Reasons to Read Political Theory
Applying Plato, Aristotle and Others to Politics, Business & People
Plato, Aristotle and other political thinkers have much to say about our politics, business and personal lives. Here are good reasons to read their 'outdated' works.
Plato. Aristotle. Locke. Cicero. For many people, such names might be a mystery at best. Why should 21st century people care about these ‘dead white guys’ in the first place?
Sometimes it’s simply a matter of discovering how they speak to us. These authors are hidden gems to be discovered.
They Can Address Contemporary Politics
It’s tempting to dismiss these writers as outdated given the leaps in technology from the printing press to the genome. Yet, political thinkers exert a powerful influence on modern day political life. People who argue in favor of individual rights echo arguments made by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. People who use the phrase the ‘will of the people’ borrow from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, while free speech advocates find their strongest champion in John Stuart Mill. Sound familiar?
Political thinkers speak to themes that people consider in their own lives. Do people improve or corrupt their own lives by getting involved in politics? People who lament the decline of political participation today can learn much from the trial and death of Socrates (at least, in Plato’s Apology); partisans of a lesser role in politics can learn a great deal from Aristotle’s arguments about the importance of politics for human happiness (in Nicomachean Ethics and Politics).
They Challenge Individual Concerns
Simply consider the ways in which people structure their own lives, including the types of standards and morals each person holds dear. People guided primarily by self-interest and the pursuit of money can learn much from the challenges issued by Plato and Aristotle and the criticisms of the ‘bourgeois’ by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. People who live for honor and glory can learn from the criticisms found within Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan. For people who believe in good versus evil as a guide to their lives, Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals will challenge them. Lastly, for people in business Machiavelli's The Prince challenges certain notions of business ethics.
They Are Students of Human Nature
How many readers wish they understood what makes people ‘tick’? For political thinkers it is simply a necessity—a failed understanding of human nature leads to failed views of politics! Thus, many thinkers wrestle with human nature and are psychologists of a sort. Thomas Hobbes asserts that people desire power in its many forms as a way to escape the very real anxieties about unstable political life; John Locke argues that people ultimately seek a comfortable and contented life.
Others paint more complex and subtle portraits. In his account of the war between ancient Athens and Sparta, Thucydides has much to say about people: their thirst for glory alongside their pursuit of self-interest; their fear, confusion and cruelty amid civil war; their amorality and their mercy during wartime; and most broadly, the influence of ‘fear, honor and self-interest’ in people. Jean-Jacques Rousseau explores man and society: each person eager for gain and demanding others care more about him than themselves, using others’ opinions for his gain (consider the power of sexuality and what is ‘cool’ in commercials). Plato describes three types of people, each by a different love: lovers of gain (e.g. merchants), lovers of honor (e.g. military men), and lovers of wisdom (philosophers).
All of this provides much for the budding student of politics, even for those who might disagree with the authors’ conclusions. Happy reading, and thinking!
