CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"/> <title>Political philosophy - RationalWiki</title> <script>document.documentElement.className="client-js";RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":!1,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy","wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"Z8LwWIw9UyzeuXzAvZa31AAAABE","wgCSPNonce":!1,"wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":!1,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"Political_philosophy","wgTitle":"Political philosophy","wgCurRevisionId":2511159,"wgRevisionId":2511159,"wgArticleId":115546,"wgIsArticle":!0,"wgIsRedirect":!1,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Pages using DynamicPageList parser function","Philosophy","Politics","Political philosophies","Political theory"],"wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Political_philosophy","wgRelevantArticleId":115546,"wgIsProbablyEditable":!0, "wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":!0,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgMediaViewerOnClick":!0,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":!0};RLSTATE={"site.styles":"ready","noscript":"ready","user.styles":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles.legacy":"ready","mediawiki.toc.styles":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["ext.cite.ux-enhancements","site","mediawiki.page.startup","mediawiki.page.ready","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.legacy.js","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips","mmv.head","mmv.bootstrap.autostart"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.implement("user.options@1hzgi",function($,jQuery,require,module){/*@nomin*/mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); });});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cmediawiki.toc.styles%7Cskins.vector.styles.legacy&only=styles&skin=vector"/> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector"/> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.35.6"/> <meta name="description" content="Political philosophy is the normative study of government, relationships between individuals and communities, rights and justice. Depending on the philosopher, it can be entangled with metaphysics, ethics or economics. Pretty much every ideology that ever existed has its roots in political philosophy, making it hard to separate the analytical and normative branches of the discipline."/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit" href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit"/> <link rel="edit" title="Edit" href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit"/> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico"/> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/opensearch_desc.php" title="RationalWiki (en)"/> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"/> <link rel="license" href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Copyrights"/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="RationalWiki Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="RationalWiki"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Political philosophy"/> <meta property="og:description" content="Political philosophy is the normative study of government, relationships between individuals and communities, rights and justice. Depending on the philosopher, it can be entangled with metaphysics, ethics or economics. Pretty much every ideology that ever existed has its roots in political philosophy, making it hard to separate the analytical and normative branches of the discipline."/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Political_philosophy"/>  </head> <body class="mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-Political_philosophy rootpage-Political_philosophy skin-vector action-view minerva--history-page-action-enabled skin-vector-legacy"> <div id="mw-page-base" class="noprint"></div> <div id="mw-head-base" class="noprint"></div> <div id="content" class="mw-body" role="main"> <a id="top"></a> <div id="siteNotice" class="mw-body-content"><div id="localNotice" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div id="2025_RationalWiki_.27Oregon_Plan.27_Fundraiser"> <table role="presentation" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; width: 100%;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="width: 60%; text-align: left;"><big><center><b><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Fundraiser" title="RationalWiki:Fundraiser">2025 RationalWiki 'Oregon Plan' Fundraiser</a></b></center></big> <p><b>There is no RationalWiki without you.</b> We are a small non-profit with no staff—we are hundreds of volunteers who document pseudoscience and crankery around the world every day. We will never allow ads because we must remain independent. We cannot rely on big donors with corresponding big agendas. We are not the largest website around, but <a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Fundraiser" title="RationalWiki:Fundraiser">we believe we play an important role in defending truth and objectivity</a>. </p> </td> <td style="width: 40%; text-align: center;"><big><b><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Fundraiser" title="RationalWiki:Fundraiser">Fighting pseudoscience isn't free</a>.<br />We are 100% user-supported! Help and donate $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can today with <img alt="PayPal Logo.png" src="/w/images/thumb/f/fb/PayPal_Logo.png/61px-PayPal_Logo.png" decoding="async" width="61" height="17" srcset="/w/images/thumb/f/fb/PayPal_Logo.png/92px-PayPal_Logo.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/f/fb/PayPal_Logo.png/122px-PayPal_Logo.png 2x" data-file-width="883" data-file-height="244" />!</b></big><a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=67BJMQC85CUFW" title="Donate via PayPal" rel="nofollow"><img alt="" src="/w/images/thumb/1/10/DonateButton.png/100px-DonateButton.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="32" srcset="/w/images/thumb/1/10/DonateButton.png/150px-DonateButton.