Philosophical Theories

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Each of these classes, according to Plato, should have some necessary virtues. For instance, the rulers should have wisdom and always strive to get more intelligent. The warriors should have the bravery.

1) Plato was a famous philosopher whose works are still examined in terms of political sciences. His most important work, The Republic, demonstrates the ideal state as Plato saw it. Namely, an ideal state, according to Plato, is a just state. Moreover, in such a state, specialization is extremely important. For instance, each person has character and talents given to him or her by nature. Therefore, every person should do the things that are among his or her best abilities. Plato’s ideal state is a state that has a society which is divided into three classes: the Rulers (or guardians), the Warriors (auxiliaries), and the Producers.

However, it would not be enough for a perfect state to have such a division in order to be truly ideal. Each of these classes, according to Plato, should have some necessary virtues. For instance, the rulers should have wisdom and always strive to get more intelligent. The warriors should have the bravery. As for the workers, their appetites compose the most important feature and should be moderate.

In the modern world, states’ structure often differs. There are different types of regimes brilliant ghostwriting, so different people are involved in the states of modern times. However, it should be stated that the society looks much more complex nowadays than it was at Plato’s times. There are many professions and state roles that, most definitely, could not be predicted back then. Nevertheless, Plato’s framework can be applied to the modern states if one observe them generally. Therefore, three branches of power that are used in most of the countries should be considered “rulers”. Armies and police forces are “warriors”, and the rest of the workers are “producers” as considered by Plato. Thus, modern societies’ structure can also be viewed through Plato’s vision.

2) Utilitarianism was a theory developed in the 19th century. Its main contributors were such theorists as John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. The main point of the utilitarian point of view on life an politics is that the action or an event is good as long as it brings maximum happiness to a maximum of people. The term “happiness” can stand for different concepts, including financial well-being, relationships, and other ones. At the same time, it may sometimes be hard to define and calculate this “happiness”.

Utilitarianism’s main topic of interest was human work and role in life. For instance, different philosophers tried to find the reason for people’s work. Some of the non-utilitarian scientists even believed that people naturally become happy as they achieve an opportunity to work. Thus, it was believed that the work itself can make a human happy. However, utilitarian philosophers countered such statements, claiming that it is impossible that a human sees work as the main goal. However, according to utilitarianism, the reason for people’s willingness to work is the happiness that can be the result of their work. For example, a person who works achieves payments and vacations that can be spent in a way she or he wants because it can be afforded with the earned money. Therefore, according to utilitarianism, work is the necessary evil.

Utilitarianism has an advantage because, on the one hand, its formula of “maximum happiness” can help to make some hard decisions. However, its theory of work is quite flawed. That is because it cannot be applied to all the people. Many of them, especially in underdeveloped countries, cannot afford any pleasures with the help of the work they do. In fact, the worst jobs with the lowest wages can only provide money for basic needs. Therefore, utilitarianism theory fails to explain the real-life situations.

3) Philosophical Idealism was a doctrine that occurred in 18th-19th centuries as an answer to the negative political situation that bothered many philosophers of the time. The politicians’ inability to construct successful societies that could provide citizens with the full spectrum of human rights made the thinkers look for a way out of the negative state. Wilhelm Hegel was the creator of philosophical idealism. He believed in such categories as mind and ideas. For instance, Hegel stated that all the important processes, including state construction, have to be influenced by the mind and ideas. Therefore, these categories were central to the philosopher. Moreover, according to him, the other spheres of people’s lives were created through these categories as well. Therefore, slaves were believed to be owned because they were not free mentally. Such a doctrine is a positive phenomenon because it increased the role of ideas and beliefs. Thus, in some way, it allowed people to think and find the ways out of the states they did not like.

However, this theory also had some flaws. It was highly criticized because it was barely applicable to real life. Even though philosophical idealism, probably, had positive intentions, it did not take material conditions into account. This gave Karl Marx an opportunity to counter the theory. According to him and other critics, Hegel’s philosophy was ineffective. For example, in the situation with slaves, the reason for their slavery was not only their minds but also the conditions in which they occurred. Therefore, in order to free from slavery, they had to make real actions, such as a revolution, and not just believe they were free. Therefore, Hegel’s theory had one massive disadvantage – it was inapplicable to many of the people.

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