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SUBRATA MUKHERJEEFormer Professor and Head

Department of Political ScienceUniversity of Delhi

and

SUSHILA RAMASWAMYAssociate Professor

Department of Political ScienceJesus and Mary College, New Delhi

New Delhi-1100012011

SECOND EDITION

A HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT: Plato to Marx, Second EditionSubrata Mukherjee and Sushila Ramaswamy

© 2011 by PHI Learning Private Limited, New Delhi. All rights reserved. No partof this book may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other means,without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN-978-81-203-4389-4

The export rights of this book are vested solely with the publisher.

Fourteenth Printing (Second Edition) … … … August, 2011

Published by Asoke K. Ghosh, PHI Learning Private Limited, M-97, Connaught Circus,New Delhi-110001 and Printed by Rajkamal Electric Press, Plot No. 2, Phase IV,HSIDC, Kundli-131028.

Tothe memory of

Prof. George H. Sabine

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Preface ..................................................................................................................... ix

Preface to the First Edition .................................................................................. xi

1. WHAT IS POLITICAL THEORY? .................................................. 1–53

Changing Context of Words and Its Implication forPolitical Theory ...................................................................................... 8

Key Theoretical Concepts in Political Theory................................... 10Intellectual Influences Responsible for the Decline of

Political Theory .................................................................................... 12Behaviouralism .......................................................................................... 17Criticism of Behaviouralism .................................................................. 19Is Political Theory Dead? ....................................................................... 21Revival of Political Theory .................................................................... 25Berlin’s Views on Political Theory ...................................................... 31Wolin’s Defence of the Classical Political Tradition ....................... 33Kuhn’s Seminal Contribution ................................................................ 35Post-behaviouralism and Neobehaviouralism ................................... 37Why is the Classical Tradition Important? ........................................ 37How to Study the Classics .................................................................... 41Limitations of the Classical Tradition ................................................. 45Conclusion .................................................................................................. 51

2. PLATO ................................................................................................ 54–100

Life Sketch .................................................................................................. 55Plato’s Corpus ........................................................................................... 57Context of the Republic ........................................................................... 58Philosopher Ruler ..................................................................................... 65Justice ........................................................................................................... 72Education .................................................................................................... 80

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Community of Wives and Property .................................................... 86Regeneration of the Ideal ....................................................................... 89Plato’s Second-best State ........................................................................ 90Is Plato a Forerunner of Modern Totalitarianism,

or the First Fascist? ............................................................................. 92Conclusion .................................................................................................. 96

3. ARISTOTLE ..................................................................................... 101–147

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 102Aristotle’s Corpus ................................................................................... 104Critique of Plato ..................................................................................... 107Conception of Human Nature and State ......................................... 115Nature of Happiness or Eudaimonia ................................................ 118Household (Slaves, Women and Property) ..................................... 122Rule of Law and Constitution ............................................................ 131Conclusion ................................................................................................ 143

4. NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI ........................................................ 148–179

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 150Renaissance and Its Impact ................................................................. 153Machiavelli’s Political Theory ............................................................. 155Science of Statecraft ............................................................................... 164Conclusion ................................................................................................ 175

5. THOMAS HOBBES....................................................................... 180–206

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 182Developments in Science and Their Influence on Hobbes ......... 184Hobbes’ Political Philosophy ............................................................... 187Human Nature ........................................................................................ 188Women and the Gender Question ..................................................... 202Conclusion ................................................................................................ 203

6. JOHN LOCKE ................................................................................. 207–234

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 210Locke and the Glorious Revolution ................................................... 212Locke’s Political Theory ........................................................................ 216Conclusion ................................................................................................ 232

7. JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU .................................................... 235–263

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 237Enlightenment .......................................................................................... 238Rousseau’s Political Philosophy .......................................................... 240Analysis of Inequality ........................................................................... 242Institution of Private Property ............................................................ 243

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Civil Society ............................................................................................. 245General Will and Individual Freedom ............................................. 247Role of the Legislator ............................................................................ 253Critique of Liberal Representative Government ............................ 253Federation of Nations for World Peace............................................ 255Women and Family ............................................................................... 258Conclusion ................................................................................................ 261

8. IMMANUEL KANT ...................................................................... 264–286

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 266Political Ideas ........................................................................................... 269Philosophy of History ........................................................................... 275Notion of Perpetual Peace and Cosmopolitanism ......................... 278Kant and Hegel ....................................................................................... 283Conclusion ................................................................................................ 285

9. EDMUND BURKE ......................................................................... 287–309

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 288French Revolution and England ......................................................... 290Political Ideas ........................................................................................... 291Criticism of the French Revolution ................................................... 293Critique of Natural Rights and Contract ......................................... 294Limits of Reason ..................................................................................... 297Citizenship and Democracy ................................................................. 299Representation and Pitkin’s Analysis ................................................ 300Religion and Toleration ........................................................................ 301The Actual Revolutionary Process and Burke ................................ 302The Burke-Paine Debate ....................................................................... 303Conclusion ................................................................................................ 306