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/1/10/DonateButton.png/200px-DonateButton.png 2x" data-file-width="759" data-file-height="241" /></a> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div role="progressbar" style="width: 100%; border: 2px solid black; position: relative; padding: 2px; border-radius: 18px;"> <a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Fundraiser" title="RationalWiki:Fundraiser"><span style="text-shadow: -1px -1px 0 #FFFFFF, 1px -1px 0 #FFFFFF, -1px 1px 0 #FFFFFF, 1px 1px 0 #FFFFFF; color: black; font-size: 125%; position: absolute; left: 0%; margin: 0 0 0 10px"><b>Donations so far: $5273.29</b></span></a><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Fundraiser" title="RationalWiki:Fundraiser"><span style="text-shadow: -1px -1px 0 #FFFFFF, 1px -1px 0 #FFFFFF, -1px 1px 0 #FFFFFF, 1px 1px 0 #FFFFFF; color: black; font-size: 125%; position: absolute; right: 0%; margin: 0 10px 0 0"><b>Goal: $10000</b></span></a><div style="height: 28px; border-radius: 14px; background-color: hsl(42.18632,100%,45%); width: 52.7329%;"></div> </div></div></div></div> <div class="mw-indicators mw-body-content"> </div> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en">Political philosophy</h1> <div id="bodyContent" class="mw-body-content"> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From RationalWiki</div> <div id="contentSub"></div> <div id="contentSub2"></div> <div id="jump-to-nav"></div> <a class="mw-jump-link" href="#mw-head">Jump to navigation</a> <a class="mw-jump-link" href="#searchInput">Jump to search</a> <div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr"><div class="mw-parser-output"><table class="infobox" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em; text-align:left; border: 1px solid #47374a; width:175px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center; color:White; background-color:#47374a"><b>Thinking hardly<br />or hardly thinking?</b><br /><a href="/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy"><font size="4" color="White"><b>Philosophy</b></font></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#f8feff;" align="center"><a href="/wiki/Category:Philosophy" title="Category:Philosophy"><img alt="Icon philosophy.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/d/d0/Icon_philosophy.svg/100px-Icon_philosophy.svg.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" srcset="/w/images/thumb/d/d0/Icon_philosophy.svg/150px-Icon_philosophy.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/d/d0/Icon_philosophy.svg/200px-Icon_philosophy.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="200" data-file-height="200" /></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#47374a; text-align:center;"><b>Major trains of thought</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#f8feff;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Logic" title="Logic">Logic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Morality" title="Morality">Morality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reality" title="Reality">Reality</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#47374a; text-align:center;"><b>The good, the bad,<br />and the brain fart</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#f8feff;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Utilitarianism" title="Utilitarianism">Utilitarianism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Apologetics" title="Apologetics">Apologetics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Idealism" title="Idealism">Idealism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chaos" title="Chaos">Chaos</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/China_brain" title="China brain">China brain</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neo-Tech" title="Neo-Tech">Neo-Tech</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Demarcation_problem" title="Demarcation problem">Demarcation problem</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Computing_Forever" title="Computing Forever">Computing Forever</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#47374a; text-align:center;"><b>Come to think of it</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#f8feff;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Religion" title="Religion">Religion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Science" title="Science">Science</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_science" title="Philosophy of science">Philosophy of science</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ethics" class="mw-redirect" title="Ethics">Ethics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Psychology" title="Psychology">Psychology</a></li></ul> <div class="vte plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Philosophy" title="Template:Philosophy">v</a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Philosophy" title="Template talk:Philosophy">t</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Philosophy&action=edit">e</a></div> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="infobox" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em; text-align:left; border: 1px solid #1E90FF; width:175px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center; color:White; background-color:#1E90FF"><b>Oh no, they're talking about</b><br /><a href="/wiki/Politics" title="Politics"><font size="4" color="White"><b>Politics</b></font></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#97DEFF;" align="center"><a href="/wiki/Category:Politics" title="Category:Politics"><img alt="Icon politics.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/f/f2/Icon_politics.svg/100px-Icon_politics.svg.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" srcset="/w/images/thumb/f/f2/Icon_politics.svg/150px-Icon_politics.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/f/f2/Icon_politics.svg/200px-Icon_politics.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="200" data-file-height="200" /></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#1E90FF; text-align:center;"><b>Theory</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#97DEFF;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Political_spectrum" title="Political spectrum">Political spectrum</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_party" title="Political party">Political party</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Government" title="Government">Government</a> (<a href="/wiki/List_of_forms_of_government" title="List of forms of government">forms of</a>)</li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#1E90FF; text-align:center;"><b>Practice</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#97DEFF;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/International_relations" title="International relations">International relations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Propaganda" title="Propaganda">Propaganda</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/War" title="War">War</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#1E90FF; text-align:center;"><b><a