Dissertations / Theses: 'Political philosophy'

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Turner, Jonathan. "Political theory as moral philosophy." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2018. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9b47b083-30aa-411d-a100-29aee7c34a3b.

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I argue against the claim that normative political theory is 'autonomous' with respect to moral philosophy. I take the simple view that political theory is a form of moral philosophy, and is differentiated by pragmatic rather than theoretically significant criteria. I defend this view by criticizing arguments for the autonomy thesis. In the first three chapters I introduce and analyse the autonomy thesis and provide a framework for understanding the various claims that are made in the literature. In Chapters 4 to 8 I proceed to criticize a series of arguments for the autonomy thesis. In Chapter 4 I explain why Kant's division of morality into ethics and right is not as useful as it may seem to those who wish to defend the autonomy thesis, and argues that Arthur Ripstein gives no reason to think that political philosophy is autonomous that can be endorsed independently of commitment to a Kantian normative theory. In Chapter 5 I examine the political liberal argument for the autonomy thesis, concluding that even if a freestanding political conception of justice can be regarded as autonomous, it does not follow that political philosophy can also. Chapters 6 to 8 tackle various political realist arguments for the autonomy thesis. In Chapter 6 I argue that political theory is not required to deal with empirical facts in any way that distinguishes it from moral philosophy, and any argument for its autonomy that is based on a prior claim about the purpose of political theorizing would be question-begging. In Chapters 7 and 8 I provide various arguments against the idea that there is a distinctively political form of normativity, and diagnose some of the mistaken assumptions about morality that I take to lie at the heart of the realist case. In Chapter 9 I conclude.

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LEBANO, ADELE. "Politics with Romance? : Liberalism and Populism in Political Philosophy." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2434/57883.

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In this dissertation I discuss the tension between social choice and political philosophy. The aim is to explore the possibility of a ‘tolerable Platonism’, a form of political Platonism that can be consistent with a liberal defence of democracy. My starting point is the social choice theory view, namely the liberal justification of democracy elaborated by Riker in Liberalism against Populism. Riker’s analysis is shaped by Arrow’s theorem and around the dichotomy between liberalism and populism. Riker maintains that these are the two main traditions of interpreting democracy and the two contrasting accounts of democratic voting. But Arrow’s theorem is not just the basis for the social choice research program; it is also a fundamental background out of which the more general concerns of contemporary political philosophy about the just institutions grow. The following question drives my discussion: can political philosophy and its account of democracy be contained in Riker’s dichotomy between liberalism and populism? To put the matter more provocatively, and to emphasize the main interest that drives this work: should political philosophy give up to populism? The question aims to engage social choice theory on shared terrain (the passage from individual preferences to collective decision; the connection between method and ideal; the confrontation between market and democracy). The mathematic language in which social choice theory formulates its assessments should not prevent political philosophy from recognising the importance of this account of politics and democracy, and from confronting the controversies that the social choice analysis reveals. Rawls’s program itself might be regarded as an outcome of this confront. This dissertation will not refute Riker’s work or the social choice theory framework that underlies it. The aim is to use Riker’s distinction between liberalism and populism to reflect on the normative commitments of political philosophy; to re-describe the aggregative problem formalised in Arrow’s theorem by using the “idealistic” point of view of political philosophy. If political philosophy does not accept Riker’s distinction and invitation - Riker’s solution seems to call for a ‘positive’ political philosophy, that is, one solely based on criteria of feasibility and weighted toward the method side of the tension between ideals and methods - the challenge is to point out the problems that redound from a rigid discontinuity between the two views. And a first, good argument for this exploration is that some of the most interesting cases of normative political theory propose solutions that mix liberalism and populism (e. g. Mill and Rawls). I do not wish not to minimize the importance of the liberal, anti-tyrannical option but rather to show that a more objectivistic version of liberalism is possible within the anti-tyrannical framework. Following the path drawn by epistemic democracy, I aim to take some steps toward a version of liberalism that is more compatible with populism.

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Olsson, J. Mikael. "Austrian Economics as Political Philosophy." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-111489.

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The Austrian school of economics is an unorthodox approach to economics whose adherents have mostly been libertarian in their political outlook. This dissertation explores the connections between Austrian economic theory and libertarian political philosophy, and casts doubt on the claim often propounded that Austrian economics itself naturally leads to libertarianism. Instead it is claimed here that Austrian economics is an open-ended theory that can lead to very different political conclusions, depending on the normative principles with which it is combined. Therefore it is crucial to analyze both the economic theory and the ethics of any political thinker of the Austrian school, and the bulk of the analysis must lean on the latter since the economic theory itself does not lead to the types of libertarianism that is put forward by the most famous economists and philosophers of the Austrian school. The ethical theories of four Austrian school proponents are analyzed in this dissertation: Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, Murray Rothbard and Hans-Hermann Hoppe. The conclusion is that there are several problems with their theories, although the problems are of different kinds, ranging from metaethics to empirical application and operationalization.

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Allsobrook, Christopher John. "Foucault, historicism and political philosophy." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003073.

