Introduction to Development
Studies
THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF ZANZIBAR
(SUZA)
DS 301 Political thought: Brief Introduction.
Prepared by: Mr. Abdulrahman Mustafa Nahoda
1
Analytic Thought
Continental Thought
(English/Scottish Tradition)
(French/German Tradition)
History
of Political
Thought
Enlightenment Thought
(The Rise of Science)
Renaissance Thought
Reformation Thought
(Rebirth of Classical)
(Return to Bible)
Medieval Thought
(Christian Ascendancy)
Classical Thought
Judeo-Christian Thought
(Greek and Roman)
(Old and New Testaments)
Classical Thought
• Political thought of the CLASSICAL or ancient
Western world. This usually means the Golden
Age of Greece (Athens) 400–300 B.C. and
Rome (200 B.C.–A.D. 200). Among the major
classical Greek political philosophers are
SOCRATES, PLATO, and ARISTOTLE
• The leading Roman or Latin political thinkers are
Cato, Posidonius, CICERO, TACITUS, and
MARCUS AURELIUS.
Classical Thought
• Differences exist among different classical
thinkers, they are considered similar in
their concerns for JUSTICE, VIRTUE,
devotion to the common good, and citizen
participation in rule through rational
deliberation
Classical Thought
• The main threat to civic virtue and the just
REPUBLIC is TYRANNY, or the concentration of
political and economic power in the hands of a
few people who use government to further their
own interests. This is the classical definition of
corruption
• Provisions should be made in the just republic to
prevent the concentration of power and wealth
and corruption.
Medieval Though
• The political ideas in Western Europe from
approximately the fall of the Roman
Empire (A.D. 500) to the Protestant
REFORMATION (A.D. 1500). It concerns
with competing images of JUSTICE and
claims to STATE power of the CATHOLIC
Church, the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
feudal kings and princes,CORPORATISM,
and popular SOVEREIGNTY.
Medieval Though
• Most deputes were genuine concerns over
justice, right, and responsibility to God and
people. The Medieval church genuinely
believed that it was best for Europe to
have a uniform creed and governance.
Renaissance Thought
• Meaning the “rebirth” of CLASSICAL
(Greek and Roman) HUMANISM in 13thto 16th-century Italy, Renaissance political
thought is seen as a rejection of
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN conceptions (St.
AUGUSTINE) of humanity and politics.
Renaissance Thought
• Reviving the REPUBLICAN ideals of
ARISTOTLE, PLATO, and CICERO,
Renaissance philosophy focused on the
REALISM of worldly politics (as opposed
to religious or spiritual dimensions),
humanity’s social nature and reason,
direct participation of all citizens in
governance, and the separation of
CHURCH AND STATE.
Reformation Thought
• The political thought of the Protestant
Reformation in Europe in the 1500s. This
view of proper CHURCH-ANDSTATE
relations broke with the CATHOLIC
Church (St.Thomas AQUINAS) and was
expressed by Martin LUTHER, John
CALVIN, the French HUGUENOTS, and
English PURITANS.
Reformation Thought
• It emphasizes the EQUALITY of all
believers, fosters a DEMOCRATIC or
REPUBLICAN structure in the government
and church, and advocates LIBERTY of
individual conscience (freedom of religion)
Reformation Thought
• Given the large number of churches that
emerged during the Reformation
(Lutheran, Reformed, BAPTIST,
PRESBYTERIAN, etc.), it is not a single
movement but a collection of movements
that greatly changed MODERN Europe
and America.
Enlightenment Thought
• An intellectual and political movement in
Europe and the United States in the 18th
century that optimistically believed that
human reason and goodness couldcreate
a peaceful, prosperous society and perfect
people.
Enlightenment Thought
• They believed in progress—that humans
and society can progress and improve
(economically, morally, politically) by using
their reason. Hence, the Enlightenment
emphasized education as important to
social and individual progress.
Enlightenment Thought
• Scots David HUME and Adam SMITH;
and Americans Thomas JEFFERSON,
Benjamin FRANKLIN, and Thomas
PAINE.
• Enlightenment thinkers were critical of
TRADITION, the past, religion,
HIERARCHY, and CONSERVATISM.
Enlightenment Thought
• Thinkers associated with the
Enlightenment are Frenchmen JeanJacques ROUSSEAU, François-Marie
VOLTAIRE, and Charles de
MONTESQUIEU (the philosophes);
• Englishmen John LOCKE and Jeremy
BENTHAM; German philosopher
Immanuel KANT;
Enlightenment Thought
• Enlightenment ideas influenced the
DEMOCRATIC revolutions in Europe and
America in the 1700s. They were carried
on by the socialist and communist ideas of
Karl MARX, Friedrich ENGELS, and V. I.
LENIN. These Enlightenment views were
criticized by many conservative thinkers
(such as Edmund BURKE),
Enlightenment Thought
• By the mid-20th century, the failed social
revolutions in France, Russia, and China;
two world wars; and the brutality of
fascism challenged the Enlightenment
optimism over the goodness of humans,
social progress, and human reason
Continental philosophy
• Continental philosophy, in contemporary
usage, refers to a set of traditions of 19th
and 20th century philosophy from
mainland Europe. This sense of the term
originated among English-speaking
philosophers in the second half of the 20th
century, who found it useful for referring to
a range of thinkers and traditions outside
the analytic movement.
Continental philosophy
• Continental philosophy includes the
following movements: German idealism,
phenomenology, existentialism
hermeneutics, structuralism, poststructuralism, French feminism, the critical
theory of the Frankfurt School, some other
branches of Western Marxism and
psychoanalysis.
Analytic philosophy
• Analytic philosophy (sometimes
analytical philosophy) is a generic term
for a style of philosophy that came to
dominate English-speaking countries in
the 20th century. In the United States,
United Kingdom, Canada, Scandinavia,
Australia, and New Zealand
Analytical and Continental
• 'Analytic' refers to the type of philosophy
characterized by soundness of argument
and clarity of presentation. 'Continental'
demarcates philosophy that is written in a
style that is less concerned with these
desiderata.