class="mw-selflink selflink"><font color="white">Philosophies</font></a></b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#97DEFF;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Euroscepticism" title="Euroscepticism">Euroscepticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/White_nationalism" title="White nationalism">White nationalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Right_wing" title="Right wing">Right wing</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#1E90FF; text-align:center;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Political_terms" title="Category:Political terms"><font color="white">Terms</font></a></b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#97DEFF;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Prisoner_of_conscience" title="Prisoner of conscience">Prisoner of conscience</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_class" title="Social class">Social class</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God,_guns_and_gays" title="God, guns and gays">God, guns and gays</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#1E90FF; text-align:center;"><b>As usual</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#97DEFF;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/World_food_shortage_of_2008" title="World food shortage of 2008">World food shortage of 2008</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ignaz_Trebitsch_Lincoln" title="Ignaz Trebitsch Lincoln">Ignaz Trebitsch Lincoln</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Geniocracy" title="Geniocracy">Geniocracy</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#1E90FF; text-align:center;"><b>Country sections</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#97DEFF;"> <center><a href="/wiki/Category:United_States_politics" title="Category:United States politics"><img alt="United States politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg/35px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="18" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg/53px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg/70px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1235" data-file-height="650" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:British_politics" title="Category:British politics"><img alt="British politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg/35px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="21" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg/53px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg/70px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_%283-5%29.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1000" data-file-height="600" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:Canadian_politics" title="Category:Canadian politics"><img alt="Canadian politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Flag_of_Canada.svg/35px-Flag_of_Canada.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="18" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Flag_of_Canada.svg/53px-Flag_of_Canada.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Flag_of_Canada.svg/70px-Flag_of_Canada.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1200" data-file-height="600" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:Chinese_politics" title="Category:Chinese politics"><img alt="Chinese politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg/35px-Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="23" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg/53px-Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg/70px-Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="600" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:French_politics" title="Category:French politics"><img alt="French politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg/35px-Flag_of_France.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="23" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg/53px-Flag_of_France.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg/70px-Flag_of_France.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="600" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:German_politics" title="Category:German politics"><img alt="German politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Flag_of_Germany.svg/35px-Flag_of_Germany.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="21" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Flag_of_Germany.svg/53px-Flag_of_Germany.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Flag_of_Germany.svg/70px-Flag_of_Germany.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1000" data-file-height="600" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:Indian_politics" title="Category:Indian politics"><img alt="Indian politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg/35px-Flag_of_India.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="23" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg/53px-Flag_of_India.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg/70px-Flag_of_India.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="600" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:Iranian_politics" title="Category:Iranian politics"><img alt="Iranian politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Flag_of_Iran.svg/35px-Flag_of_Iran.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Flag_of_Iran.svg/53px-Flag_of_Iran.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Flag_of_Iran.svg/70px-Flag_of_Iran.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="630" data-file-height="360" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:Israeli_politics" title="Category:Israeli politics"><img alt="Israeli politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Flag_of_Israel.svg/35px-Flag_of_Israel.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="25" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Flag_of_Israel.svg/53px-Flag_of_Israel.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Flag_of_Israel.svg/70px-Flag_of_Israel.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1100" data-file-height="800" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:Japanese_politics" title="Category:Japanese politics"><img alt="Japanese politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Flag_of_Japan.svg/35px-Flag_of_Japan.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="23" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Flag_of_Japan.svg/53px-Flag_of_Japan.