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This thesis defends an ontological and epistemological account of Michel Foucault's post-structuralist philosophy, to argue that political philosophy needs to take into account the historical and political contingency of subjectivity and discourse. I show that by addressing the historical and political contingency of knowledge, Foucault's work overcomes the flaw of foundational epistemology in political philosophy, which treats true discourse as universal and disinterested. In doing so I hope to have to refuted the mainly positivistic and humanist schools of thought that lay claim to universal and foundationalist notions, by demonstrating the extent to which their misgivings about Foucault's work are informed by and founded upon an unjustified a-historicism. The thesis is composed of three chapters, the first of which deals with an ontology of the subject, the second, with an ontology of social relations, and the last with epistemology. In each chapter I use dialectical analysis to reveal how interests necessarily mediate subjectivity, social relations, and knowledge. The first two chapters defend Foucault's conception of power, by way of an analysis of the relations between Foucault's work and Sartre's existential phenomenology. I show how both Foucault and Sartre successfully address the problem of historicism for political philosophy with their respective conceptions of human freedom. The final chapter defends Foucault's conception of the relations between power and discourse, to show how it overcomes the a-historicism of universal, foundational epistemology. These three chapters demonstrate the importance of accounting for historicism in political philosophy. Claims to universal interest, because knowledge is conditioned by conflicts of interest, often mask political domination. It is important, then, to remember, in political philosophy, that knowledge is evaluative and interested, reflecting historically and politically mediated evaluations. One should be suspicious of ' natural facts' , used to justify actions or beliefs, thereby masking the choices that inform them. I have used the work of Michel Foucault to motivate this claim.

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Sakun, A. V., T. I. Kadlubovich, and D. S. Chernyak. "Philosophy of modern political culture." Thesis, Izdevnieciba "Baltija Publishing", 2020. https://er.knutd.edu.ua/handle/123456789/16378.

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Cosby, Bruce. "Technological politics and the political history of African-Americans." DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 1995. http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/AAI9543185.

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This dissertation is a critical study of technopolitical issues in the history of African American people. Langdon Winner's theory of technopolitics was used to facilitate the analysis of large scale technologies and their compatibility with various political ends. I contextualized the central technopolitical issues within the major epochs of African American political history: the Atlantic slave trade, the African artisans of antebellum America, and the American Industrial Age. Throughout this study I have sought to correct negative stereotypes and to show how "technological gauges" were employed to belittle people of African descent. This research also has shown that the mainstream notion that Africans had no part in the history of technology is false. This study identifies and analyses specific technologies that played a major role in the political affairs of Africans and African Americans. Those technologies included nautical devices, fort construction, and automatic guns in Africa, and hoes, plows, tractors, cotton gins, and the mechanical cotton pickers in America. The findings of this study suggested that African Americans have been disengaged and victimized by western technologies. This dissertation proposes how to overcome the oppressive uses of technology.

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Finlayson, Lorna. "The political is political." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609972.

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Baderin, Alice. "Political theory, public opinion and real politics." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:7fa3ccbe-1a70-4d6f-95ce-54146da83af1.

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If we are interested in questions about how we ought to organize our political lives, what kind of weight, if any, should we give to evidence about what people actually think? The thesis explores this question about the role of public opinion in normative political theory. First, I disentangle a number of distinct justifications for taking account of public opinion. Specifically, the thesis evaluates four views of the status of public opinion: as an epistemic resource; a feasibility constraint; a means of democratizing political theory; or constitutive of moral and political ideals. I defend the epistemic argument, outlining two forms in which popular attitudes represent a valuable epistemic resource. The thesis criticizes the feasibility and democratic accounts of the role of public opinion as these are presented in the existing literature, but suggests more convincing ways of reconstructing these arguments. Finally, I reject the view that public opinion constitutes the ideal of justice, arguing that such an account is subject to a fundamental tension. As well as clarifying the status of popular attitudes, the thesis addresses the methodological difficulties that arise when we seek to bring public opinion to bear on ideas from political theory, whose meaning and status in everyday political thought and discourse is often limited or uncertain. I outline two approaches to integrating normative theory with the investigation of popular attitudes that mitigate the methodological problems that often confront such projects. The second major aim is to situate the question of the role of public opinion in the context of wider debates about the aims and methods of contemporary political theory. In particular, I address recent demands for greater ‘realism’ in political theory, distinguishing two main strands of realist critique and drawing out their contrasting implications for the role of public opinion.

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Daniels, John D. (John David) 1946. "The Political Philosophy of Sam Houston." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1990. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc501136/.

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Although most Americans view Sam Houston as a military leader and practical politician with little understanding of intellectual issues, he actually possessed a complex moral and political philosophy which he elaborated and demonstrated during a fifty-year public career. He based his philosophy on a mixture of Christian idealism and pragmatic realism, with duty, honor, and strict morality serving to restrain his love of reality, reason, and physical pleasures. The dual nature of his moral beliefs extended into his politics, which mixed Jeffersonian republicanism, individual rights, and limited government, with Jacksonian democracy, the needs of society, and the will of the people. Throughout most of his career he kept those conflicting sets of ideals successfully in balance, with only the turmoil of the 1850s leading him into extreme positions.

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MacDonald, Lindsey Te Ata o. Tu. "The political philosophy of property rights." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Social and Political Sciences, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/2270.

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This thesis argues that within political philosophy, property rights deserve closer attention than has been paid to them recently because the legitimacy of a state rests upon their definition and enforcement. In this way property rights differ from the right to liberty or equality. A state may or may not have liberty or equality, but it has no meaning at all if it does not enforce the rights of property. This is not to suggest that normative arguments for property rights are ‘nonsense upon stilts’. Morality may provide many reasons for an individual to exclude other members of a political community from a property. However, the function of property rights is to enforce that exclusion and this suggests that the normative legitimacy of a state is closely bound both to its ability to enforce whatever property rights it already has granted, and its justification of decisions taken when property rights are granted within its borders. My argument is that a proper political philosophy of property rights should acknowledge that a state depends upon its treatment of property rights for justification, not as a matter of justice, but as a matter of its existence.

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Beech, Matt. "The political philosophy of New Labour." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.400493.

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Jensen, M. L. "Philipp Melanchthon's political philosophy 1518-1547." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2014. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1456359/.

