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Into to Political Ideas - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Humans are matter in motion
        
        matter wants to survive
        
        appetite
        
        desire
        
        equal in nature (physically)
        
        sleep 🔪🩸🫢
      - Everyone wants "commodious living"
        
        Security
        
        Rights in nature
        
        Prosperity
        
        Glory
      - Where two want the same thing, one must subdue other by force
      - Focus on the now
        
        anticipation by force/wills
        
        strike first
        
        stay in motion
      - Permanent state of war (every man against every man)
        
        ordinary fears of moderate people
    - - All are equal in nature
      - Humans have all they need to survive
      - Human wants/desires can be satisfied
        
        food
        
        sex
      - No society
        
        bare nature
        
        solitary people
      - Humans have little motive for aggression
        
        No ownership
        
        Nothing to lose
    - - All men are equal
      - Equality not a license to do anything
        
        equal right to life
        
        do not kill
      - People are social
        
        deals
        
        contracts
        
        civil society
        
        alliances
      - Enforce your own contract
        
        Civil society forms a social contract with state
        
        State provides liberties and a fair judge
- - - - Power struggle between
        
        One (tyrant)
        
        Few (oligarchy - richest)
        
        Many (the poor)
      - Inequality is the norm
        
        citizens over non-citizens
        
        men over women
        
        everyone over slaves
        
        winners over losers
      - City states
      - Leader must have followers
        
        Leader needs followers
        
        Fealty of warriors/lords
        
        Support by courage
        
        booty to lords
        
        lords have soldiers
      - Fate of lords, kings, followers, mutually dependent
    - - Riches beyond imagination
      - Largest empire thus far
      - Imperial system of satrapies (self-governing units)
      - Kingship anointed by God
    - - Natural extension of family
      - Awards political power to most courageous, virtuous, wise
      - Creates stability by stopping factionalism
    - - Collapses public + private interest
      - Unstable, monarchs not immortal
      - Leaders fight each other for power
      - Destructive of freedom (slaves)
  - - - Principles
        
        Individual secondary to state
        
        Spartans fulfil role in society
        
        Men are warriors
        
        Women bear warriors
        
        Manual work done by slaves
      - Way
        
        Elders select babies
        
        Age of 7 - boys trained to be warriors
        
        Everyone eats same food
        
        Private riches :unamused:
        
        Proto-eugenic
      - Hierarchy
        
        2 Kings
        
        from 2 best families
        
        Gerousia
        
        28 elders + 2 kings
        
        legislation, court, advise
        
        Assembly
        
        all citizens (men with training to be brave warriors)
        
        vote on proposals from kings + gerousia
        
        Ephors
        
        5 supervisors
        
        bring charges against anyone
    - - Political power to most courageous/wise
      - Creates stability, balancing interests
      - Checks + balances
      - Sparta = political powerhouse
    - - Destroys freedom + creativity
      - Authoritarian
      - Cruelty towards Greeks
      - Unsustainable - citizenship too selective
      - Factionalism
  - - - Democracy
        
        rule of the people
      - Republic
        
        rule by the people
      - citizens
        
        free, adult, male
        
        strict political equality amongst vast inequality
        
        duties
        
        obey law
        
        military service
        
        freedoms
        
        gov. participation
      - Direct democracy
        
        key jobs by ballot
        
        except military leadership
        
        public office
        
        no special privilege
        
        Assembly
        
        all citizens gather
        
        debate + vote
        
        in practice
        
        ostracism
        
        citizen
        
        full-time job
        
        labour of women + slaves
    - - Individual freedoms
      - Decision by deliberation
      - Every citizen contributes
      - consensus
      - Free defend their rights in battle
      - self-criticism
    - - instability
      - distinct values + interests
      - mob rule
      - democracies see themselves superior
      - self-indulgence + vice
      - crime
  - - - words can serve any master
      - tyranny of the majority
    - - Politics = justice
      - justice is not
        
        interests of the strong
        
        respecting custom
        
        helping friends, hurting enemies
    - - Few can escape, see "the forms"
    - - System that ensures
        