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Flag_of_Japan.svg/70px-Flag_of_Japan.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="600" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:South_Korean_politics" title="Category:South Korean politics"><img alt="South Korean politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Flag_of_South_Korea.svg/35px-Flag_of_South_Korea.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="23" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Flag_of_South_Korea.svg/53px-Flag_of_South_Korea.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Flag_of_South_Korea.svg/70px-Flag_of_South_Korea.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="600" /></a> <a href="/wiki/Category:Turkish_politics" title="Category:Turkish politics"><img alt="Turkish politics" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Flag_of_Turkey.svg/35px-Flag_of_Turkey.svg.png" decoding="async" width="35" height="23" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Flag_of_Turkey.svg/53px-Flag_of_Turkey.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Flag_of_Turkey.svg/70px-Flag_of_Turkey.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1200" data-file-height="800" /></a> </center> <div class="vte plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Politics" title="Template:Politics">v</a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Politics" title="Template talk:Politics">t</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Politics&action=edit">e</a></div> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p><b>Political philosophy</b> is the normative study of government, relationships between individuals and communities, rights and justice. Depending on the philosopher, it can be entangled with <a href="/wiki/Metaphysics" title="Metaphysics">metaphysics</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ethics" class="mw-redirect" title="Ethics">ethics</a> or <a href="/wiki/Economics" title="Economics">economics</a>. Pretty much every ideology that ever existed has its roots in political philosophy, making it hard to separate the analytical and normative branches of the discipline. </p> <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#What_exactly_is_it.3F"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">What exactly is it?</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="#Important_foundations_and_strands_of_thought"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Important foundations and strands of thought</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="#History"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">History</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="#Antiquity"><span class="tocnumber">3.1</span> <span class="toctext">Antiquity</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-5"><a href="#Western"><span class="tocnumber">3.1.1</span> <span class="toctext">Western</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-6"><a href="#Non-Western"><span class="tocnumber">3.1.2</span> <span class="toctext">Non-Western</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="#Middle_Ages"><span class="tocnumber">3.2</span> <span class="toctext">Middle Ages</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="#Modern_times"><span class="tocnumber">3.3</span> <span class="toctext">Modern times</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-9"><a href="#Contract_theory"><span class="tocnumber">3.3.1</span> <span class="toctext">Contract theory</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10"><a href="#Political_movements"><span class="tocnumber">3.4</span> <span class="toctext">Political movements</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="#Notes"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Notes</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li> </ul> </div> <h2><span id="What_exactly_is_it?"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="What_exactly_is_it.3F">What exactly is it?</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: What exactly is it?">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>Every branch of philosophy can be rooted back to one simple question, in the case of political philosophy this question is, "Should society be organised and, if so, how?".<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1">[note 1]</a></sup> Throughout the history of the field, these questions have been answered in very different ways by very different people. In the Western tradition of philosophy, they were usually tackled in the form of written tractats, while other cultures expressed similar material as poems or analogies. As with all branches of philosophy, it rests on a set of assumptions about the world, humanity and society. From this foundation, it seeks to explore questions such as: </p> <ul><li>What is the ideal system of government?</li> <li>How does a government derive its legitimacy?</li> <li>What are the proper aims of government? I.e., is its primary purpose protection of private property, or amelioration of social ills such as poverty and inequality?</li> <li>What is law, and what is the nature of its authority? In this area, political philosophy overlaps with <a href="/w/index.php?title=Philosophy_of_law&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Philosophy of law (page does not exist)">philosophy of law</a> and <a href="/w/index.php?title=Jurisprudence&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Jurisprudence (page does not exist)">jurisprudence</a>.</li></ul> <p>Much of political philosophy can be seen as belonging to applied <a href="/wiki/Ethics" class="mw-redirect" title="Ethics">ethics</a> - the application of ethical principles to questions of law and government. As such, one's positions in political philosophy are often strongly determined by the positions one takes in normative ethics. At the same time, other philosophical disciplines have made important contributions to political philosophy, including <a href="/wiki/Epistemology" class="mw-redirect" title="Epistemology">epistemology</a> and <a href="/wiki/Metaphysics" title="Metaphysics">metaphysics</a>. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Important_foundations_and_strands_of_thought">Important foundations and strands of thought</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Important foundations and strands of thought">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li><b><a href="/wiki/Teleology" title="Teleology">Teleological</a></b>: The view that the world, or everything in it, has a final goal and that society and government should be organized after such nature or are dependent on such nature.