The political has always been the object of philosophers’ research. Still, the subject’s position about power in the philosophical systems of thinkers of different eras has fundamental differences. Thus, the diversity of concepts of power has determined the political and ideological contradictions throughout history. Now comes a time when politics tangibly affects the life of any person. The source, the material for the analysis of political philosophy, is a directly political practice. From singular political acts, there is a transition to the identification of the nature of the political. Political philosophy divides the sphere of the political into immediate practice and the ideal level of being political.
Through the political sciences, it becomes possible to ensure the formation and development of objective knowledge about politics, together with the development of theories that can explain the essence of political phenomena; in addition, they can also describe and investigate the historical development of all political institutions, together with their relations and processes. Political philosophy develops transhistorical (general) foundations, as well as political principles, based on human nature as that which is present in a social being endowed with self-awareness and consciousness. The category of power emerges, which acts as its source while realizing its meaning and role. The political sciences reflect the grounds that make possible political self-organization in society, highlighting the importance of these processes of the state structure and civil society phenomenon. In addition, these sciences reflect the processes of creation, development, and disintegration of political systems. At the same time, political science is a complex system reflecting the processes of analysis of patterns found in political technologies.
Adam Smith’s Political Economy
The flowering of the ideas of political economy in the historical sense came in the works of the eighteenth-century English economist Adam Smith (1723-1790). England facilitated this in the period in question, far ahead of the other European countries in economic development. The progressive development of economic relations created favorable conditions for the intensification of research in the field of political economy. Smith regarded the community of men as a kind of exchange union, and he called the essential characteristic of men a disposition to exchange and trade. At the same time, he pointed out that the desire of an individual member of society to benefit from economic activity coincides with the interests of society as a whole.
Adam Smith’s economic teaching was generally based on the principles and ideas of economic liberalism, the main points of which were several theses. First, economic phenomena and processes were based on the idea of the natural order, that is, the classical market economy (Hampton 147). The interests of individuals do not contradict but rather coincide with the interests of society as a whole. Smith proposed the model of the “economic man,” that is, the individual who, on the one hand, is endowed with an egoistic worldview and, on the other hand, continually strives to maximize the accumulation of wealth (Hampton 148).. The second prerequisite for the effective functioning of the laws of economics, from Smith’s point of view, is free competition. Pursuing profit and free trade act as activities that positively affect society. The regulation of the market is the result of an “invisible hand” through which the actions of people are controlled through their interests by free competition.
In developing his political-economic line of scientific thought, A. Smith formulated his vision of the state’s economic policy. For example, he pointed out that the principle of total non-interference of the state in the state economy should prevail in the relevant sphere as a prerequisite for national welfare. State regulation, Smith wrote, is necessary only when there is a real threat to the common good. It seems to me that his idea is in a promising direction in developing society and the state since people get free trade. In addition, government involvement in economic processes not only does not hinder private traders but helps to increase profits. I would use Adam Smith’s ideas in organizing the economic component of the state and market relations within and outside the state.
Hannah Arendt’s Philosophy
A student of Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, she was a political thinker and researcher on the anthropological basis of German totalitarianism. She was one of the first to speak of the true nature of evil and to study it comprehensively, a phenomenon which, in her view, is much more often associated with the denial of thought and one’s responsibility for one’s choices. As a witness to the birth, flowering, and decline of totalitarian regimes, Arendt made totalitarianism the starting point of many crucial considerations that helped her to take a fresh look at human rights (Hampton 220). She also explored the relationship between will and thought, the problem of freedom and responsibility, and the distinction between private life and public space. Arendt always looked profoundly and tried to understand the causes of the phenomena she wrote about and the conditions of their emergence and development – perhaps that is why her thoughts are so relevant today.
The concept of human rights, based on the assumption of the existence of the individual human being, collapsed at the very moment when those who professed to believe in it first encountered people who had lost all other qualities. Hannah Arendt’s first seminal philosophical work was her book The Origins of Totalitarianism, in which she explores the knotty problem of the historical process in the twentieth century – the totalitarian movements that emerged in Germany and the USSR (Hampton 223). Arendt sees the ideological origins of the totalitarian transformation of society in the concepts of anti-Semitism and imperialism, which made themselves felt in the XIX century.
The twentieth century gave rise to such a phenomenon as mass, in which totalitarian movements find opportunities for implementation. Arendt was one of the first to try to make sense of the terrible tragedies of the twentieth century, and her work is still relevant today. Arendt shows that the cause of evil can be not only evil will, the intention to harm, but also quite philistine and harmless considerations – the desire to gain favor, the fear of losing one’s job. Under the conditions of a totalitarian machine, a person must make an extra effort to hear the voice of conscience, not close himself off from reality with lies and nonsense, and not fall into self-deception.
Arendt rejected Jewish nationalism in the same way that she rejected German nationalism; she defended the idea of universalism. Reliance on the universal is an essential characteristic of the Jewish position in the modern world. Her philosophy tells me the truth about totalitarian regimes because they violate human rights. Mass purges, repression, and Nazism are things that must not be repeated. I would use the knowledge gained from her studies to build a democratic state.
Work Cited
Hampton, Jean. Political philosophy. Routledge, 2018.