Theories of the State

• Name the three theories of state we have learned

  Ancient, Liberal, Marxist
• What is the first key feature of the Ancients' Theory of state?

  Humans are primarily social beings
• What is the second key feature of the Ancients' Theory of state?

  A well-ordered state is achieved when people perform the roles for which they are naturally suited
• What is the third key feature of the Ancients' Theory of state?

  Government should foster virtue and promote a particular standard of the ‘good life’
• Define "Humans are primarily social beings"


  People are considered firstly as members of a family, tribe, or organized community rather than as individuals.
• Define "A well-ordered society is achieved when people perform the roles for which they are naturally suited"


  People are naturally unequal; they are born with different sets of abilities and behavioural tendencies, and only those with certain characteristics are fit to rule/govern.
• Define "Government should foster virtue and promote a particular standard of the ‘good life'"


  The government shapes the character of the people it governs and guides people towards living the type of life it deems most meaningful, fulfilling, and valuable. 
• What is the first key feature of the Liberal Theory of state?


  Humans are primarily individual beings
• What is the second key feature of the Liberal Theory of state?


  Government should maintain peace and protect all individuals’ basic rights equally as a neutral arbiter
• What is the third key feature of the Liberal Theory of state?


  Individuals should have autonomy in defining and pursuing their own conceptions of the ‘good life’
• Define "Humans are primarily individual beings"


  People are considered firstly as free individuals; the political community is an artificial construct that individuals agree to enter into only if it serves their rational self-interest. 
• Define "Government should maintain peace and protect all individuals’ basic rights equally, as a neutral arbiter"

  The government’s main purpose is to act like a referee, keeping individuals safe (free from physical injury), ensuring every individual plays by the rules (obeys the laws), and settling disputes between individuals fairly (not favouring the interests of certain individuals over others). 
• Define "Individuals should have autonomy in defining and pursuing their own conceptions of the ‘good life'"

  The government must respect each person’s right to freely and autonomously choose for themselves what type of life is most meaningful, fulfilling, and valuable.
• What is the first key feature of the Marxist Theory of state?

  Society is divided into two irreconcilable classes 
• What is the second key feature of the Marxist Theory of state?

  The state is a tool for the oppression of one class by another; it exists to serve the interests of the ruling class and to maintain the existing social order
• What is the third key feature of the Marxist Theory of state?


  The coercive power of the state will ‘wither away’ once class conflict is eliminated 
• Define "Society is divided into two irreconcilable classes"

  Through different stages of human history, a ruling class (slave owners, feudal lords, or capitalists) has exploited a working class (slaves, serfs/peasants, or wage workers). In the capitalist state, the ruling class seeks to monopolize the means of production (factories, raw materials, machinery, land, infrastructure) and maximize profits, while the working class strives for better working conditions and a fairer share of the wealth generated by their labour.
• Define "The state is a tool for the oppression of one class by another; it exists to serve the interests of the ruling class and maintain the existing social order"

  The capitalist ruling class uses the institutions of the state (government, courts, police, prisons, the military, media, schools, etc.) to maintain its dominance and keep the working class in its place.
• Define "The coercive power of the state will ‘wither away’ once class conflict is eliminated"

  Conflicts between the two classes intensify until the working class seizes control of the state in a revolution. The working class must use the force of the state to defend against counter-offensives from the former ruling class, and to ensure that resources are produced and distributed to meet the needs of society as a whole. As inequalities and competition over resources decrease, communities will become more self-governing and less reliant on a big powerful state to enforce order. 
• Aristotle: Zoon politikon

  “Man is by nature a political animal.”

  • Humans are the only animals that have the powers of speech and reason
  • Reason gives us the capacity to judge, to deliberate, and to carry out collective affairs (law, commerce, war, etc.)
  • Speech allows us to create a shared language of justice/the common good
  • Therefore, it is only through association with others in the polis (city/political community), in active participation as citizens, that human beings can reach our full potential as a species
• Plato: Tripartite Soul

  
  

  Plato's ideal state is divided into three castes: producers, auxiliaries, and philosopher kings.
• Plato: Tripartite Soul

  
  

  Each caste in Plato's ideal state has a designated role within the republic: the producers make and trade goods, the auxiliaries defend the city, and the philosopher kings rule and govern the city.
• Plato: Tripartite Soul

  
  

  In Plato's tripartite theory, people are placed in a caste based on the composition of their souls.
• Plato: Tripartite Soul

  
  

  Each soul in Plato's tripartite theory has three parts: rational (wisdom), spirited (courage/passion), and appetitive (bodily desires).
• Plato: Tripartite Soul

  
  

  A state will descend into disharmony if people perform tasks that do not correspond with the dominant part of their souls.
• Aristotle: Natural Slavery

  
  

  Aristotle believed in a natural hierarchy among human beings based on moral and intellectual virtues.
• Aristotle: Natural Slavery

  
  

  Qualities like reason, self-restraint, & discipline are unequally distributed among people.
• Aristotle: Natural Slavery

  
  

  To govern others, one must first be capable of self-government.
• Aristotle: Natural Slavery

  
  

  The majority are slaves to their desires and passions and are therefore suited only for physical/productive labour.
• Aristotle: Natural Slavery

  
  

  Only a small minority - the educated elite - are capable of deferring their own gratification and governing for the good of all.
• Plato: The Form of the Good

  
  

  For Plato, there is an absolute/perfect standard or definition of the 'good life' which exists outside of time and place as an ideal, known as the Form of the Good.
• Plato: The Form of the Good

  
  

  The 'good life' is the philosophic life.
• Plato: The Form of the Good

  
  

  Laws and institutions should be designed to foster a philosophic character as much as possible.
• Plato: Education & Censorship

  
  

  Plato advocated for a censorship of writers of fiction, with the censors receiving any good tale and rejecting the bad.
• Plato: Education & Censorship

  
  

  Plato suggested that mothers and nurses should only tell their children the authorized stories.
• Plato: Education & Censorship

  
  

  Plato believed that fiction should be used to fashion the mind, even more fondly than it is used to mould the body.
• Plato: Education & Censorship

  
  

  Plato stated that most of the stories currently in use must be discarded.
• Plato: Education & Censorship

  
  

  Plato believed that a state must have morally good citizens if it is itself going to be good.
• Plato: Education & Censorship

  
  

  Plato argued that the state must control education and censor the arts to prevent moral corruption in the population.
• Plato: Education:

  • The state teaches and maintains a “noble lie” or the “Myth of the Metals” to reinforce societal cohesion
  • Lie/Myth: all inhabitants of the community were forged from the earth and are made up of different mixtures of gold, silver, or bronze
  • Children born to ‘bronze’ parents will be taken from their family and raised by the guardians
  • The education of the entire guardian class includes:
  • austere living; no luxuries/all property is held in common
  • communal raising of children (children born to guardians do not know their biological parents)