</li> <li><b><a href="/w/index.php?title=Pragmatism&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Pragmatism (page does not exist)">Pragmatic</a></b>: The view to try to make the best of the reality we're facing, or the best for most of the people. Sometimes also only the idea to find a system everybody can agree upon and go on from there as everybody wishes.</li> <li><b><a href="/wiki/Idealism" title="Idealism">Idealistic</a></b>: Construction of an ideal, then trying to model reality after its image.</li> <li><b><a href="/wiki/Anthropology" title="Anthropology">Anthropologic</a></b>: Takes the individual human being and its basic nature as the starting point for proposing a social order. Assumptions on what this "nature" specifically is vary considerably, with important consequences for the kind of society that is considered to be possible and desirable.</li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="History">History</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: History">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Antiquity">Antiquity</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Antiquity">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Western">Western</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Western">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h4> <p><a href="/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a> probably made the earliest contribution to the Western strand of the discipline with his "Republic" (Greek: Πολιτεία, <i>Politeia</i>). He notably did not share the early Greek fondness for democracy, but rather envisioned a "perfect state" ruled by philosopher-kings.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2">[1]</a></sup> Because Plato was not terribly concerned about individual liberty if it diverged from his concept of virtuous living, he's become a popular strawman for people trying to trace the origins of authoritarianism in Western thought. His ideas have been called "fascist" or even totalitarian, and <a href="/wiki/Ayn_Rand" title="Ayn Rand">Ayn Rand</a> saw him as the first communist, more than 2000 years before Marx. <a href="/wiki/Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a> contributed his "Politics" (Greek: Πολιτικά, <i>Politika</i>), which originated as a critique of Plato, but then moved on to sketch the field of "political studies" with the observation of six different kind of governmental forms: monarchy (good rule by one), tyrannis (bad rule by one), aristocracy (good rule by few), oligarchy (bad rule by few), politie or "constitutional government" (good rule by many) and democracy (bad rule by many). According to Aristotle, changes in government occur most frequently between these pairs, whether for the better or worse. Aristotle personally favored aristocracy, but allowed that a politie had the advantage that its "bad" counterpart, democracy, was the most tolerable among the corrupted regimes.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3">[2]</a></sup> </p> <h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Non-Western">Non-Western</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Non-Western">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h4> <p>In <a href="/wiki/India" title="India">India</a>, Chanakya wrote the <i>Arthashastra</i>, which argued for an autocracy led by a <i>Rajarshi</i> ("wise king"). Such a king would treat his people well, as their welfare is his welfare. He should pay attention to keeping his <a href="/wiki/Karma" title="Karma">Karma</a>, as well as that of the state as a whole, straight by providing a sound economic foundation for the well-being of his people. </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/China" title="China">China</a>, philosophy blossomed during the Spring and Autumn period, a phenomenon dubbed the <i>Hundred Schools of Thought</i>. <a href="/wiki/Confucius" title="Confucius">Confucius</a> based his political philosophy on his ethics, effectively appealing to the virtue and civic-mindedness of the ruler. While he did favor a monarchy, he proposed that a ruler's legitimacy should be based on his individual morality rather than lineage. According to the doctrine of the "mandate of heaven" (天命 <i>tianming</i>), the heavens would make their dissatisfaction with a corrupt ruler known by sending disasters, thus greenlighting rebellions. This emphasis on morality and justice continued with <a href="/w/index.php?title=Mencius&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Mencius (page does not exist)">Mencius</a>, the #2 Confucian after the master himself, who was the first to posit that a ruler is less important than the people he governs, granting the latter a right to revolution if they suffered under an incompetent or evil ruler. Han Fei, the founder of the school of Legalism, professed that a state should be bound to its own laws - basically establishing an early precept of the modern <a href="/wiki/Rule_of_law" title="Rule of law">rule of law</a>. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Middle_Ages">Middle Ages</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Middle Ages">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>In the early Middle Ages and in the late Antique Era, Augustine of Hippo (later made a saint) set many of the foundational dogmas of this period. He contrasted the "city of God" with the "city of man" - the communities of the righteous Christians and wicked sinners, respectively, but also mirroring the duality and competition between ecclesiastical and state authorities that would characterize the Middle Ages in Europe. Philosophical writings of the era are heavily influenced by the near-total domination of Christian theology in the intellectual sphere, but often also tried to establish connections to the <a href="/wiki/Classical_antiquity" title="Classical antiquity">Greco-Roman tradition</a>. Ancient Greek philosophy would also have an impact on intellectuals in the Muslim world, but Islamic political philosophy suffered from the same constraints of being subject to rigid worldly and religious authorities. