Contemporary Controversies in Political Theory



Contemporary Controversies in Political Theory

John Mill - “On Liberty”

Concept of liberty

John Stuart Mill proposed the philosophical concept of liberty in 1859 which applies to the ethical system of utilitarianism that attempts to extenuate the significance of individuality and freedom. According to Mill that the liberty depends upon the concept that the society moves towards the higher stages and this progression terminates in the system of democracy. He mentioned that in the past, liberty was considered as the protection from tyranny which then transformed by the rulers. However, he divided the liberty into three types which must be followed in any society such as the freedom of thought, autonomy of tastes and pursuits, and the freedom to join any person with the common interest (Mill, 1860).

Principle limiting government interference

Mill shared his fear of governmental power as he thinks that government should not be allowed to make the final decision pertaining to its constituency. According to Mill, government should be centralized and it must have the advisory capacities with the focus on beholding the citizenry and the political leaders must also comply with this idea. As he thinks that this system would be beneficial in providing the intelligent decisions while ensuring the liberty for all individuals. He stated three reasons to object the intervention of government as if the agents can do the actions better than the government, if agents are more qualified than the government, and in case of actions of government become overreach where the individuals have to turn their dependency on government.

Concept of individual

Under the concept of liberty, Mill pointed out the inherent values of individuality and established the standards for the relationship between liberty and authority as he conceives the individuality as the precondition to the higher pleasures. Therefore, he proposed the fundamental standards of liberty for individuals such as the legitimate objections to governmental interferences, maxims pertaining to relationship between individual and society.

Karl Marx - “Communist Manifesto”

Species Being

Marx calls human as the species being as according to his concept that the human beings have the uniqueness which separates them from the other living beings. It is the capacity of human beings to undertake the tasks through their imaginations where they imagine that how that activity will be carried out and what consequences or outcomes will be achieved in the end. For instance, when the animal feels hungry, it goes after the prey in order to make possible its survival, and hence, the animals do not learn this program in any school but it is genetic. However, humans also eat in the same way but what separates them from the animal is that make their gourmet delicious by cooking to make it cuisine which he learns and what makes him human (Frank, 2000).

Historical materialism/economic determinism

The economic determinism is the theory presented by Marx according to which the economic structure dominates over the politics in the development of human history. The economic determinism is the economical law which actually determines the course of ...