Foundations of Ideology China's ideology is greatly due to Confucius. His views and teachings started the Chinese ideology in China and he is the first self-conscious philosopher in the Chinese tradition (Mote, 1989, p31). Confucius lived from 552 B. C. To 479 B. C.; his teachings gr...

The Republic II By Plato In Book II of the Republic, Socrates and others begin an inquiry into the real nature of justice and injustice and their respective advantages. Although Socrates makes the statement, "Now as we are not remarkably clever..." his suggestion on how to proceed with this inqui...

Hobbes' state of war is the basis for his philosophical discourse on human nature. Where Rousseau says that man is compassionate and good to others in his nature, Hobbes argues that man is only out for himself. When the point comes where two men want the same thing, they become enemies of eac...

Has any work of American literature generated more controversy than Herman Melville's Billy Budd? The main question that Billy Budd generates is whether we should admire or admonish Captain Vere for his decision to sentence Billy Budd to death by public hanging. Most people are alarmed by ...

As I quickly near the legal voting age, I find myself faced with a big decision ; should I register as a democrat, as my forefathers before me have or , check into some of these other political parties. -After much consideration, I decided to see what all the commotion was about. What a surpr...

The ideas of the Enlightenment became popular during the American and French Revolutions. These main ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers were that every natural phenomenon had a cause and effect. They felt that truth is arrived at by reason and there is a natural law that governs the universe....

Aristotle And The Natural Slave Aristotle's concept of the best possible regime has great influence on today's society. The concepts and ideas presented within Politics, relate to current issues pressing family relationships as well as human relations with one another. His belief that...

Through the development of the Polis, both Hobbes and Rousseau have stood as highly influential theorists of the Social Contract. Although both writers would strongly agree for the development of society and the importance of a Social Contract, the actual methods and ends are quite distinct fo...

"A political system is any persistent pattern of human relationships that involves, to a significant extent, power, rule, or authority." (Dahl, 2001, p.14) Politics, we all agree, is a fact of life. Some people rejoice in this, seeing in political participation and government the possibility of bu...

Anarchy Anarchism seems to be defined many ways by many different sources. Most dictionary definitions define anarchism as the absence of government. A leading modern dictionary, Webster's Third International Dictionary, defines anarchism briefly but accurately as, "a political theory opposed...

FREE AT LAST Through out the United States history there have been many innovators, philosophers, and trailblazers that have shaped the way America has come to be. One of the main factors in the formation of America has to be credited to the founding of the American...

In his brief introduction to the Leviathan, Hobbes describes the state as an organism analogous to a large person. He shows how each part of the state parallels the function of the parts of the human body. He notes that the first part of his project is to describe human nature, insofar as humans ar...

Defining the Good Throughout history, many people have attempted to define what it is to be good. They have tried to explain what it is like to live a good life and what it means to be a good person. Many have tried to offer their own insights into what being good really is. Some philosophers have s...

Machiavelli and Socrates Everyone has their own philosophies to deal with life as it is thrown at them. Machiavelli and Socrates offer guidance to societies so they may succeed, as noble rulers. Machiavelli gives his go get them attitude to help maintain power, which I agree with, and S...

Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince examines the nature of power and his views of power in the leadership that he observed in his time. Machiavelli discusses power over the people, dictatorial power, and the power with the people. The struggle to retain, hold, and apply one power is human nature and ...

The State of Nature As Depicted by Locke and Hobbes Introduction The period of the Renaissance and Enlightenment was perhaps the greatest turning point in the course of human progress. The flame of reason and human endeavor, which had all but burnt out over the previous one thousand years, was ...

Power and Politics The link that has bound Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby is not as obvious as one may think. The common ingredient goes well beyond a given birth name. All three men have, throughout their adult lives, been victims, agent and delegates of power and politics. Each man,...

The Way to Freedom is Alone In the 13th chapter of Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes writes "...men have no pleasure, but on the contrary a great deal of grief, in keeping company, where there is no power able to over-awe them all." The unconventional premise that ungoverned humans are solitary...

Actions that stem directly from political issues can almost always be critiqued and criticized by the general public. However, one might come to contemplate about what might such notorious philosophers, such as Machiavelli, Locke, and Hobbes, say about a political movement such as a protest against...