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Modern_times">Modern times</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Modern times">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Contract_theory"><a href="/wiki/Social_contract" title="Social contract">Contract theory</a></span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Contract theory">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h4> <p>The 17th century saw a drastic departure from the previous doctrines regarding the legitimacy of state authorities. Contract theorists rejected the "divine right of kings" and started to develop new theories that focused not on the duties of the governed, but on the benefits which they were supposed to draw from living under a sovereign ruler. They argued that legitimacy could arise from a "<a href="/wiki/Social_contract" title="Social contract">social contract</a>" - a compact between the members of society to sacrifice their natural liberty in exchange for protection. The contract theorists differed on whether they regarded this contract as an actual historical event, or merely a theoretical possibility. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes" title="Thomas Hobbes">Thomas Hobbes</a> was the first to introduce this concept in the 17th century, arguing that people living in a natural state of <a href="/wiki/Anarchy" title="Anarchy">anarchy</a> would have created a government to protect their lives and property from each other. Hobbes envisioned a government with extremely far-reaching powers and little remaining individual freedom, providing both a legitimation and a blueprint for absolutist monarchy.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4">[3]</a></sup> <a href="/wiki/John_Locke" title="John Locke">John Locke</a> followed in the same vein, but argued for a government that was itself bound by contractual obligations, expansive individual liberties, and a right to representation. He also conceded that the people had a right to forcefully remove a government that infringed on their personal liberties.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5">[4]</a></sup> <a href="/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau" title="Jean-Jacques Rousseau">Jean-Jacques Rousseau</a> introduced the concept of popular sovereignty and proposed that the governed should make the laws under which they lived directly instead of delegating this authority to a monarch or parliament.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6">[5]</a></sup> As with everything else he wrote, <a href="/wiki/Immanuel_Kant" title="Immanuel Kant">Immanuel Kant</a>'s position was a complicated one - he supported a contractually bound government, yet would have allowed it sweeping powers and rejected a right to rebellion. <a href="/wiki/Edmund_Burke" title="Edmund Burke">Edmund Burke</a>, called the founder of <a href="/wiki/Conservatism" title="Conservatism">conservative</a> thought, heavily criticized the theory because he did not consider it realistic and called for a society based on "natural order" instead. Paying a late homage to the tradition of contractualism, <a href="/w/index.php?title=John_Rawls&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="John Rawls (page does not exist)">John Rawls</a> alluded to the idea in his seminal work "A Theory of Justice". He proposed a hypothetical situation similar to the pre-society state of humanity as a thought experiment in order to theorize about "fair" rules that the people would have established by mutual consent. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Political_movements">Political movements</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Political movements">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>Many of the ideological political movements that have shaped the modern world have some kind of underlying political philosophy of their own. Sometimes, these only work as coherent, <a href="/wiki/Epistemic_closure" class="mw-redirect" title="Epistemic closure">self-contained wholes</a>, while others can be relatively freely combined. For example, modern <a href="/wiki/Social_Democracy" class="mw-redirect" title="Social Democracy">Social Democracy</a> applies a blend of classical liberal and socialist principles. </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Liberalism" title="Liberalism">Liberalism</a>, generally emphasizes individual liberties and equal opportunity.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Socialism" title="Socialism">Socialism</a>, focuses on class relations and seeks to abolish "private property" in favour of social ownership over the means of production. <sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7">[6]</a></sup></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conservatism" title="Conservatism">Conservatism</a>, preoccupied with defending the status quo, tradition and moral order.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fascism" title="Fascism">Fascism</a>, an extremist ideology characterized by nationalism, militarism and anti-individualism.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Communism" title="Communism">Communism</a>, a radical ideology aiming for a moneyless, classless, and stateless society.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Libertarianism" title="Libertarianism">Libertarianism</a>, arguing for expansive individual liberties and responsibilities, as well as <a href="/wiki/Small_government" title="Small government">small government</a>.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anarchism" title="Anarchism">Anarchism</a>, emphasizing natural liberty and rejecting the need for and legitimacy of governments that cannot meet the <a href="/wiki/Burden_of_proof" title="Burden of proof">burden of proof</a>. Classically holds to the same end goals as <a href="/wiki/Communism" title="Communism">Communism</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8">[7]</a></sup></li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Notes">Notes</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Notes">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="font-size:90%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Of course, the "if so" part was first implied and only later questioned.