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The Enlightenment Research Paper

914 Words4 Pages

The growth of the Enlightenment is a fitting characterization of the 18th and 19th century. With this being said, Political Philosophy is placed on a state of deterioration. The birth of human reason, the formation of ideologies such as Liberalism, and the stress laid on the use of scientific methods, contribute to such decline. In order to address the problems that resulted from the mentioned causes, the significance of Political Philosophy is to be put into consideration. This paper aimed to show that Political Philosophy's revival will provide a new framework
Political Philosophy, which is equated with Classical Political Theory, emerges out of the need to "acquire knowledge of the good life and good society". (Strauss, 2011) Moreover, …show more content…

For both of them, the ideal state is aristocracy (Fiesser & Stumpf, 2005), and not democracy. Political philosophers believe in the need for an Authority. It is also important to point out that their idea of the state is as an embodiment of moral. They see the significance of a human person in the making of the state for the reason that the development of human person leads to the development of the state. If they were able to form morally good individuals, then the policy they make will be morally good, and the state itself will then be morally good. The ability to make a virtuous society lies within the ability to form the character of a man. And as for Plato, the virtue of a moral person is justice (Fiesser & Stumpf, 2005), and once a just man is formed, a just society will rise. With this kind of mind set a Political philosopher has, a refined state will then be created, a state injected with values.
A man should be reflected by his society. The problem with the present ideologies is its failure to represent the people. Karl Marx warned about the ideas that could be an instrument of repression (Susser, 1995). Political actors must be careful in choosing the idea that they transform into practice. Without the guidance of Political Philosophy, Political ideologies might lead to satisfaction of personal interests through political power, and negligence of the idea of common

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