Concepts of Societal Development

Societal Development As Political Development

There are two ways of viewing the nature of political philosophy. First, identify the principal recurrent problems and the methods of dealing with them which are present in the classic literature. The second way is to proceed from an assumption as to what is involved in philosophical inquiry to the development of applications for the field of political inquiry (Schmid and Wuketits, 1987, p. 5).

The first approach treats political philosophy as something separate and distinct from other philosophies, while recognizing that political philosophy itself has its own traditions (Bellah, et al, 1991, pp. 163165). While this approach is widely used by contemporary political philosophers, the classic philosophers from which political philosophy draws its traditions drew readily from other philosophies. The result is that much of the classic literature of political philosophy deals with

conceptual analysis, while much of the contemporary

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to an absolute and arbitrary sovereign. Conversely, Locke held that the natural state of man was a perfect freedom to act as they see fit (Bellah, et al, 1991, pp. 7183). Locke also held that the natural state of man was peace, and that this state of peace preceded collective cooperation. Locke held further that the free character of man's state of nature provided individuals with tangible rights related to religious opinion, property holding, and political participation on an equal basis with all other individuals. Locke conceived political philosophy in the context of a contract. The contract was a societal agreement to pool the natural political virtue of all individuals to establish a sovereign political power in trust with the people. Locke's political philosophy was followed by those of Montesquieu, Rousseau, Burke, Paine, and The Federalists. Much of what is referred to as early American democracy is a system or theory of political development promulgated by James Madison or by later proponents of Madisonian ideas and concepts (Bellah, et al, 1991, pp. 6869). Generally, Madisonian political theory attempted to develop a compromise between "the power of majorities and the power of minorities, between the politi
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Approximate Word count = 5070
Approximate Pages = 20 (250 words per page)

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