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: References">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="font-size:90%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-2">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Project Gutenberg: Plato, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1497"><i>Politeia</i></a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-3">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Project Gutenberg: Aristotle, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6762"><i>Politics</i></a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-4">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Project Gutenberg: Thomas Hobbes, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3207"><i>Leviathan</i></a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-5">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Project Gutenberg: John Locke, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7370"><i>Second Treatise of Government</i></a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-6">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Constitution.org: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.constitution.org/jjr/socon.htm"><i>The Social Contract</i></a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-7">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://iep.utm.edu/socialis/">https://iep.utm.edu/socialis/</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-8">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Kropotkin, Peter, <i>Anarchist Communism: It's Basis and Principles</i> "As regards socialism, most of the anarchists arrive at its ultimate conclusion, that is, at a complete negation of the wage-system and at communism." in Baldwin, Roger N. <i>Kropotkin's Revolutionary Pamphlets</i>, Vanguard Press, Inc. 1927 <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/kropotkin/revpamphlets/anarchistcommunism.html">Online</a></span> </li> </ol></div></div>    </div></div><div class="printfooter">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&oldid=2511159">https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&oldid=2511159</a>"</div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Philosophy" title="Category:Philosophy">Philosophy</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Politics" title="Category:Politics">Politics</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Political_philosophies" title="Category:Political philosophies">Political philosophies</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Political_theory" title="Category:Political theory">Political theory</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden category: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Pages_using_DynamicPageList_parser_function" title="Category:Pages using DynamicPageList parser function">Pages using DynamicPageList parser function</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </div> <div id="mw-navigation"> <h2>Navigation menu</h2> <div id="mw-head">  <nav id="p-personal" class="vector-menu" aria-labelledby="p-personal-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-personal-label"> <span>Personal tools</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="pt-anonuserpage">Not logged in</li><li id="pt-anontalk"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n">Talk</a></li><li id="pt-anoncontribs"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y">Contributions</a></li><li id="pt-createaccount"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Political+philosophy" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory">Create account</a></li><li id="pt-login"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Political+philosophy" title="You are encouraged to log in; however, it is not mandatory [o]" accesskey="o">Log in</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> <div id="left-navigation">  <nav id="p-namespaces" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs vectorTabs" aria-labelledby="p-namespaces-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-namespaces-label"> <span>Namespaces</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected"><a href="/wiki/Political_philosophy" title="View the content page [c]" accesskey="c">Page</a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="new"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Talk:Political_philosophy&action=edit&redlink=1" rel="discussion" title="Discussion about the content page (page does not exist) [t]" accesskey="t">Talk</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-variants" class="vector-menu-empty emptyPortlet vector-menu vector-menu-dropdown vectorMenu" aria-labelledby="p-variants-label" role="navigation" > <input type="checkbox" class="vector-menu-checkbox vectorMenuCheckbox" aria-labelledby="p-variants-label" /> <h3 id="p-variants-label"> <span>Variants</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="menu vector-menu-content-list"></ul> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation">  <nav id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs vectorTabs" aria-labelledby="p-views-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-views-label"> <span>Views</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="ca-view" class="collapsible selected"><a href="/wiki/Political_philosophy">Read</a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="collapsible"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e">Edit</a></li><li id="ca-history" class="collapsible"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h">Fossil record</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu-empty emptyPortlet vector-menu vector-menu-dropdown vectorMenu" aria-labelledby="p-cactions-label" role="navigation" > <input type="checkbox" class="vector-menu-checkbox vectorMenuCheckbox" aria-labelledby="p-cactions-label" /> <h3 id="p-cactions-label"> <span>More</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="menu vector-menu-content-list"></ul> </div> </nav> <div id="p-search" role="search"> <h3 > <label for="searchInput">Search</label> </h3> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform"> <div id="simpleSearch"> <input type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search RationalWiki" title="Search RationalWiki [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput"/> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> <input type="submit" name="fulltext" value="Search" title="Search the pages for this text" id="mw-searchButton" class="searchButton mw-fallbackSearchButton"/> <input type="submit" name="go" value="Go" title="Go to a page with this exact name if it exists" id="searchButton" class="searchButton"/> </div> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div id="mw-panel"> <div id="p-logo" role="banner"> <a title="Visit the main page" class="mw-wiki-logo" href="/wiki/Main_Page"></a> </div>  <nav id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal portal-first" aria-labelledby="p-navigation-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-navigation-label"> <span>Navigation</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-mainpage-description"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z">Main