        Gov. of the just
        
        common good prevails over individual good
      - Noble lies
        
        community ordained by God
        
        hierarchy of classes is natural
        
        wise
        
        courageous
        
        self-discipline
    - - virtuous polity?
      - brutal totalitarianism?
  - - - masses are short-sighted + selfish
    - - Reach fullest happiness + virtue
    - - Elements of one, few, many
      - Education, humane treatment, security
      - Political authority should belong mainly to middle class
    - - Politics as practical?
      - Dark side of ancients?
- - - - Collapse of old order, no-one knows what new order will be
  - - - Sin = seeking autonomy from God
      - God lawfully guides 'fallen' people
    - - Not human wisdom
      - Authority beyond question
      - Brings wealth/order/justice
        
        No regime to follow
        
        Jews 'chosen' to figure it out
  - - - Everyone equal before God
      - Valorisation of poor, meek
      - Mercy, love, peacemaking
      - Perfect justice in Kingdom of God
  - - - Apocalyptic view
      - Apologist view (St. Paul)
        
        State ordained by God for order
        
        Obey earthly law
    - - State + church united
      - Divine Christian empire
      - Empire + theology = theocracy
      - Providentialism
        
        Is gov. ordained to be a restraint on wrongdoing or vanguard for moral improvement?
  - - - North Africa, Roman Empire under attack
      - Sack of Rome (410)
        
        Christians blamed
    - - original sin
    - - emotion
    - - ordained by God
      - "City of Man"
        
        earthly kingdom
        
        bonds of peace
        
        never free from sin
    - - We are "cracked pots"
        
        broken by original sin
        
        glued by love
      - civic order - moral good
        
        no natural inequality, only social inequality
        
        humans still sinful
        
        lust to dominate
    - - Saeculum
      - De Civitate Dei (City of God)
        
        Christians on earthly pilgrimage
  - - - Christian Absolutism
        
        God ordains individual as ruler
        
        Ruler has unlimited centralised authority
        
        Scriptural origins
        
        Ordained by
        
        Papal political authority
        
        Kings are descendants of Adam
        
        No-one can challenge right to rule
      - Divine Right of Kings
        
        For
        
        God's law = supreme
        
        God's will
        
        Unified, prosperous, powerful state
        
        Stability
        
        Settles succession
        
        No infighting
        
        ruler above lords
        
        stopping abuses by lords
        
        community meeting
        
        church + state mutually dependent
        
        no religious differences
        
        just rule
        
        ruler judged by God
        
        Against
        
        No scriptural basis
        
        Kings near-divine
        
        God knows no natural inequailities
        
        Contrary to liberty
        
        Civil war
        
        poor government
        
        ruler's interests over common interests
      - Early Muslim Absolutism
        
        Community over individual
        
        Caliphate continues Prophet's work
        
        Caliphate
        
        absolute authority but under Prophet's laws
        
        al-Mawardi
        
        Caliphs are
        
        Just
        
        Descendents of Muhammad's tribe
        
        Election of Caliph
        
        1-5 wise electors
        
        Unjust caliph?
        
        Cannot be deposed
        
        Providence
        
        unjust caliph cannot get soldiers
        
        cannot raise taxes
        
        weakened
        
        1 more item...
    - - Context
        
        Church reform
        
        Christian reconquest
        
        Rediscovery of Aristotle
      - Purpose
        
        define canon law
      - Characteristics
        
        Tyranny is worst
        
        Political community ordained by God
        
        Monarchy is stable, powerful, united, best if virtuous
        
        Government
        
        allows people to fulfil roles
        
        belongs to people
        
        promotes happiness
      - Law & Politics
        
        Polity = Association
        
        Law is supreme over ruler
        
        Eternal law
        
        universal
        
        Natural law
        
        eternal law discoverable through reason
        
        self-preservation
        
        family + reproduction
        
        opportunity to develop God-given faculties
        
        Divine law
        
        communicated by God
        
        Human law
        
        legislation
        
        legitimate law carries moral obligation to comply
        
        human law violating other laws invalid
        
        tyrannicide unjust, rebellion + intervention may be
      - Proponents
        
        Francisco de Vitoria
        
        political society ordained by God
        
        requires ruling authority
        
        social unity
        
        monarch bound by own laws
        
        Ibn Khaldun
        
        Backdrop
        
        North Africa
        
        Caliphate destroyed
        
        warring city-states
        
        Assabiyya 'we-feeling'
        
        strong social bond
        
        social obligation to group overrides all else
        
        religious virtue promotes
        
        Cycles inevitable
        
        Foundation
        
        Personalisation
        
        Growth
        
        Stagnation
        
        Decline + Dissolution
- - - - is the state to be leashed or licensed?
        
        limit infringement?
        
        improving lives?
      - what ends?
    - - rational pluralist system
      - scepticism
      - individualism
      - Leviathan Covenant
        
        Problem
        
        Everyone has a right to anything
        
        Everyone is their own judge
        
        Solution
        
        Give up rights
        
        Appoint one judge above all
        
        State is.....
        
