3310 Intro to Political Theory - Exam 1

The danger of conflict when a rising power threatens an established power.

To understand past events and help people understand future events.

Athens was growing in power and threatening Sparta’s position.

Athens is great because of its democracy, freedom, equality, and civic participation.

Athens serves as a model of excellence for the rest of Greece.

Political power is shared by many rather than controlled by a few.

Citizens have equal standing under the law.

Citizens can live freely while respecting the laws.

Athens demands submission while Melos tries to remain neutral and independent.

Powerful states often impose their will on weaker states.

Power often determines political outcomes when justice cannot be enforced.

Reforms that addressed debt and helped change Athens’ political system.

Reforms that expanded political participation and reorganized Athenian citizenship.

The equal right of citizens to speak in political assemblies.

The freedom to speak frankly or speak the truth.

The common people or ordinary citizens.

Athenian democracy benefits the common people, even when elites oppose it.

He believes it gives power to ordinary people rather than the elite.

The navy relied on the labor and participation of ordinary citizens.

Citizens could participate in political decisions and hold officials responsible.

Whether Socrates should escape prison to avoid his execution.

He wants to save Socrates’ life and protect his reputation.

Escaping would violate the laws and undermine justice.

They argue that citizens should respect the legal system that governs them.

By choosing to live in a city, a person accepts obligations to its laws.

Persuade the city to change the law or obey it.

A political community organized to achieve the good life.

Humans naturally live in communities and participate in political life.

The good life and human flourishing.

The political community exists to support the good life of its members.

Kingship, aristocracy, and polity.

Tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy in his specific classification.

Good government serves the common interest; corrupt government serves rulers’ private interests.

Many people together may judge better than a small group of individuals.

How rulers acquire, maintain, and strengthen political power.

A state ruled by a prince.

Hereditary principalities are inherited; new principalities are newly acquired.

Fortune, chance, and circumstances beyond a ruler’s control.

A ruler’s ability, boldness, skill, and adaptability in politics.

He focuses on how power actually works rather than how rulers ought to behave morally.

People resist changes to the established political order.

The importance of decisive action and strategic use of power.

A ruler may gain power through cruelty without necessarily gaining true glory.

The elites who want to dominate and the people who want not to be dominated.

No; a prince may need to act against conventional morality to preserve the state.

People often judge rulers by appearances rather than by their true actions.

To acquire and maintain the state and political order.

The English Civil War and the danger of political disorder.

A condition without a common authority to enforce rules.

Even weaker people can kill stronger people through planning or cooperation.

Competition, diffidence (distrust), and glory.

A condition in which people live without reliable security against violence.

No; the threat and readiness for conflict are enough.

There is no common power to provide security and enforce agreements.

The liberty to use one’s power for self-preservation.

A rule of reason directing people toward self-preservation and peace.

Seek peace when possible; when peace is impossible, use the means of war for self-defense.

Be willing to give up some rights when others are willing to do the same for peace.

To escape insecurity and establish peace through a common power.

Individuals authorize a sovereign to create and enforce a common political authority.

To maintain peace and protect the people.

Acting or speaking on behalf of someone else.

Monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy.

They retain liberty where the sovereign has not restricted their actions and where self-preservation is at stake.

The idea that kings have an absolute right to rule through divine inheritance.

The right to make laws to protect property and the public good, backed by penalties.

A state of freedom and equality governed by natural law.

Liberty means acting within natural law; license means acting without restraint.

People should not harm others in their life, health, liberty, or possessions.

Individuals have the right to punish violations of natural law.

Restraint and reparation.

A state of enmity created by an unjust use or threat of force.

The state of nature can be peaceful; the state of war involves unjust force or threats.

People acquire property by mixing their labor with resources from nature.

Appropriation should leave enough and as good for others.

To protect their property and resolve disputes through established laws and impartial judges.

An absolute ruler lacks an impartial authority to judge disputes involving the ruler.

How inequality developed among human beings.

Natural inequality comes from physical differences; political inequality comes from social conventions.

Self-preservation and compassion.

The human capacity to develop and change over time.

Rousseau’s natural human is less competitive and is guided by self-preservation and compassion.

Rousseau argues that humans are not naturally social and political in the way Aristotle describes.

Human needs and circumstances gradually lead people into relationships and dependence.

The establishment of private property creates lasting social differences.

It allows some people to accumulate resources and gain power over others.

A socially shaped desire for recognition, comparison, and esteem.

People become dependent on others for needs, status, and survival.

Political institutions can protect unequal property arrangements and make inequality appear legitimate.

To explain how political authority can be legitimate while people remain free.

Human beings are naturally free but live under social and political constraints.

No; the two works use the state of nature for different purposes.

It is a natural relationship that continues out of necessity and becomes voluntary.

Legitimate authority depends on convention and agreement, not merely superior strength.

Obedience out of fear does not establish a moral obligation.

To unite and protect themselves while preserving freedom.

The collective will directed toward the common good.

The sum of individuals’ private interests and preferences.

The general will seeks the common good; the will of all adds together private interests.

The people collectively hold ultimate political authority.

No; the general will cannot be represented or transferred away.

No; sovereignty is indivisible because it belongs to the people as a whole.

The people acting collectively as the source of legitimate law.

A member who participates in sovereign authority and helps make laws.

A person who is bound to obey the laws.

It helps determine whether a law reflects the general will.

No; voting should identify the common good rather than merely aggregate private interests.

They can cause people to pursue group interests instead of the common good.

It helps citizens develop the judgment and commitment needed to pursue the common good.

A set of shared civic beliefs that supports political unity and loyalty to the community.

Ensuring that citizens pursue the common good rather than their private interests.