Political philosophy

Contemporary political philosophy

After World War II the peace movement became the dominant mode of political philosophy in the Western world, due largely to fear of nuclear war. Opponents tended to line up on either side of the arms race debate. Communism remained an important focus especially during the 1950s and 60s. Zionism, racism and colonialism were important issues that arose. In general, there was a marked trend towards a pragmatic approach to political issues, rather than a philosophical one. Much academic debate regarded one or both of two pragmatic topics: how (or whether) to apply utilitarianism to problems of political policy, or how (or whether) to apply economic models (such as rational choice theory) to political issues.

Related Topics:
World War II - Peace movement - Nuclear war - Arms race - Communism - Zionism - Racism - Colonialism - Pragmatic - Utilitarianism - Rational choice theory

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Some scholars date the emergence of contemporary political philosophy to 1962, since many important things happened in that year:

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• The Cuban Missile Crisis which brought the arms race debate to a head and forced the peace movement to action which has never actually ceased;
• Rachel Carson published her Silent Spring which signalled the beginning of the modern ecology movement and environmental movement;
• Milton Friedman published influential works that laid the foundations of neoliberalism against which the above struggle to this day.

Soon after, there was a major revival of academic political philosophy as a result of the publication of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice in 1971. Rawls used a thought experiment, the original position in which representative parties choose principles of justice for the basic structure of society from behind a veil of ignorance. Rawls also offered an effective criticism of utilitarian approaches to questions of political justice. Robert Nozick's book Anarchy, State, and Utopia responded to Rawls from a libertarian perspective. A rich debate ensued.

Related Topics:
John Rawls - A Theory of Justice - 1971 - Thought experiment - Original position - Robert Nozick - Anarchy, State, and Utopia - Libertarian

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Another rich debate developed around the (distinct) criticisms of liberal political theory made by Bernard Williams and Charles Taylor. The liberalism-communitarianism debate is often considered valuable for generating a new set of philosophical problems, rather than a profound and illuminating clash of perspectives.

Related Topics:
Bernard Williams - Charles Taylor - Liberalism-communitarianism debate

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Today some debates regarding punishment and law center on the question of natural law and the degree to which human constraints on action are determined by nature, as revealed by science in particular. Other debates focus on questions of cultural and gender identity as central to politics.

Related Topics:
Natural law - Science

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An important exception is the view of Bernard Crick that the political virtues are universal.

Related Topics:
Bernard Crick - Political virtues

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