Prolegomena to Any Future Philosopher-Kings

An Exploration of Kant's Political Philosophy Immanuel Kant's political philosophy offers a profound framework for understanding the connection between morality, individual liberty, and the structure of the state. While his comprehensive moral theory is disseminated across various texts, an exploration of Kant's political philosophy , influenced by figures such as Machiavelli and Frederick the Great, and the broader Enlightenment movement, provides an excellent entry point into his complex ethical system. This post will delve into its core components and enduring relevance. Foundational Influences on Kant's Political Thought Kant's political philosophy was shaped by significant intellectual and historical currents: Machiavelli: Kant directly engaged with Machiavelli's controversial assertion that political efficacy might necessitate actions typically deemed immoral, such as deception and the violation of promises. Machiavelli posited a separation between publi...

Who in the world is Jan Patočka?! ...That is probably the question you're asking. Jan Patočka is a far lesser-known Czech 20th century philosopher compared to the great phenomenologists like Edmund Husserl or Martin Heidegger.  He is mainly known only by Czech philosophy students and professors, particularly at his home university, Charles University, in Prague. But Patočka, much like Husserl and Heidegger, had some very interesting things to say about phenomenology, so I will explain his ideas here, so that hopefully you can be exposed to the ideas of somebody you might never have heard of otherwise. Patočka wasn't working in a vacuum. He deeply engaged with Husserl's ideas about the Lebenswelt (the life-world) – that everyday, pre-scientific reality we all live in. Like Husserl, he was wary of science becoming the only lens through which we see the world, potentially reducing rich human experience to mere objective calculation (think of how a breathtaking sunset can ...

Brief Summary and Intro to The Prince Following the return of the Medici noble family to Florence in 1512, Niccolo Machiavelli fell from power, was imprisoned, tortured and then exiled, and subsequently wrote a book attempting to gain favor with the family (and hopefully a job). This famous book, The Prince , describes exactly how a prince (or nobleman) should gain power and the steps needed to keep it. Machiavelli describes, among other things, that it is better for a prince to be feared than to be loved, that a prince must possess virtù , a character trait which combines the "cunning of the fox" and the "boldness of a lion", must be morally flexible and willing to do evil, and must at all times try to resist the powerful force of luck that Machiavelli calls fortuna . Virt ù , Fortuna, and Cesare Borgia In The Prince , Machiavelli's key point is that a prince should at all times possess virtù , which approximately translates to "virtue" in English, th...

Introduction to The Republic More than two thousand years ago, a certain philosopher you may have heard of, a man from the Greek city-state of Athens called Plato, came up with some ideas on what he thought should be the ideal state , that is, the best possible form of government mankind should try and aspire to. Plato's political philosophy has subsequently inspired pretty much all of political philosophy today.  To give you some examples of some very famous people you may have heard of, who have been inspired (or offended) by Plato's political philosophy:  Aristotle, Cicero, Plotinus, Augustine of Hippo, Al-Farabi, Thomas More, Marsilio Ficino, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Leo Strauss, and Karl Popper. Thus, in order to understand political philosophy, we must first understand the core of Plato's political philosophy. Most importantly, we will try and show Plato's answer to the central question he proposes in his magnum opus of a book in po...