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This thesis gives a historical account of the political philosophy of the Wittenberg reformer Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560) from his arrival in Wittenberg in 1518 to the end of the Schmalkaldic War in 1547. Whilst scholars have discussed partial aspects of Melanchthon's political thought, this has primarily been with a focus on Melanchthon's theological writings. In contrast, it is a central argument of this thesis that Melanchthon delineated politics as a philosophical discipline distinct from theology. Accordingly, this thesis discusses Melanchthon's specifically political writings in their own right, and in their intellectual and political contexts, to give a fuller account of the development of his political thought. Chapter one analyses Melanchthon's earliest humanist political thought. In the 1525 Oratio de legibus in particular Melanchthon formulated a political position by drawing on Cicero, distinct from contemporary scholastics, renaissance humanists, and from Luther. Chapter two argues that Melanchthon's 1530 commentary on Aristotle's Politics should be understood as a criticism of late medieval Ockhamist political thought. Motivated by the uprisings of 1525, Melanchthon developed an account of political authority on the basis of natural law to undermine Ockhamist arguments that could legitimise rebellion. Chapter three discusses Melanchthon's 1538 Philosophiae moralis epitome. There, Melanchthon developed his account of political authority on the basis of natural law further, drawing on both scholastic and humanist elements, to address contemporary political problems. Chapter four discusses Melanchthon's intervention in the polemics of the Schmalkaldic War. Melanchthon's 1547 Von der Notwehr Unterricht drew on his moral and political philosophy to formulate an alternative theory of resistance to the theological and apocalyptic arguments forwarded by his fellow Lutherans. In conclusion, the thesis shows how Melanchthon's political thought addresses some of the larger questions discussed in the scholarship on sixteenth century political thought, indicating how Melanchthon influenced later political thinkers.

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Bazowski, Raymond (Raymond Andrew) Carleton University Dissertation Political Science. "Ronald Dworkin's legal and political philosophy." Ottawa, 1993.

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Chan, Joseph Cho Wai. "Politics and the good life : explorations of Aristotle's political theory." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.240264.

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Dombowsky, Don. "Nietzsche's plan for political organization and its formation in political theory." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/NQ66144.pdf.

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Filip, Birsen. "Hayek’s Political Philosophy and Its Philosophical Sources." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/24390.

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This thesis aims to broaden the discussion about the origins of some of the fundamental theoretical sources for Hayek’s ideas regarding freedom and the state. It focuses on the debates between the Austrian School of Economics and the German Historical School of Economics, as well as the works of Popper, Mill, Humboldt and Hegel in order to identify their positive and negative influences on Hayek’s views of freedom and the state. The originality of the thesis relates to the examination of Humboldt’s political philosophy in terms of its influence over the formation of the components of Hayek’s account of freedom, such as spontaneous order, the rule of law, the role of the state, and the nature of human knowledge. These components have assisted in Hayek’s efforts to prove the superiority of open societies over totalitarian regimes. The thesis explains that Hayek’s intellectual collaboration with Popper played a significant role in identifying many enemies of open societies. Both theorists agreed that historicism was a method commonly used and promoted by the enemies of open society; specifically, they accused Hegel of promoting historicism and, as a result, of being an enemy of open societies. However, this thesis disputes these accusations and argues that Popper and Hayek did not possess adequate knowledge of Hegel’s theoretical work to make such claims. In actuality, Hegel was not an enemy of open societies, he recognized the potential devastating outcomes associated with them and sought solutions. The thesis also explores the idea that Mill was also worried about the detrimental features of industrial capitalism and, as a result, attributed a prominent role to “state activity” in securing the conditions of positive freedom. Hayek, meanwhile, viewed such forms of state interference as obstacles to attaining freedom. This thesis examines the topic whether or not Hayek actually sought to formulate a genuine form of freedom or if he merely valued freedom as a tool for the promotion of open societies over centrally planned economies.

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Gallant, Suzanne. "Pluralism, immanence, affect: William Connolly's political philosophy." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/27846.

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This thesis presents a synthetic and exegetical survey of William Connolly's writings over the past decade. The most important concepts in Connolly's political philosophy are explained in detail: identity formation through difference, resentment in late modernity, and the importance of affect for thought processes related to ethical and political judgment. Connolly's focus on the psychological and existential dimension of politics, and his serious engagement with the notion of difference, lead him to propose deep pluralism as a model for politics and ethics. This is based on his assessment of the positive dynamics at play in late modernity. Deep pluralism centres on the cultivation of an ethos of engagement, a distinctive sensibility which promotes the exercise of relational modesty, forbearance and generosity in our exchanges with others. Connolly's pioneering work on affect, immanence, culture, pluralism, fundamentalism and resentment show the value of his alternative framing of contemporary issues for political analysis.

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Kamarudin, Russli. "Political philosophy of al-Ghazzali, an analysis." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ43890.pdf.

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Kamarudin, Russli. "Political philosophy of al-Ghazzālī : an analysis." Thesis, McGill University, 1997. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=28058.

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This thesis deals with the political philosophy of al-Ghazzali from an analytical point of view. It focuses its examination on his theory regarding the imamate and sultanate. This examination is based on four of his works, namely, Fad&dotbelow;a'ih&dotbelow; al-Bat&dotbelow;iniyah wa-fad&dotbelow;a'il al-Mustaz&dotbelow;hiriyah, al-Iqtis&dotbelow;ad fi'l-i'tiqad, Ih&dotbelow;ya' 'ulum al-din and Nas&dotbelow;ih&dotbelow;at al-muluk . It begins with an account of past scholarship on al-Ghazzali's political thought. Until recently scholars have focused on al-Ghazzali's theories without giving due consideration to the circumstances that led him to develop them. This thesis shows how they were shaped by his encounter with the 'Abbasid court and the Seljuq sultanate, and how his own theological and juridical concerns coloured his interpretations. The practical necessity of justifying his concept of the imamate was forced upon him by the challenge posed by the Fat&dotbelow;imid caliph in Egypt, and by the reality of power politics in Baghdad, where the caliph exercised only nominal control. Throughout his writings he demonstrates an overriding concern for a stable society in which Islam can be practiced in full, even at the cost of living under an oppressive system.