        Representative
        
        Absolute
        
        Artificial
        
        Living with Leviathan
        
        Representative state = impersonal politics
        
        Representation not democracy
        
        We are the authors of everything the state does
        
        No right of rebellion
        
        why rebel against yourself?
        
        Paradox of Modern State
        
        Defender of liberty
        
        Leviathan gifts us liberty
        
        Free to do as we please
        
        Modern conception of liberty
        
        State has absolute power
        
        Can legislate anything
        
        Vanguard of totality
        
        Temptation of the moderns
    - - determines justice + law
      - interprets/enforces law
        
        exclusive
      - authorised to do anything to maintain peace
      - price of peace
  - - - Revolts
      - Intolerance
        
        massacres of one group by another
      - Regicide
  - - - How can individuals agree a contract?
      - No letters, no laws, no basis for promises to be kept
      - Only social humans
  - - - how markets function
      - self-interested economic exchange
        
        general wealth
      - economy shaped by political institutions + law
    - - Sympathy = interest in others
      - People driven by...
        
        self-love
        
        shame
      - sympathy drives reciprocity
        
        exchange constitutes society
      - Stability from free exchange of ideas
    - - Why are some countries wealthier?
      - Stages of society
        
        Hunters
        
        Shepards
        
        Agriculture
        
        Commerce
        
        Specialisation
        
        Pin factory
        
        Production multiplies immensely
        
        Surplus
        
        trade
        
        wealth creation
        
        Labour theory of value
      - Wealth influenced by gov. + law
      - Politics + economics locked
      - Free markets minimise profits
      - Markets balance supply + demand
        
        competition
        
        pricing
      - Free markets drive up wages
    - - Minimise distortions
        
        Power asymmetry
        
        Protectionism
        
        Lobbyists
        
        Bad regulation
      - Address distortions
        
        Free trade + open markets
        
        No tax w/o representation
        
        No gov. debt
        
        Security + justice
        
        Ameliorate inequalities + problems of commerce
- - - - liberty + democracy not natural allies
  - - - 2 Treatises on Gov.
        
        Explicit defence of revolution
        
        Civil society agrees contract w/ state
        
        State = authoritative judge
        
        State enforces natural rights
        
        but limited too
        
        performs only limited functions
        
        obedience by fulfilling function
        
        People grant gov. conditional consent
        
        Sovereignty resides w/ people
        
        right to rebellion
      - State of Nature
        
        Natural rights
        
        life
        
        liberty
        
        property
        
        Rights = duties
        
        Right to life = duty to not kill
        
        Everyone is their own judge
      - On Government
        
        People grant authority to legislative
        
        Representative legislative makes + enforces law
        
        Legislative authorises executive
        
        Rule cannot be arbitrary
        
        obey natural law
        
        promote good of people
        
        secure their property
      - Consent Problem
        
        Gov. justified by consent
        
        People don't actually consent to be governed
        
        Solutions
        
        Locke
        
        accept 'noble lie' or require formal consent
        
        Bentham
        
        replace consent w/ utility
        
        Socrates
        
        fairness
        
        Conservatism
        
        people = members of families + communities
  - - - Natural rights = "nonsense on stilts"
      - Legal positivism
      - Account of Gov.
        
        Humans like pleasure, not pain
        
        Pursue pleasure, minimise pain
        
        Gov. justified - better than individuals acting alone
        
        Policy + law guided by utility principle
        
        Law should diminish pain, maximise pleasure
      - Pros
        
        Compelling moral force
        
        Strong argument for moral + political equality
        
        Basis for radical reformism
        
        Human welfare at heart of politics
        
        Answers Locke's consent problem
        
        Utility max. requires democracy
      - Cons
        
        Rights problem
        
        Liberty problem
        
        Humanity problem
        
        Measurement problem
        
        Moral pluralism problem
  - - - Can equality erode freedom?
      - Can freedom erode equality?
      - Dangers to democracy
        
        Populism
        
        Conformism
        
        Ever present - bad government
        
        New tyranny worse than old tyranny
        
        Solutions
        
        Separation of Powers
        
        Civic Association