Every society has a structure and a way in which they think. Human beings who live together in a society have a way of viewing thinks and there is a way by which things are done in such a society. In order to understand beings, it is important to look at the society in which they live and evaluate the structure, the governance, the family structure and the economic system that operates in such a society (Miller).
The branch of philosophy that studies this is called political philosophy.Generally, it has been argued that there are mainly four schools of thoughts under political philosophy (Moseley). This includes libertarianism, liberalism, socialism and communitarianism. As a political school of thought, libertarianism holds that the role of any government is protection of its citizens from outside invaders and internal criminals against the violation of the rights of the citizens. Libertarianism is a political theory school of thought that emphasizes negative rights.On the other hand, socialism is opposed to libertarianism and it emphasizes the role of positive rights (Nozick).
It believes in the central ownership of the means of production (Moseley). Liberalism is a political theory between libertarianism and socialism defended by John Rawls. It advocates for principles such a fairness, justice, equality and freedom of the citizens of a state. Communitarianism holds that the way things have been done in the part, when men live a communal life is the way the society should be structured.They believe in the old pattern of doing things and they advocate for such patterns in our present society.
Political philosophy has evolved over the years. The origin of political philosophy can be traced to as far back to the time when human beings began seeing themselves as self-determinate beings that have a choice in changing the structure of their society. Before this time, kings and rulers are seen as sovereign and that they are there by nature to see over the affairs of the state.These kings ruled supreme and men were seen as the property of the state. However, men began to question the abuse and extremities of these kings who paraded themselves as gods and hide under this guise to perpetuate evil (Miller).
This raised questions such as “how are we to live? ”, “what is the role of man in the society? ”, “how should the society be structured? ” and other questions that were raised in reaction to the arbitrary deeds of these kings.The clamoring of the people and the quest for answers to the questions asked made philosophers come up with theories that centered on how the society should be structured, the role of man and government in the society and the responsibility of both citizens and government (Newell). In this period, philosophers like Aristotle, who talked about the role of a politician in a state and political naturalism, Plato, who wrote political dialogues such as Republic, the Statesman, the Laws, Thomas Hobbes, who wrote about the “state of nature”.The history of political philosophy can not be complete without reference to the role some American philosophers played in the history and growth of philosophy.
John Dewey can be regarded as one of the political fathers that advocated for liberalism and democracy. Apart from this, we have several American philosophers like Robert Nozick that wrote a book titled “Anarchy, State and Utopia” in 1974. Others include John Rawls, John Hospers, Loren Lomasky among others.The American story is that of a fight for liberty, freedom and emancipation from colonial rule of the British government. Our story is the story of peasants, farmers and common men fighting for what they believed.
Political philosophy is evident in America today by the values that hold our nation – values such as liberty, democracy, equality, fairness and justice. The very foundation of this country is built of the freedom of its citizens. There is no way we will talk about America without making reference to these principles. This is because it is part of who we are.