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McGuinness, Barbara Lynne. "Anti-foundationalism and justification in political philosophy." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.358160.

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Wodzinski, Phillip David. "Kant's Doctrine of Religion as Political Philosophy." Thesis, Boston College, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/987.

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Thesis advisor: Susan Shell
Through a close reading of Immanuel Kant's late book, Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, the dissertation clarifies the political element in Kant's doctrine of religion and so contributes to a wider conception of his political philosophy. Kant's political philosophy of religion, in addition to extending and further animating his moral doctrine, interprets religion in such a way as to give the Christian faith a moral grounding that will make possible, and even be an agent of, the improvement of social and political life. The dissertation emphasizes the wholeness and structure of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason as a book, for the teaching of the book is not exhausted by the articulation of its doctrine but also includes both the fact and the manner of its expression: the reader learns most fully from Kant by giving attention to the structure and tone of the book as well as to its stated content and argumentation. The Religion provides the basis not only for a proposed reenvisioning of the basis of existing religious creeds and practices, but along with this a devastating critique of them in particularly moral terms. This, however, is only half of what constitutes Kant's political philosophy of religion; Kant goes beyond the philosophical analysis of the social-political context of religion and pursues, alongside this effort, a political presentation of philosophy which is intended to relieve the reader's anxieties concerning the tension between philosophy and political life that it is in the interest of the partisans of the church-faith to encourage
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Political Science

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Stapelbroek, Koenraad Henricus. "Moral philosophy in Galiani's early political economy." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.616050.

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Feng, Dongning. "Text, politics and society : literature as political philosophy in post-Mao China." Thesis, University of Stirling, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/2216.

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The purpose of this study is to arrive at a critical overview of politics and literature in the Chinese context. The relationship has increasingly become a "field" of studies and theoretical inquiry that most scholars in either disciplines are wary to tread. This thesis tries to venture into this problematic field by a theoretical examination as well as an empirical critique of Chinese literature and politics, where the relationship seems even more paradoxical, but adds more insight into the argument. The Introduction and Chapter One set up a framework by asking some general but fundamental questions: what literature is, and how it is to be related to politics. Chapter Two examines the historical function of literature and Chinese writers in society to establish the basis of argument in the Chinese context. Chapter Three focuses the discussion on the relationship between politics and literature during the Mao era and after. Chapters Four analyses the literary works published during the post-Mao period to establish the argument that literature, as part of our perception of the world, is most concerned with human society and social amelioration and participates in the socio-political development by contributing to it through a discourse that is otherwise inaccessible. Chapter Five explores the argument further by extending it into the field of cinema, which basically comes from the same narrative tradition of prose literature, but offers a wider and different dimension to the argument pursued. Chapter Six and the Conclusion try to draw together the argument by examining literature as both form and content to argue how and why literature is related to politics and how it has functioned in a political manner in Chinese society. To summarise, Chinese literature in this period will b& shown to be involved In a process of political reform and development by way of bringing the reader to participate in a critical and philosophical dialogue with power, history and future. In the long run, it offers emancipating visions and possibilities revealed to the reader in ways that are historical, developmental, philosophical and comparative. This study focuses on the prose fiction published in this period, for it is the leading force in China's cultural development and constitutes the major trunk of the modern Chinese canon. In addition, the research also extends to drama and films, and the way they, together with prose fiction, make up the most popular perception and intellectual discovery of contemporary Chinese society and politics and best inform the argument of the study of politics and literature.

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Shanks, Robert Andrew Gulval. "Hegel's political theology." Thesis, University of Leeds, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.277192.

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Jonmarie, Diana. "The Loss of the Philosophic Tradition and the Rise of the Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte." Thesis, University of Nevada, Reno, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3707845.

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This study examines the loss of original principles that distinguish ancient Western philosophy as a valid conceptual framework for political theory and practice. I explore how the Philosophic Tradition as a centuries-old foundation of inquiry and discourse loses its significance and finally its authority in the postmodern world. With the exclusion of metaphysical reflection and reason as a basis for understanding human existential and political phenomena, the transition to Historicism and Philosophic Positivism effectively redefined the nature and application of politics. Critical to this research and serving as a focal point of this study are the works of theorist and originator of the Positive Philosophy, Auguste Comte. I analyze the author's several volumes, these dedicated to establishing a new foundation of political thought, one in which scientific inquiry would serve as the ground for seeking truth and knowledge and as a basis for methodologically directing social and political reorganization. Essentially, Positive politics would as the theorist proposed, be free of abstract speculation (metaphysics) and work to reframe human nature by achieving a universal social state defined by `Order and Progress' and a futuristic system of advancement alike to no other period in human history. As this study examines this prophesy, it takes into view the rise and popularity of the Positive Philosophy from ancient perspectives to modern and postmodern Western thought. It further illustrates the resistance to and eventual replacement of traditional theoretical foundations leaving an indelible imprint on political philosophy which had experienced a profound transformation from its pre-scientific origins. Once as truth-seeking, self-critical and reflective as to moral values and ethical considerations of justice, prudence, and the public good, the Positive Philosophy would serve instead as the ground and authority for, as Comte envisaged, a modification of human existence. Thus politics reformulated was set to task in ordering the social world into its mission of productivity and progress and reconciling its vision of human perfectibility with a proposed end to political conflict.

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Calo, Rodrigues Pinto Susana Maria. "The politics of language : ennunciation as political praxis in Guattari and Deleuze." Thesis, Kingston University, 2015. http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/33547/.

