Republicanism

By Hanson, Russell L.

Significant divisions exist in all societies and communities of any size. The expression of these divisions in politics takes many forms, one of them republican. The hallmark of ...

Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759–1797)

By Berges, Sandrine

Wollstonecraft was a republican thinker who produced influential texts on education, women’s rights, and the French revolution. Her writings were informed by Rousseau’s political and educational writings, and ...

Machiavelli, Niccolò (1469–1527)

By Dietz, Mary G.

Florentine diplomat, dramatist and political thinker, Machiavelli’s treatise, Il principe (The Prince) (1532a), has earned him notoriety as a political immoralist (or at least an amoralist) and a ...

Public interest

By Weale, Albert

The concept of the public interest can be used in a wide variety of ways, and this has led many to say that it is devoid of meaning. ...

Harrington, James (1611–77)

By Goldie, Mark

Harrington was the premier English republican political theorist. His The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656), published soon after the Civil War, analysed the collapse of monarchy and recommended institutions ...

Sovereignty

By Ford, J.D.

In legal and political philosophy sovereignty is the attribute by which a person or institution exercises ultimate authority over every other person or institution in its domain. Traditionally, ...

Corruption

By Philp, Mark

Corruption denotes decay or perversion. The term implies that there is a natural or normal standard of functioning or conduct from which the corrupt state of affairs or ...

Political philosophy, history of

By Hampsher-Monk, Iain

The history of political philosophy attempts to yield a connected account of past speculation on the character of human association at its most inclusive level. ‘History’ or ‘philosophy’ ...

Federalism and confederalism

By Norman, Wayne

Federative arrangements involve two or more governments ruling over the same territory and population. They have been of interest to political philosophers because they challenge, or at least ...

French Revolution, philosophical background and influence of

By Millhorn, Jim

The French Revolution is clearly defined as a benchmark event of the modern era. It remains the revolution by which all others are measured. Any discussion of political ...

Habermas, Jürgen (1929–)

By Baynes, Kenneth

Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher and social theorist, is perhaps best known for his wide-ranging defence of the modern public sphere and its related ideals of publicity and free ...

Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106–43 BC)

By White, Stephen A.

Cicero, pre-eminent Roman statesman and orator of the first century bc and a prolific writer, composed the first substantial body of philosophical work in Latin. Rising from ...

Civil society

By Cohen, Jean L.

In modern social and political philosophy civil society has come to refer to a sphere of human activity and a set of institutions outside state or government. ...

Brazil, philosophy in

By Sturm, Fred Gillette

It is possible to distinguish between European philosophy in Brazil and Brazilian philosophy. The former refers to Brazilians who participate in discussions of issues occurring in the European ...

State, the

By Nicholson, Peter P.

States are inescapable, powerful and fundamentally important in the modern world. They spend a substantial portion of their members’ wealth; they tax, confiscate or compulsorily purchase private property; ...

Maistre, Joseph de (1753–1821)

By Lebrun, Richard A.

Count Joseph de Maistre was a major theorist of the Counter-Enlightenment, whose writings inspired generations of French Catholic royalists and stimulated thinkers diverse as Saint- Simon, Auguste Comte ...

Paine, Thomas (1737–1809)

By Kuklick, Bruce

Thomas Paine, born in Norfolk, England, spent his early years as an undistinguished artisan and later excise officer. In 1774 he emigrated to America and settled in Philadelphia ...

War and peace, philosophy of

By Nardin, Terry

The war/peace dichotomy is a recurrent one in human thought and the range of experience it interprets is vast. Images of war and peace permeate religion, literature and ...

Aristotelianism, Renaissance

By Mahoney, Edward P.; South, James B.

By the Renaissance here is meant the period of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries during which there was a deliberate attempt, especially in Italy, to pattern cultural activities ...

Buddhist political theory

Buddhist political theory is normative thinking about politics from a Buddhist perspective. In other words, it is Buddhist ideas about what government should do and why [see Political ...

Citizenship

By Kymlicka, Will

Within political philosophy, citizenship refers not only to a legal status, but also to a normative ideal – the governed should be full and equal participants in the ...

Poland, philosophy in

By Czerkawski, Jan; Stepien, Antoni B.; Wielgus, Stanislaw

Philosophy in Poland has developed largely along the same lines as its Western European counterpart. Yet it also has many aspects which are peculiar to itself. Historically, the ...

Kantian ethics

By O'Neill, Onora

Kantian ethics originates in the ethical writings of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), which remain the most influential attempt to vindicate universal ethical principles that respect the dignity and equality ...

Kantian ethics

Kantian ethics originates in the ethical writings of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), which remain the most influential attempt to vindicate universal ethical principles that respect the dignity and equality ...

Helvétius, Claude-Adrien (1715–71)

By Hulliung, Mark

Helvétius was one of the most noteworthy and notorious figures of the French Enlightenment. In common with his fellow philosophes, he asserted that all philosophical discussions should ...