Political Philosophy (The Open Yale Courses)

Great introduction to political philosophy for both students and professionals. The lectures provide a great tour de force of the key questions in political philosophy and a chronological development of contemporary notions of democracy, individual liberties and the role of the state.

This textbook is an excellent introduction into political philosophy. In addition, philosophy enthusiasts can watch the companion videos online at no cost. I have used this textbook when teaching undergraduate philosophy courses and the students love it. With much appreciation to the author, Steven B. Smith.

This book is a must read for everybody who wants to understand the basics of today’s politics. Where did Marx and others got their ideas. Today’s politicians ideas are mostly over 2000 old.

This accompanies the free course available online from Yale University. Its brilliantly engaging writing and a great introduction to the subject.

Political philosophy as an overview of political philosophy from ancient greece through the enlightenment with an inclusion of Tocquevilles Democracy in America. It covers much of the standard material for a first year class in political science and gives an insightful overview of the major works that form the core of western political philosophy. I have read much of the underlying material, but it was a long time ago taking one of the very classes this book effectively covers. Political philosophy can serve a wide reader base- an interested reader looking to learn for the first time about political philosphy, a refresher course on material studied in the past, or a guide to modern politics with lessons for what we need to focus on today.The book starts at where political philosophy was rigourously pondered for the first time- in ancient Greece. The author discusses Sophocleses' Antigone and the conflicts people face when they face allegiences which are conflicting. Antigone is the story of the daughter of Oedipus who buries her brother deemed a traitor by the state. In burying him she brakes the law and is sentanced to be buried alive and ends up committing suicide which catalyzes the son of Creon (the king) to kill himself which then catalyzes the queen to commit suicide. The fact that family ties can conflict with state laws and interests is at the core of political philosophy and Antigone conveys clearly how irreconcilable some of the conflicts can truly be. From this classic tragedy the author moves on to Socrates as an individual who embodies a challenge to the state with his views and teachings and on to Plato and the Republic, the first formal political science book in history (can be considered at least). The author then moves on to Aristotle (the ultimate philosopher) and focuses on Politics. The Aristotilian qualities of a leader are pondered and the inherent pragmatism and versatility and situational understanding are discussed as the key attributes of the great statesman. The authors then move on to the Bible. This is a bit of a deviation from the classes I took on the otherwise same subject matter. The differences in values that are focused on in the Bibly are articulated and the story of King David is gone through. One gets a sense of the true conflict at the heart of religion with politics. Rennaissance and Machiavelli are then discussed and the author focuses on both the typical lessons one learns (ie the ruthlessness needed in ruling) but also on some of the more democratic messages embedded. The author then moves on to the first modern political philosopher - Hobbes and his essential work - Leviathan the first book to focus on the social contract and the need of the state to balance general and personal interests to promote long term stability. The author discusses how radical these works are and how despite promoting the absolute authority of the state are at their core philosophies that are about what is best for the people and how the state is only enabled by the social contract among the people. The next main focus is Locke's 2nd Treatise of Government. Locke focuses on the liberties and entitlements of all men, which basically is self preservation and the fruits of his labour. The profound influence of Locke on the founding fathers is noted and the declaration of Independence has much that seems to be drawn from Locke. There are discussions of the philosophy as well- in particular the focus on materialism without purpose and replacing focus on the politics of the community to focusing on wealth accumulation of the individual- Professor Smith also discusses Rawles vs Locke briefly. The author then moves on to discussing Rousseau and his views of the social contract which are very different in nature. All three authors (Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau) have very different ideas about man in his state of nature. For Rousseau, man is only ever truly free in a state of nature and that which came after was all downhill; he does not want to go back to the original state of nature but instead argues that the the social contract that society agrees to should be submitting oneself to the General Will, which is the will of the community. The author discusses how this can be interpreted as tyranny of the majority but goes through Rousseaus arguments about how it would work. Professor Smith finally moves on to Tocqueville and Democracy in America. He highlights that democracy is seen by Tocqueville to be where history is headed but that all democracies dont necessarily head in the same direction so the case study was a worthwhile endevour. The author sees the general will of the people at work in the US in the communities and worries about the long term decay that comes with the growth of centralized authority. He also worries about decline in civic participation in democracy in general. Much of what is written in Democracy in America remains relevant for discussion today, which is remarkable. The author ends with a discussion of Patriotism and how modern political correctness can make such a concept seem far more dangerous than it is. He discusses how the focus on universal values and the global citizen are ideas not unique to today but the recurring topics that have been discussed since politics was first philosophized about. The author takes the view that we need to reinvigorate aristotilian thinking (similar to Sandel i think) and being active in trying to shape politics is an important part of being a citizen.Political Philosophy was a good refresher course for me on western political philosophy. Though re-reading all the works which the author discusses would be better, this was a much quicker reminder of subject matter that was partially forgotten. In addition the framing of questions and discussion of interpretation makes this book very interactive for the reader. Im not exactly sure who this is intended for, i think its mainly a putting to text of the yale lecture series, but i think it can be read by a broad audience of varying ages.

Very well written and easily understood. Makes you want to take one of his courses. Off we go to Yale ...