HPT and THEORY

1. HISTORY of
POLITICAL THOUGHT
(HPTN07F Lecture 1)
Prepared by Raizza P. Corpuz 2016

2. OBJECTIVES
1. Orient the student on the history of
Political Philosophy by introducing important concepts,
terms, and personalities on Political Philosophy
2. Relate political philosophy to actual practice of
politics.

3. INTRODUCTION: History and Political Theory
History
1. Basic thought: is the study of the past.
2. Most historians tend to focus on past human events,
mainly political, military, or diplomatic because
these areas are most heavily documented.
3. But in recent decades, historians have developed
methods to study events or peoples for which
documents are rare or non-existent.
These new methods have led to a proliferation of sub-
fields within the history discipline.

4. "History is the witness that
testifies to the passing of time;
it illuminates reality, vitalizes
memory, provides guidance in daily
life, and brings us tidings of
antiquity." ----Cicero

5. According to R. G. Collingwood,
history is "a kind of research or
enquiry" into "actions that have
been done in the past", conducted
"by the interpretation of
evidence"—evidence being further
defined as documents….

6. • British historian E. H. Carr (1892-
1982)
has advised that history is not a
single, well-defined narrative or
bundle of facts that can be memorized,
but a terrain of contestation between
competing and evolving interpretations
whose influence is as much shaped by
time and place as by any given set of
facts

7. HISTORICAL IDEAS
• But there are other reasons to review
Collingwood’s ideas –
not least that they represent one of the most
uncompromising attempts to defend the importance
of historical knowledge to the very possibility
of human civilization.

8. Political theory : is the categorization
of social thought by a group or by the
persuasion or beliefs of a geo-
political mass.
• Many political theories are founded as
critiques toward existing political,
economic and social conditions of the
theorist's time.

9. NATURE and SCOPE
of POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHY
AN INTRODUCTION
TO M. CURTIS…

10. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY(THOUGHT) and
THEORY- M. Curtis
1. reflection on political phenomena
2. makes use of and contains analytical, descriptive and
historical material through ethical considerations.
3. reflection on the right or the best kind of political
order.
4. enriches the cumulative store of wisdom and ideas
5. the test of political theory ought to be historical,
rather than metaphysical

11. 6. It has been formulated in periods of crisis-economic, military, cultural or
spiritual.
7. results from the immersion of the writer in the political phenomena of
his times.
8. Political theory enriches the cumulative store of wisdom and ideas
9. Political philosophy is partly a process of communion with the past
involving familiarity with the great writers, a continuing discourse with
history, a process.
10. Political philosophy serves to clarify and make precise political
concepts, to redefine and re analyze the political terminology of age

12. 11. Political philosophy examines customary beliefs and practices
in the possibility that what has been accepted as an imponderable
12. Political philosophy helps to evaluate the present correctly.
13. Political philosophy is a search for understanding
14. Political philosophy is teleological in its nature, it can suggest it
cannot prove

13. 15. The great THEORIST, like the great artist is the person with
sympathy, understanding and imagination gains insight into
the needs of his time.
16. Political philosophy is abstraction, and abstraction is
meaningful only when it is related to concrete example and
actual behavior.
17. Political philosophy is grounded in the acquisition of
empirical data.

14. What is a THEORY?
• The word, of course, is Greek; and in the Greek language it belongs
to a short vocabulary of five words which is worth considering:
Theoros: an intelligent observer; one who looks at what is going on,
asks himself questions about it and tries to understand it.
1. Thea: something seen, a ‘spectacle’, an occurrence.
2. Theorein: to look at, to observe what is going on.
3. Theoria: the act or procedure of seeking to understand what is
going on: ‘theorizing’.
4. Theorema: what may emerge from ‘theorizing’. A conclusion
reached by a theoros.
5. Theorem: ‘An understanding’ of what is going on.

15. (E.G) ARISTOTLE as a THEOROS
• Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
THE CONSTITUTION
• there is a tension between two forces which move us; the Greeks termed
them ethos – morality and kratos – power. (Is doing the politically prudent
thing compatible with doing the moral thing? )
Aristotle at once thematized the fundamental perspective of the Greek
citizenship of equals and at the same time acknowledged the claim to rule of
anyone of truly superior political knowledge.

16. • the natural sciences, as well as in logic and other areas of
inquiry, manifested respect for the opinions of “the many and
the wise” as a starting-point for philosophical understanding.
• TELOS ( an ultimate end)
: the distinctive purpose that defines their fundamental nature
just as human artifacts are designed and used for specific ends.
Human action posits its own telos in light of which the nature of
each action is intelligible, but these should ideally reflect the
overall natural telos of humans as such.

17. • the analysis of the “Constitution of Athens” that The legislator
(for this is the standpoint adopted in the Politics, needs to
have a grasp of the nature of politics as such; an
understanding of the major fault lines in the interpretation
and practice of politics; and a grip on the structure and
characteristics of the specific city for which he aims to
legislate.
• that “it is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and
that man is by nature a political animal”

18. Aristotle’s Politics
• Man is a political animal :
• Highest form of human fellowship is in the state
• 3 (Three) good forms of constitution:
• Monarchy NOT tyranny (dictatorship)
• Aristocracy NOT oligarchy ( controlled by few business
group)
• Polity (Democracy) NOT mob (lower classes/large disordered
crowd)
THUS
• Aristotle as a communitarian (MacIntyre 1984)
• Aristotle as an exponent of class conflict (Yack 1993)
• Aristotle as a democrat, or at least as providing the basis for democracy (Frank
2005)
Zoon Politikon – Man is a
Political Animal

19. Reference:
Michael Curtis. 1981. The great political theories Vol. 1
Historians from the Past. N.D (RPC meaning of historical context)
Aristotle THE POLITICS