Political Philosophers & Thinkers
Marx, Smith, Locke, Rawls, Hobbes, de Beauvoir — ideas that forged modern politics.
Classical Modern
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
'Leviathan' (1651). State of nature is 'nasty, brutish, and short.' Social contract establishes sovereign power to prevent chaos.
Key Points
- Foundational for realism in IR and political theory.
- Sovereignty is indivisible — influenced Westphalian state system.
- Modern thinkers (Strauss, Schmitt) still engage directly.
John Locke (1632-1704)
'Two Treatises of Government' (1689). Natural rights to life, liberty, property. Government legitimacy depends on consent of the governed.
Key Points
- Inspired US Declaration of Independence (Jefferson).
- Property rights as pre-political.
- Right to revolution when government breaches trust.
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
'The Wealth of Nations' (1776) — the invisible hand. Also 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' (1759), less famous but essential context.
Key Points
- Division of labor as source of productivity (pin factory example).
- Self-interest channeled into social benefit via markets.
- Common misreading: Smith did not endorse unchecked markets — he saw them requiring moral framework and wary of merchants.
- Phillipson (2010) is the best short intellectual biography.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Key Points
- 'The Social Contract' (1762) — 'Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.'
- General will vs individual will — democratic sovereignty theory.
- Influenced French Revolution; contested direct-democracy tradition.
19th Century
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
Key Points
- 'On Liberty' (1859) — harm principle, minority protection, marketplace of ideas.
- 'Utilitarianism' (1863) — refined Bentham.
- 'The Subjection of Women' (1869) — early advocacy for women's suffrage.
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
'Communist Manifesto' (1848, with Engels), 'Das Kapital' (1867).
Key Points
- Class struggle as engine of history.
- Labor theory of value; theory of alienation.
- Dialectical materialism vs Hegelian idealism.
- Sperber's biography (2013) situates him in 19th-century context.
- Marx vs Marxism — what Marx wrote vs what followers built are distinguishable.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)
Key Points
- 'Democracy in America' (1835, 1840) — observed Jacksonian America.
- Voluntary associations as democratic engine.
- Warned of 'tyranny of the majority' and of individualism eroding civic life.
20th Century
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)
Key Points
- 'The General Theory' (1936) — governments should stimulate demand in recessions.
- Bretton Woods architect (but original Keynes plan lost to White's).
- 'The Economic Consequences of the Peace' (1919) predicted WWII.
- Skidelsky's 3-volume biography is definitive.
Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992)
Key Points
- 'The Road to Serfdom' (1944) — central planning leads to authoritarianism.
- Knowledge problem: markets aggregate dispersed information prices can't be centrally known.
- Foundational for modern libertarian and neoliberal thought.
- 1974 Nobel Prize in Economics.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)
Key Points
- 'The Origins of Totalitarianism' (1951) — anatomy of Nazism and Stalinism.
- 'Eichmann in Jerusalem' (1963) — 'banality of evil.'
- 'The Human Condition' (1958) — politics as collective action.
- Deeply influential on modern democracy theory.
John Rawls (1921-2002)
Key Points
- 'A Theory of Justice' (1971). Original position + veil of ignorance.
- Difference principle: inequalities only justified if they benefit the least advantaged.
- Foundational for modern liberal political philosophy.
- Sandel, Nozick, Cohen, Okin wrote extensive critiques.
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)
Key Points
- 'The Second Sex' (1949) — 'One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.'
- Foundational text for 20th-century feminism.
- Existentialism + feminism: woman as socially constructed 'Other.'
Contemporary
Living / recent thinkers
Key Points
- Amartya Sen: capabilities approach, development as freedom. 1998 Nobel Prize.
- Michael Sandel: communitarian critique of liberal individualism.
- Judith Butler: performativity, gender theory.
- Francis Fukuyama: 'End of History' (1989), later 'Political Order' series.
- Thomas Piketty: 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century' (2013) reshaped inequality debate.
- Kwame Anthony Appiah: cosmopolitanism, 'The Honor Code,' rooted cosmopolitanism.
FAQ
Where should I start?
For a single book overview: Ryan's 'On Politics' (2 volumes, 2012) surveys from Herodotus to the present. For original texts: start with Mill's 'On Liberty' (short, readable, foundational). For modern: Rawls 'Justice as Fairness: A Restatement' is more accessible than the 1971 original.
Are classical philosophers still relevant?
Yes — every modern political debate invokes these figures implicitly. Understanding them makes you a better reader of contemporary argument. But read them in context; applying a 17th-century frame without translation produces confusion.
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