structural inversion of a civilized and orderly human community; the image of Polyphemos embodies “wildness” and delineates (or redefines) the boundaries of discourse on civilization, culture, and community. This motif anticipates, thus, the debate on nomos (“law”) and physis (“nature”) that engaged the intellectual elite of Athens, known as the sophists, around the turn of the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. This article traces the reception of the Polyphemos motif within this sophistic discourse of that period. Euripides’ satyr play Cyclops, filled with allusions to the sophists who were keenly interested in the Homeric motif of the island of the one-eyed monsters, serves as the focal point for this analysis. Furthermore, I will show that Euripides uses the dramaturgical framework inspired by Homer’s epic to confront two worldviews: on the one hand, respect for tradition and values associated with ancient poetry (the attitude represented by Odysseus), and on the other, the rationalism, radicalism, and tradition-directed criticism that characterized Euripides’ contemporary political thinkers and philosophers (represented by Polyphemos).

(Dé)cloisonnements et résistances interstitielles

This article is part of a research project looking at the home as a space for resistance and politicisation. Based on a field study of alternative forms of cohabitation, the aim is to rework the very definition of the home, which thus acts as a conceptual operator for rethinking a set of dichotomies that structure political philosophy: the private and the public, the personal and the collective, the intimate and the institutional, the domestic and the political. From this perspective, two types of (de)partitioning are involved: conceptually, the aim is to undo the construction of a threshold that has excluded the home from the political domain, relegating it to an apolitical, pre-political or even anti-political sphere. In so doing, we will be trying to think what kind of resistance can emerge from within the alternative home; how can we think the ability to make a world from the very margins of the world? In architectural terms, the question of partitions, the ones we add, the ones we remove, appears to be one of the recurring reasons for the appropriation and hijacking of the space by its residents. This raises the question of the insistence of a preexisting materiality - that of space, and that of a socio-political order - against which strategies of subversion inevitably clash. How can we think about the ambiguity of resistance - that of contestation and that of conservation - as a dual requirement, without losing the meaning of all political action? In the final analysis, this problematic should be seen as one of articulation between resistance and its framework, and it invites us to rethink that framework.

Politinio mąstymo metmenys Immanuelio Kanto kritinėje filosofijoje

Immanuel Kant’s critical philosophy revolutionised thinking and left unanswered the question of how politics as philosophy and science is possible. Hannah Arendt was right to associate politics with the reflective power of decision, but she left unanswered the questions of what conception of politics is implied by Kant’s critical system and what are the limits of political philosophy and political science. The paper argues that politics is an aesthetic idea and therefore has no objectively universal definition and remains necessarily open to interpretation by various epistemic and political communities. Aesthetic ideas also substantiate the possibility of political science as symbolic cognition and reformulate the challenge of political philosophy to confine politics solely within the judgment.

Raging Ennui: On Boredom, History, and the Collapse of Liberal Time

Abstract This article aims to outline a theory of political boredom based on the concept of the liberal temporal dispositive. According to this concept, modern politics is characterized by the reduction of political time consumption to enable the growing temporal autonomy of the individual. However, individuals may experience considerable stress in their pursuit to utilize this free time effectively. Boredom arises when individuals fail to “fill” their available time with meaningful actions. Political crises of boredom occur as attempts by individuals to relieve the pressures accompanying temporal autonomy, sometimes restarting political temporality on a new, massive scale. Furthermore, the article examines modern political philosophy as inherently rooted in the liberal temporal dispositive. Through several historical examples, it is discussed how political philosophy may either contribute to imbuing politics with a desire for meaning or abstain from it in an attitude of serene resignation. It is proposed that liberal democracy requires a temporal ethics based on the latter.