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Through the study of the philosophy of Felix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze, this thesis seeks to extract and elaborate a political practice of language by investigating their critique of linguistics and the development of a semio-pragmatic conception of language. Whereas most scholars see Deleuze and Guattari’s critique of linguistics as a project that claims to enact an escape from language, this thesis argues that implicit in Deleuze and Guattari’s apparently antagonist approach to language is a new way of thinking about language as a social and political practice. The thesis delineates a trajectory of research that is focused not on Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy of literature, nor on a philosophy of language, but rather on how language operates within a semiotic framework of power. It provides an analysis of Louis Hjelmslev's theory of the sign and Guattari and Deleuze's Hjelmslevian reading of Foucault's statement as the main resources for Deleuze and Guattari’s elaboration of a pragmatics that is both political and semiotic, and which responds to the need identified by Guattari to produce a political genealogy of content. To develop a theory of a political practice of language the thesis turns to Guattari's institutional reflections and takes the La Borde clinic as a case study. It examines clinical experimental protocols and Guattari's theory of subject- and subjected-group to discern the particular role that language plays in the framework of collective analytical processes of enunciation. It is argued that Guattari's reinterpretation of Sartre’s dialectical sociology suggests a role for language – as social practice – in processes of autonomy and institutional creation. Finally, the thesis discusses two main ideas: the idea of an a-signifying use of language (a use that is not primarily concerned with signification) and the conceptualisation of language as intervention, following Guattari’s attempt to mobilise an expanded notion of analysis – a collective militant analysis – moving from the clinical context to more general social contexts. Ultimately, the thesis argues that Guattari and Deleuze’s critique of linguisticsand Guattari’s mobilisation of analysis as a form of political intervention make it possible to reclaim language as the centre of social and political struggles.

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Shomali, Alireza. "The project of political epistemology, politics and the criteria of truth /." Related electronic resource: Current Research at SU : database of SU dissertations, recent titles available full text, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTU0NWQmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=3739.

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Hancock, David. "Morality and political modernity : the relationship between the political philosophy of Leo Strauss and the cultural politics of neoconservatism." Thesis, Kingston University, 2013. http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/28207/.

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This thesis explores the relationship between the political philosophy of Leo Strauss and neoconservative cultural politics. Arguing against claims that Straussian philosophy explicitly informs neoconservatism, I instead suggest that both Strauss and the neoconservatives share a common intellectual lineage that is a response to a pessimistic conception of modernity. Strauss is a neoconservative, but neoconservatives should not necessarily be considered Straussians. Both Strauss and the neoconservatives became notorious in the aftermath of the US led invasion of Iraq in March, 2003. Contra to the narrative that suggests that Strauss inspired the invasion or that neoconservative foreign policy presents a radical break in US history, I argue that the neoconservative project of the Bush era should be understood as a continuation of US expansionism as an inevitable effect of capitalist growth. Beyond foreign policy, my research considers the neoconservative understanding of cultural politics in particular relation to the social changes of the post war era. This thesis details the neoconservative attempt to move beyond the contradiction surrounding a distrust of modernity and the embrace of virulently nihilist capitalism. This is read through the Straussian idea that it is essential to practice care when speaking publicly. This thesis concludes that neoconservatism is an explicitly moral discourse and not a particular set of policies or strategies. Neoconservatism recognises the necessity of moral discourse and the importance of the construction of such discourses for the establishment of the community. It is argued that the neoconservative attempt to re-impose discredited moral orders has led to the exacerbation of America's contradictions and to decline in American power. Beyond this, it is also argued that Strauss does make a contribution to political philosophy in terms of the relationship between city and man; this contribution to political philosophy is used to interpret elements of post-war American history.

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Pasquali, F. "Precarious Equilibrium : Political Philosophy between Desirability and Feasibility." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2434/58611.

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The dissertation investigates political philosophy’s practical function by focusing on its concerns with the desirability of its principles and on how it manages feasibility requirements. Different combinations between desirability and feasibility give rise to different methodological strategies. Merits and limits of similar methodologies are assessed with reference to a model of realistic utopianism outlined starting from Rawls’s approach, a model of realism based on Machiavelli’s reflection, and a model of utopianism drawn from Plato’s political thought. Realistic utopianism reveals unsatisfactory: its attempted synthesis between desirability and feasibility implies ambiguities and leads political philosophy to improperly adjust the theoretical adequacy of its principles to considerations of practical relevance. Realism and utopianism escape similar shortfalls and they satisfactorily vindicate their models. The dissertation also distinguishes between political philosophy’s prescriptive and evaluative functions, which rely on different notions of normativity – a comparative notion the former, a transcendent one the latter – and which envisage diverse roles for feasibility constraints. Examining the requirements of practical relevance connected to prescriptive principles and to evaluative models, the dissertation suggests that prescription is better served by realism, while evaluation better fits utopianism.

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Holland, Mary Rita. "Fanatics in freedom, southern political philosophy, 1800-1861." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2002. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/MQ65625.pdf.

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Vaughan, Geoffrey. "Political education in the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.243531.

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Meyer, Lukas H. "Extending liberal political philosophy : international and intergenerational relations." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.295810.

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Apeldoorn, Laurens van. "Human agency in Hobbes's moral and political philosophy." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.543598.

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Toussi, Seyyed Khalil Alaghebandi Hosseini. "Ethical and political thought in Mulla Sadra's philosophy." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.445439.

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MUHAMMAD, IRFAN. "Comparative Political Philosophy and Political Deliberation: An Exploration of Deliberative Practices in Pakistan." Doctoral thesis, Luiss Guido Carli, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11385/201067.