10. JEREMY BENTHAM ..................................................................... 310–342

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 311Meaning of Utilitarianism .................................................................... 317The Modern State ................................................................................... 324Economic Ideas ....................................................................................... 329Notion of Liberty, Rights and Law ................................................... 331Women and Gender Equality ............................................................. 335As a Humanist ........................................................................................ 338Conclusion ................................................................................................ 340

11. MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT ..................................................... 343–372

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 344Price and the Suffrage Question ........................................................ 346Wollstonecraft and Contemporary Feminists .................................. 353Conclusion ................................................................................................ 368

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12. GEORGE WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL ........................... 373–405

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 375Importance of Reason ............................................................................ 376Philosophy of History ........................................................................... 377Philosophy of Right ............................................................................... 385Dialectics ................................................................................................... 399Popper’s Critique .................................................................................... 400Conclusion ................................................................................................ 402

13. JOHN STUART MILL .................................................................. 406–434

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 407Critique of Utilitarianism ..................................................................... 409Defence of Individual Freedom and Individuality ........................ 411Equality within the Family and between the Sexes ..................... 416Democracy and Representative Government .................................. 424Economy and State ................................................................................ 426On India .................................................................................................... 430Conclusion ................................................................................................ 431

14. KARL MARX .................................................................................. 435–477

Life Sketch ................................................................................................ 438Marx as a Poet ........................................................................................ 440Marx’s Doctoral Dissertation ............................................................... 441Dialectics ................................................................................................... 443Materialism and History ....................................................................... 444Economic Determinism ......................................................................... 446Class Struggle and Social Change ..................................................... 448Analysis of Capitalism .......................................................................... 449Assessment of Marx’s Predictions ...................................................... 452Analysis of the State ............................................................................. 454Dictatorship of the Proletariat ............................................................ 457Revisionism, Russian Revolution and Dictatorship of

the Proletariat ..................................................................................... 463Inadequacies in the Marxist Theory of the State .......................... 465Women and the Gender Question ..................................................... 467The Asiatic Mode of Production ........................................................ 468On India .................................................................................................... 471Conclusion ................................................................................................ 472

Appendix: John Rawls—Revival of the Classical Tradition ......... 479–509

Bibliography .............................................................................................. 511–526

References ................................................................................................... 527–547

Author Index .............................................................................................. 549–557

Subject Index ............................................................................................. 559–563

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This book now in its second edition was first published in 1999, and sincethen has seen several reprints. We thought that it is appropriate to revisethe book incorporating the topics added in the revised course curriculum.The new edition contains two new chapters on Mary Wollstonecraft andImmanuel Kant and an Appendix on John Rawls, who is credited forreviving the normative classical tradition in political theory in the post-Second World War in the twentieth century. The views of some of recentcommentators like Carole Pateman have also been incorporated.

Our students have been greatly helpful in bringing to our notice theportions that need greater clarity and elaboration and we would like tothank them all.

Subrata MukherjeeSushila Ramaswamy

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Political theory is one of the core areas of Political Science. Many arguethat the entire edifice of the discipline is based on it as no comprehensionof any other area in any meaningful manner is possible without anunderstanding of political theory. In recent years, along with the traditionalemphasis on Western political theory, there has been growing interest innon-European sources of political theory. Confucianism and ancient Indianpolitical tradition with special reference to Kautilya are increasingly gettingmore recognition. Added to this is a renaissance in political theory in theWest as there are more participants in the debate today than at any othertime in history. Today nobody talks of the death or decline of politicaltheory though there is a realization, as observed by Walzer, that politicaltheory is some kind of alienated politics since participants in the debatehave marginal or perhaps no impact on policy makers or the process ofpolicy making except for the Neo-Conservatives in the United States.

This, however, does not diminish the utility of political theory as anacademic discipline, for, it is not confined to dealing with contemporaryproblems of localized nature, but with a wider canvas since it debatesand deliberates the definition of a good social order. As Sabine wrotelong ago, political theory develops as part of politics, and just as thereis no concluding chapter to politics, so there is no concluding chapter topolitical theory. With the collapse of totalitarian communism andauthoritarianism, both right wing and left wing, the debate regardinggood social order is conducted within the paradigms of liberalism andsocial democracy. The increasing consensus on fundamental issues hasmade it possible for greater universal recognition of concepts like the ruleof law, constitutionalism and civil society.

For comprehending the intricacies of contemporary political theory,the starting point is the Classical tradition. In understanding the hoarytradition of political theory, a dissection and continual reinterpretation ofthe classics in political theory is an important exercise. Ever since Platoraised the question of “What is justice” in the Republic, the debate aboutthe nature and meaning of good and just order continues. The classicaltradition that began with Plato ended with Hegel who was the starting point

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A History Of Political Thought : Plato ToMarx

Publisher : PHI Learning ISBN : 9788120343894Author : MUKHERJEE,SUBRATA, RAMASWAMY,SUSHILA

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