Political Philosophy Quiz

Social Contract Theory

• Historical context: Whigs opposed absolute monarchy, Tories championed it.
• Whig's opposed absolute monarchy through the power of the purse.
• Robert Filmer, a Tory ideologue wrote Patriarcha, justifying absolute power.
• Locke wrote a rebuttal.
• Filmer's arguments:
  • Paternal theory: political obligation of children follows from their birth.
  • Scriptural argument: scripture commands children to obey their parents.
  • Argument from reason: what one gives, one can take away, a father has absolute authority
  • Argument from fact: fathers have absolute authority.
• Property theory: political obligations arise from pre-existing structures of property.
• Property ownership originates from Adam, and his descendants.
• Political authority derives from property ownership: Kings inherit Adam's authority and property.
• Monarchy is justified by divine inheritance.
• Locke's Rebuttal:
  • Human beings are naturally equal.
  • Human beings are naturally free.
  • Property is an extension of life and limb.
• Lockein SON, there are scriptural commands to govern you.
• Categorical (vs hypothetical) imperative:
  • Natural law comes from God and applies in the SON.

Rights in the State of Nature

• Natural rights of freedom, the right to inherit the property of ancestors, the natural executive right to punish and the exclusive right to seek compensation.
• The position of choice
• Natural freedom, equality, and existence of the wicked.
• Some people don't respect laws if they won't even be afraid of eternal damnation.
• Subjects to passions.
• Interests in life, liberty, and property.
• Instrumental reason: People can assess through reason it is good to sign a contract.
• Limited Social Contract & Complications
• If no absolute power, what is the proper power of gov
• How to enforce limits on what the government can do?
• Incomplete info: Possibility of tyranny.

Theory of Property

• What does a theory of property look like?
• Locke: limited social contract.
  • Two-stage contract from a state of nature.
  • If gov violates a part, people can fire someone without returning to the original state of nature.
  • Governments are responsible for ruling in accordance with rules put in place by citizens.
  • Three caveats: trading away unanimous consent, limits to government authority, implications of loss of government authority.

Limits to Government Authority

• Limits on the authority of the people.
• Letter concerning toleration: state vs religion.
• Red line tests: limit on authority of government
  • Types of constraints & a fail-safe (purpose, procedural, and structural/institutional).
  • Purpose, procedural, and structural/institutional constraints.
  • Where law ends tyranny begins. Establishing laws that are equal for everyone. Freedom is the ability to make meaningful predictable choices.

What Does a Theory of Property Look Like?

• People have a right and responsibility to govern themselves (their body, life, & property).
• Gov can only take your property with your consent.

Rights in the State of Nature

• Natural rights of freedom, executive right to punish, exclusive right to seek compensation.
• The position of choice (philosophical arguments).
• Some people won't respect laws, subjects to passions.
• Individuals have interests in life, liberty, and property.
• Instrumental reason: people can assess it is good to sign a social contract.
• Limited social contract.

Complicating Issues to Justice

• What does a theory of property look like?
• What to do if gov wrongly acts?
• (Fail-safe): the doctrine of resistance (right to disobey or overthrow gov).
• A doctrine of rights as claim rights. (rights derive from duties).
• Historical theory of distributive justice.
• Locke's doctrine of resistance.
• Economic inequality- redistribution (causes of social alienation, moral or weakness).

Justice & Fairness

• Theory of justice: work motivated by idea of society as a fair system of social cooperation.
• Theory of mutual advantage.
• Conditions of Modern Scarcity: Theory of who gets what in unequal distribution.
• Mechanisms of distributing justice: procedural interpretation of justice.
• Big questions: What is justice? (as fairness), reasonableness of distinction, pluralism, & over-lapping consensus. Is there a political conception of justice?
• Environment of choices: socioeconomic positions, free and voluntary decisions.

Other Theories of Justice

• Pure procedural choice/fairness theory.
• Self-interest, mutual disinterest.
• Equal basic liberties/difference principles.
• Problems of Justice theory.

AI and Democracy

• Threats to AI in Democracy:
  • Information value of citizen interest.
  • Democratic accountability, undermining ballot box accountability
  • Democratic trust: undermining trust in media and government.
• Mitigation of AI threats.
  • Al-based detection tools
  • Al platform self-policing
  • Digital literacy
• Failing safely
  • State institutions reflecting citizens preferences.
  • Respecting rule of law.
  • Effective electoral control.

Ur-Fascism

• 14 features of Ur-Fascism.
• Cult of tradition, rejection of modernism, action for actions sake, rejection of disagreement.
• Fear of difference, appeal to frustrated middle class, obsession with plot, humiliation by enemies.
• Anti-pacifism (life is permanent warfare), popular elitism, cult of heroism, machismo, and selective populism.
• Totalitarianism.

Totalitarianism

• Traits of Totalitarianism.
• Hard to come up with definition.
• Can still be recognized, even without 14 traits.
• Democratic backsliding (moving away from democracy through democracy)
• Importance of checks and balances and large republic.

Rousseau, Inequality, and Society

• 2 kinds of inequality.
• Physical and political.
• Rousseau's emphasis on equality as normative principle.
• Systematic domination and the advent of private property.
• Natural condition = inherently good.

The Psychology of Inequality

• Perceived economic inequality impacts people.
• More profound than actual material deprivation.
• Feelings of inequality shape behavior and decisions.
• Social status correlates more strongly with health outcomes.
• Addressing inequality is about fostering fairness, more than just increasing wealth.

Marx's Theory of Estrangement

• Theory is about communism ("from everyone according to their ability, to everyone according to their needs").
• "Fallen Man": Not a choice, but "relations of production".
• Labor and its products are disconnected under capitalism.
• Estranged labor: results from the relations of production, inherent in capitalism.
• Creates conflict in class structure within society, capitalism.
• Species being: human essence as creative, social, and conscious being.
• Totality: connection among social, political, and economic systems.
• Estrangement from work/others.
• Private property: conceals true value and reinforces inequality

Test your understanding of key concepts in political philosophy, particularly focusing on the ideas of Locke, Mill, Nozick, and Marx. This quiz covers topics such as social contracts, government authority, and individual rights. Engage with the foundational theories that have shaped political thought throughout history.