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This thesis attempts to explore deliberative practices in Pakistan. In doing so, it draws on and extends the literature produced under two relatively new academic fields—the fields of deliberative theory and comparative political philosophy—which are gaining prominence in the academic world. Although these two academic fields appear quite different but this thesis argues that they are not only complimentary but can also benefit each other in their further theoretical development. In order to show this complimentary relationship between deliberative theory and comparative political philosophy, this thesis explores deliberative practices in an authoritarian non-Western context. More specifically, it explores the role of deliberation in the democratization of Pakistan. This thesis analyzes the case of Pakistan Lawyers’ Movement during the military dictatorship (2007-2009) and how it paved the way to the process of democratization in the country. Although democratization of societies at large has always been at the core of deliberative theory, but comparative studies of democratization have completely missed the deliberative aspect which makes transition to democracy possible. Through Dryzek’s concept of deliberative capacity, this thesis investigates the role of Pakistan Lawyers’ Movement in building this capacity across different locations in the political system. The concept of deliberative capacity is being used in the larger context of systemic turn in deliberative theory. This latest trend helps us to study deliberation at a macro level and is not specifically tied to liberal institutional arrangements of states in the West. This thesis attempts to interpret Pakistan Lawyers’ Movement through the lens of deliberative theory. Pakistan Lawyers’ Movement throws new light on the normative aspects of deliberative theory and also helps us to understand the nature of deliberation in Pakistani context. The case of Pakistan Lawyers’ Movement provokes reflection on normative principles of deliberative democracy, helps us understand the nature of deliberation in an authoritarian context, extends current scholarship on the comparative studies of democratization by spelling out the deliberative potential of the regime, and contributes to the ongoing debate on comparative political philosophy as an academic field in the age of globalization.

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Bentley, Russell K. "Language, politics and order in Plato's political thought : a study of four Platonic works." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1995. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2834/.

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This thesis is an examination of Plato's Protagoras, Gorgias, Republic I, and the Phaedrus. The focus is on Plato's political thought and my aim is to examine politics and language within the context of Plato's belief in and desire for order. I try to show how he connects the way language is used with the political life of a community. I argue that he identifies a link between the stability of a political association and the uses, and users, of language. Given his fundamental belief in a metaphysical order, existing beyond and prior to human existence, I argue that Plato seeks to anchor language and politics, to rationalise them in accordance with the the universal harmony characterised by the Forms. In making this argument I try to show that, for Plato, the spread of order logically culminates in a harmonisation of the physical and metaphysical. So much is this so, I claim, that the stability of order in any sphere of human existence depends on the existence of order in all other spheres. Thus, an orderly political association, one organised in accordance with Platonic moral principles, simply cannot exist if the language its members share does not exhibit the very same order. Psychological order is the avenue through which the metaphysical order enters human affairs. Given the Greek assumption that life in the polis is the natural life for man, examination of the human psyche becomes for Plato also an examination of communal, or associative, living. The moral as intrinsically part of the political. Plato is concerned with both the quality of the association and the quality of its mode of interaction. Both politics and language must be harmonised to ensure a concordance between human existence and the metaphysical order in which Plato believes.

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Hsu, Hahn. "Liberalism, political pluralism, and international justice /." The Ohio State University, 1998. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487949150070925.

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Mason, Andrew. "On explaining political disageement." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.327918.

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Stephenson, Erik. "Spinoza and the ethics of political resistance." Thesis, McGill University, 2011. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=104659.

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My dissertation examines the question of the justification of political resistance in Spinoza's philosophy. More specifically, its purpose is to determine whether or not Spinoza regards political resistance as harmonizing with the dictates of reason, where the latter amount to prudential counsels for maximizing one's "power to exist". Having demonstrated the partial validity of the 'conservative' interpretation of Spinoza's ethico-rational politics – according to which reason commands strict obedience to political authorities – I go on to challenge its near-hegemonic status in the secondary literature by extracting from Spinoza's Ethics and political treatises a conditional, ethico-rational justification for political resistance. The ultimate criterion for the ethico-rational validation of an act of resistance is the empowerment of its agent(s). Since one's true empowerment is, in Spinoza's view, inextricably related to the empowerment of all those with whom one's life is intertwined, and the chief source of personal empowerment is the rational understanding of nature's causal order, it follows that any act of resistance ought to contribute to an increase in the cognitive powers of the greatest number (including, ideally, those against whom it is directed). On the basis of the fact that, by Spinoza's own reckoning, the philosophical critique of prejudices through the development of adequate ideas regarding their constitution can serve to undermine the disempowering forms of rule that depend upon them, I contend that the critique of prejudices is the ethico-rationally justified form of resistance par excellence. Thus, a State is only organized rationally if it secures institutional 'spaces' for the exercise of this form of resistance as part of its normal functioning. Finally, I maintain that active civil disobedience subverting a political regime that prohibits the continuous exercise of resistance-as-critique is not only justified but is akin to a duty if individuals are to live up to Spinoza's paradigm of rationality, the “wise” or “free” person.
Notre travail se penche sur la question de la justification de la résistance politique dans la pensée philosophique de Spinoza. Plus exactement, il a pour but de déterminer si, selon Spinoza, la résistance politique s'accorde avec les préceptes de la raison, ces derniers étant compris comme conseils prudentiels en vue de la maximisation de notre « pouvoir d'exister ». Après avoir démontré la validité partielle de l'interprétation conservatrice prédominante de la politique « éthico-rationnelle » de Spinoza – selon laquelle la raison recommande une obéissance absolue à toute autorité politique – je lui dispute son statut hégémonique dans la littérature secondaire en dégageant de l'Éthique et des traités politiques de Spinoza une justification éthique conditionnelle de la résistance politique. Le critère de légitimation ultime d'un acte de résistance est que ce dernier contribue à augmenter le pouvoir de son (ou ses) sujet(s). Puisque, d'abord, l'augmentation de notre pouvoir est, aux yeux de Spinoza, étroitement liée à l'augmentation du pouvoir de tous, et qu'ensuite, la source principale de cette augmentation réside dans la compréhension rationnelle de l'ordre causal de la nature, il s'ensuit que n'importe quel acte de résistance politique doit contribuer à l'augmentation du pouvoir cognitif du plus grand nombre possible (incluant, idéalement, ceux et celles contre lesquels l'acte est dirigé). Partant du fait que, selon l'avis de Spinoza lui-même, la critique philosophique des préjugés par moyen de la formation d'idées adéquates quant à leur genèse serait à même de saper le pouvoir des régimes qui en dépendent, nous suggérons que la critique des préjugés est la forme par excellence d'une résistance éthiquement justifiable. Par conséquent, un État n'est organisé de façon rationnelle que s'il se porte garant d'espaces institutionnels permettant le déploiement de cette forme de résistance au sein de son fonctionnement normal. Finalement, nous affirmons que la résistance politique active ayant pour objectif le renversement d'un régime politique qui pose obstacle à l'exercice continu de la résistance-cum-critique est non seulement justifiée, mais se veut un devoir moral – dans le sens que Spinoza prête à ce terme – pour quiconque souhaiterait incarner, dans la mesure du possible, le modèle spinoziste de l'homme libre, du Sage.

