Social democracy

By Miller, David

The idea of social democracy is now used to describe a society the economy of which is predominantly capitalist, but where the state acts to regulate the economy ...

Kautsky, Karl Johann (1854–1938)

By Tudor, H.

Karl Johann Kautsky became the leading German socialist theoretician at the time of the Second International and the authoritative exponent of ’orthodox Marxism’. He was a close associate ...

Bakunin, Mikhail Aleksandrovich (1814–76)

By Kelly, Aileen

Bakunin was the leading proponent in the second half of the nineteenth century of a variety of anarchism rooted in a Romantic cult of primitive spontaneity, and one ...

Socialism

While socialist ideas may retrospectively be identified in many earlier forms of protest and rebellion against economic injustice and political oppression, socialism both as a relatively coherent theoretical ...

Market, ethics of the

By Miller, David

Markets are systems of exchange in which people with money or commodities to sell voluntarily trade these for other items which they prefer to have. Most economic transactions ...

Globalization

By Scholte, Jan Aart

Globalization is one of the most hotly contested issues in contemporary social inquiry and public discussion. The debates mainly revolve around six points: definition, measurement, chronology, causes, consequences, ...

Renner, Karl (1870–1950)

By Kinsey, Richard; MacCormick, Neil

Karl Renner was a leading contributor to democratic-socialist legal theory within the Neo-Kantian ‘Austro-Marxist’ interpretation of socialism that developed in late nineteenth-century Vienna. For Renner and his associates, ...

Socialism

By Oneill, John

While socialist ideas may retrospectively be identified in many earlier forms of protest and rebellion against economic injustice and political oppression, socialism both as a relatively coherent theoretical ...

Dewey, John (1859–1952)

By Gouinlock, James

The philosophy of John Dewey is original and comprehensive. His extensive writings contend systematically with problems in metaphysics, epistemology, logic, aesthetics, ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy and ...

Marxism, Chinese

By Munro, Donald J.

Chinese Marxism is a mixture of elements from Confucianism, German Marxism, Soviet Leninism and China’s own guerrilla experience. Because Mao Zedong (1893–1976) was in power longer than any ...

Lassalle, Ferdinand (1825–64)

By Tudor, H.

Ferdinand Lassalle was one of the principal founders of German social democracy and a strong advocate of state socialism. He was associated with Marx, although he was not ...

Frankfurt School

By Honneth, Axel
Translated by Thomson, Bridget; Bull, Michael

The origins of the circle of philosophers and social scientists now known as the Frankfurt School lie in the 1920s when a number of critics and intellectuals were ...

Ideology

By Freeden, Michael

An ideology is a set of ideas, beliefs and attitudes, consciously or unconsciously held, which reflects or shapes understandings or misconceptions of the social and political world. It ...

Mazzini, Giuseppe (1805–72)

By Bellamy, Richard

Mazzini was a leading figure in the struggle for Italian unification during the nineteenth century. A theorist of nationalism as well as an activist, he also promoted nationalist ...

Plekhanov, Georgii Valentinovich (1857–1918)

By White, James D.

Known as ’the Father of Russian Marxism’, Plekhanov was the chief popularizer and interpreter of Marxism in Russia in the 1880s. His interest in the philosophical aspects of ...

Political philosophy

By Miller, David

Political philosophy can be defined as philosophical reflection on how best to arrange our collective life - our political institutions and our social practices, such as our economic ...

Russell, Bertrand Arthur William (1872–1970)

By Griffin, Nicholas

Bertrand Russell divided his efforts between philosophy and political advocacy on behalf of a variety of radical causes. He did his most important philosophical work in logic and ...

Signposts Movement

By Kelly, Aileen

The symposium Signposts (Vekhi, sometimes translated Landmarks), published in 1909, was a succès de scandale which provoked a long debate of extraordinary intensity and scope on ...

Bernstein, Eduard (1850–1932)

By Tudor, H.

Eduard Bernstein, an eminent German social democrat, is now noted as ‘the father of revisionism’. He made a reputation as the radical editor of the German Social Democratic ...

Stair, James Dalrymple, Viscount (1619–95)

By Styles, Scott C.

An outstanding lawyer, senior judge, politician, and the founding father of modern Scots Law, Stair is also an interesting, if minor, philosopher of law of the seventeenth century. ...

Labriola, Antonio (1843–1904)

By Hunt, Geoffrey

Antonio Labriola was the founder of Italian theoretical Marxism. Generally situated in the Marxism of the Second International, he was more questioning than others in that movement. He ...

Bogdanov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (1873–1928)

By Joravsky, David

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Bogdanov, né Malinovskii, was a Russian thinker who helped Lenin create the Bolshevik or Communist Party, broke with Lenin over a mixture of philosophical and 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 ...

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’ ...

Sorel, Georges (1847–1922)

By Jennings, Jeremy

The French social theorist Georges Sorel is best known for his controversial work Réflexions sur la violence (Reflections on Violence), first published in 1908. He here argued that ...