page</a></li><li id="n-recentchanges"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes in the wiki [r]" accesskey="r">Recent changes</a></li><li id="n-randompage"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Load a random mainspace article [x]" accesskey="x">Random page</a></li><li id="n-New-pages"><a href="/wiki/Special:NewPages">New pages</a></li><li id="n-All-logs"><a href="/wiki/Special:Log">All logs</a></li><li id="n-help"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="RTFM">Help</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-support" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-support-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-support-label"> <span>Support</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-Donate"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Site_support">Donate</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-community" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-community-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-community-label"> <span>Community</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-Saloon-bar"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Saloon_bar">Saloon bar</a></li><li id="n-To-do-list"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:To_do_list">To do list</a></li><li id="n-What-is-going-on.3F"><a href="/wiki/WIGO">What is going on?</a></li><li id="n-Best-of-RationalWiki"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Contents">Best of RationalWiki</a></li><li id="n-About-RationalWiki"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki">About RationalWiki</a></li><li id="n-Technical-support"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Technical_support">Technical support</a></li><li id="n-Mod-noticeboard"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki_talk:All_things_in_moderation">Mod noticeboard</a></li><li id="n-RMF-noticeboard"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki_talk:RationalMedia_Foundation">RMF noticeboard</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-Social media" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-Social media-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-Social media-label"> <span>Social media</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="n-Twitter"><a href="https://twitter.com/RationalWiki" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></li><li id="n-Mastodon"><a href="https://mstdn.social/@rationalwiki" rel="nofollow">Mastodon</a></li><li id="n-Facebook"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rationalwiki/226614404019306" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></li><li id="n-Discord"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Discord">Discord</a></li><li id="n-Reddit"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Reddit">Reddit</a></li></ul> </div> </nav>  <nav id="p-tb" class="vector-menu vector-menu-portal portal" aria-labelledby="p-tb-label" role="navigation" > <h3 id="p-tb-label"> <span>Tools</span> </h3>  <div class="body vector-menu-content">  <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"><li id="t-whatlinkshere"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Political_philosophy" title="A list of all wiki pages that link here [j]" accesskey="j">What links here</a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Political_philosophy" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k">Related changes</a></li><li id="t-specialpages"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q">Special pages</a></li><li id="t-print"><a href="javascript:print();" rel="alternate" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p">Printable version</a></li><li id="t-permalink"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&oldid=2511159" title="Permanent link to this revision of the page">Permanent link</a></li><li id="t-info"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Political_philosophy&action=info" title="More information about this page">Page information</a></li></ul> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" role="contentinfo" > <ul id="footer-info" > <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 14 December 2022, at 01:18.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Unless explicitly noted otherwise, all content licensed as indicated by <a name="Copyright" href="//rationalwiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:Copyrights">RationalWiki:Copyrights</a>. <br> For concerns on copyright infringement please see: <a name="Copyright infringement" href="//rationalwiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:Copyright_violations">RationalWiki:Copyright violations</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places" > <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:Privacy_policy" title="RationalWiki:Privacy policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:About" class="mw-redirect" title="RationalWiki:About">About RationalWiki</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimer"><a href="/wiki/RationalWiki:General_disclaimer" title="RationalWiki:General disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"><img src="/w/88x31.png" alt="CC-BY-SA 3.0, or any later version" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"/></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki_88x31.png" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" srcset="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"/></a></li> </ul> <div style="clear: both;"></div> </footer> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.069","walltime":"0.107","ppvisitednodes":{"value":554,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":15249,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":5881,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":10,"limit":40},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":0,"limit":100},"unstrip-depth":{"value":0,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":3220,"limit":5000000},"timingprofile":["100.00% 61.582 1 -total"," 80.19% 49.384 2 Template:Navsidebar"," 72.85% 44.865 7 Template:Navsidebar2"," 69.76% 42.957 4 Template:Randomarticles"," 46.78% 28.806 1 Template:Politics"," 39.69% 24.441 1 Template:Philosophy"," 7.86% 4.840 2 Template:Reflist"," 3.32% 2.044 2 Template:Vte"," 2.43% 1.496 4 Template:Extension_DPL"]},"cachereport":{"origin":"apache5","timestamp":"20250301113240","ttl":86400,"transientcontent":false}}});mw.config.set({"wgBackendResponseTime":208,"wgHostname":"apache5"});});</script></body></html>