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Williams, Graham Andrew. "Persons, property and morality : a defence of political libertarianism." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17058.

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Bibliography: p.191-197.
This dissertation adopts as its starting point the beliefs that moral truths can be known and that political philosophy is a branch of ethics. The author identifies three variants of libertarianism on the basis of their different treatments of the right to private property, which all three consider to be the cornerstone of political libertarianism. The author evaluates the arguments of Robert Nozick, Murray Rothbard, John Hospers and Ayn Rand for the moral foundations of libertarianism and finds them to be methodologically inadequate. None is able to furnish libertarianism with the moral foundations it requires. Following the example of Jan Narveson in his recent defence of the libertarian idea, the author adopts as the correct metaphysic of morality the method of hypothetical contract. The contractarian method is capable of determining both the nature and the extent of moral obligation. From application of the method of hypothetical contract, the author concurs with the above-mentioned authors that morality is a system of rights and duties, i.e. deontological in character, and that persons are indeed bearers of moral, non-conventional rights. One of these rights is the negative right to equal social liberty. The author differs, however, in finding that contractarianism favours also a positive right to basic, standard welfare. Recognition of this latter right commits the author to a form of moderate or Lockean libertarianism that endorses the in-principle justice of coercive redistribution to meet persons' basic welfare. Consequently, the orthodox libertarianism advocated by Nozick, Rothbard, Hospers, Rand and Narveson which recognises only negative moral rights is rejected by the author. All of the libertarians cited accept in one form or another John Locke's labour theory of appropriation. However, the author eschews the standard reading of Locke they are wedded to. The standard reading premises the labour theory on a person's ownership of himself. This reading is rejected on the grounds that the idea of self-ownership is insufficiently determinate to act as a sure basis for establishing property rights in things one has mixed one's labour with. A reconstructed defence of the moral right to private property through labouring which avoids this difficulty is given. That defence is premised not on self-ownership but on the right to equal social liberty. Save for the requirement to meet basic welfare there are no limits to the extent of acquisition. The author argues that, despite his avowals to the contrary, Nozick in fact endorses a positive right to welfare, and that this positive right is one that is co-extensive with the right to basic welfare established by the method of hypothetical contract. Two arguments are given. The first argument draws on Nozick's Lockean proviso that an act of appropriation not worsen the position of others. The second is based upon the application to an envisaged society of libertarian-rights bearers of Nozick's clause that permits the violation of rights in order to avoid catastrophic moral horror. This latter argument the author believes to be successful against any libertarianism that is wedded to absolute property rights. Redistribution to meet the demands of basic welfare necessitates taxation. Taxation is to be levied proportionately and not progressively, and is to be coupled with a system of private social insurance. None of the three variants of libertarianism identified, and which the author maintains sustain redistribution as a matter of justice, is ostensibly committed to redistribution more extensive than required to meet persons' basic welfare~ Ernest Loevinsohn's argument to the effect that libertarians are - by the very principle they defend as libertarians - committed to more far-reaching welfare and redistribution is examined and rejected. Because Loevinsohn's argument is directed against a consequentialist defence of libertarianism and not a deontological version it is misplaced. Furthermore, it fails to establish the conclusion Loevinsohn supposes it.

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Temelini, Michael Joseph. "Seeing things differently, wittgenstein and social and political philosophy." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape9/PQDD_0023/NQ50268.pdf.

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42

Temelini, Michael. "Seeing things differently : Wittgenstein and social and political philosophy." Thesis, McGill University, 1999. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=35950.

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This thesis calls into question a currently orthodox view of Ludwig Wittgenstein's post-Tractarian philosophy. This view is that the social and political implications of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations are conservative and relativist. That is, Wittgenstein's concepts such as 'forms of life', 'language-games' and 'rule-following' defend and promote: a rule-determined and context-determined rationality; or an incomparable community-determined human understanding; or a neutralist, nonrevisionary, private or uncritical social and political philosophy.
In order to challenge and correct this conventional understanding the thesis sets up as 'objects of comparison' a variety of very different examples of the use of Wittgenstein in social and political philosophy. These uses are neither relativist nor conservative and they situate understanding and critical reflection in the practices of comparison and dialogue. The examples of this 'comparative-dialogical' Wittgensteinian approach are found in the works of three contemporary philosophers: Thomas L. Kuhn, Quentin Skinner and Charles Taylor.
This study employs the technique of a survey rather than undertaking a uniquely textual analysis because it is less convincing to suggest that Wittgenstein's concepts might be used in these unfamiliar ways than to show that they have been put to these unfamiliar uses. Therefore I turn not to a Wittgensteinian ideal but to examples of the 'comparative-dialogical' uses of Wittgenstein. In so doing I am following Wittgenstein's insight in section 208 of the Philosophical Investigations: "I shall teach him to use the words by means of examples and by practice. And when I do this, I do not communicate less to him than I know myself." Thus it will be in a survey of various uses and applications of Wittgenstein's concepts and techniques that I will show that I and others understand them.

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Mason, David (David Mark George). "Burke's political philosophy in his writings on constitutional reform." Thesis, McGill University, 1986. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=66187.

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Furman, Katherine Elizabeth. "Exploring the possibility of an Ubuntu-based political philosophy." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002003.

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It is typically said that there are two questions that political philosophy seeks to address: ‘who gets what?’ and ‘who decides on who gets what?’ South Africa, along with much of the rest of the world, has answered the second question badly and currently ranks as one of the world’s most unequal societies. Counter-intuitively, South Africa maintains a social-political order that (re)produces this inequality along with great enthusiasm for ubuntu, an African ethic that at a minimum requires that we treat each other humanely. However, due to the view that ubuntu has been co-opted in support of South Africa’s unjust system, ubuntu has largely been ignored by radical thinkers. The aim of this thesis is therefore to explore the possibility of an ubuntu-based political philosophy, with the core assumption that political philosophy is rooted in ethical theory. Three tasks are therefore undertaken in this thesis. Firstly, ubuntu is articulated as an ethic. Secondly, it is compared to similar Western ethical theories in order to determine if there are distinguishing characteristics that make ubuntu a more appropriate founding ethic for South African political philosophy. Finally, whether ubuntu can find real-world applicability will be assessed by looking at the way ubuntu has been used in the law

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Bowker, Matthew Hamilton. "Albert Camus and the political philosophy of the absurd." College Park, Md. : University of Maryland, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/8255.

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Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2008.
Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Government and Politics. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

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Wright, Alan. "The idea of political communication." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.252700.

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Flaherty, Joshua 1973. "The autonomy of the political." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17647.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-228).
This thesis examines and critically assesses five arguments for the autonomy of the political. The arguments I examine are those of Niccol6 Machiavelli, Jean Bodin, Thomas Hobbes, Carl Schmitt, and John Rawls. After presenting what I believe to be the most plausible reconstructions of these arguments for the autonomy of the political, I conclude that none of these arguments succeed in their task. The arguments of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Bodin, and Schmitt each fail to establish an autonomous political account of justification or political legitimacy. Rawls' argument, on the other hand, succeeds in establishing a plausible and distinctively political standard of justification, but fails to establish that the political is autonomous. I conclude that there is an inescapable conflict between the thesis that the autonomy of the political and the idea that the state's actions could be acceptably justified or that the state could be legitimate.
by Joshua Flaherty.
Ph.D.

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Zhang, Sheng. "Epistemic democracy and political legitimacy." Thesis, University of Missouri - Columbia, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10180781.

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My dissertation aims to answer two questions: (1) Is democracy epistemically valuable? (2) Is the epistemic value of democracy, if it has any, necessary for justifying its legitimacy? I argue that democracy in certain form can be epistemically valuable. However, I also argue that the epistemic value of democracy is not necessary for justifying its legitimacy. To defend the epistemic value of democracy, I propose a post-deliberation version of Condorcet’s jury theorem. I argue that this version of the jury theorem can avoid the common challenges against the classic version. To reject the necessity of epistemic value for democratic legitimacy, I argue that, given that the epistemic value of democracy is subject to disagreement, it cannot be used to justify legitimacy. In addition, I provide a purely proceduralist argument for democratic legitimacy, which appeals to the egalitarian principle that every citizens ought to be equally respected by the state. This argument, if succeeds, shows that the epistemic value of democracy is not necessary for justifying democratic legitimacy.

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Chappell, Catherine. "Hannah Arendt and Her Turn From Political Journalist To Political Philosopher." Thesis, Boston College, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/1323.

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Thesis advisor: Rodrigo Chacon
Thesis advisor: Susan Shell
In this thesis, I will explore the natural tension that exists between philosophy and politics; theory and practice, and thought and action, especially as manifest in contemporary society. In order to investigate this tension, I will use a lens presented by Hannah Arendt and her writings, in particular the Human Condition and the Jewish Writings . I will use these works to illustrate Arendt's own conflict between the role of politics and philosophy in human affairs as experienced in her transition from a political journalist to a political theorist. I will argue that a comparison of these works shows Arendt's struggle with the tension between philosophy and politics; thought and action, and theory and practice. A comparison of these works also illustrates Arendt's paradoxical conclusion of the Human Condition: that in times of unprecedented crisis, although theory and philosophy are precisely what are necessary to prevent further destruction and tragedy, they unfortunately become superfluous, and then immediate (even if groundless) action becomes necessarily the only human capacity that can "save" the world
Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2010
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Political Science

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Okorie, Ogbonnya. "The Ethical Implication of Separating Morality From Politics : Taking Cue From Machiavellian Political Ideas and The Nigerian Political Experience." Thesis, Linköping University, Centre for Applied Ethics, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-6776.

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The attention of this paper would be to assess critically the consequences of any conscious effort to separate morality from politics giving that morality constitutes an essential and integral part of any political culture. With this understanding it becomes controversial and worrisome for any one to suggest that morality can be divorced from politics and still make a success out of the entire business of governance. The concept of Machiavellianism presents a very big challenge to this possibility in politics. I would attempt to show the dangers inherent in such a calculated effort using the Nigerian political experience as a case study

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Political philosophy'

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