Political philosophy

Influential Political philosophers

A larger List of political philosophers is intended to be closer to exhaustive. Below are listed a few of the most canonical or important thinkers, and especially philosophers whose central focus was in political philosophy and/or who are good representatives of a particular school of thought.

Related Topics:
List of political philosophers - Canonical

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• Confucius : The first thinker to relate ethics to the political order.
• Mozi : Eponymous founder of the Mohist school, advocated a strict utiliarianism.
• Plato: First philosophical thinker to systematically analyze the hypothetical basis of a just and good society.
• Aristotle
• Mencius : One of the most important thinkers in the Confucian school, he is the first theorist to make a coherent argument for an obligation of rulers to the ruled.
• Han Feizi : The major figure of the Chinese Fajia (Legalist) school, advocated government that adhered to laws and a strict method of administration.
• Cicero
• Saint Augustine
• St. Thomas Aquinas
• Niccolò Machiavelli: First systematic analyses of: (1) how consent of a populace is negotiated between and among rulers rather than simply a naturalistic (or theological) given of the structure of society; (2) precursor to the concept of ideology in articulating the epistemological structure of commands and law.
• Francis Bacon
• Thomas Hobbes: Generally considered to have first articulated the concept of a social contract that justifies the actions of rulers (even where contrary to the individual interests of governed citizens).
• Benedict Spinoza
• John Locke: Described a social contract theory based on citizens' fundamental rights in the state of nature. Argued for a government with power limited to the protection of personal property. His arguments may have been deeply influential to the formation of the United States Constitution.
• Baron de Montesquieu
• David Hume
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Immanuel Kant: Argued that participation in civil society is undertaken not for self-preservation, as per Thomas Hobbes, but as a moral duty. First thinker who fully analyzed structure and meaning of obligation.
• Adam Smith
• Thomas Paine
• Edmund Burke
• Jeremy Bentham: First thinker to coherently analyze social justice in terms of maximization of aggregate individual benefits. Founded the philosophical/ethical school of thought known as utilitarianism.
• Georg W. F. Hegel
• Alexis de Tocqueville
• John Stuart Mill: A utilitarian, and the person who named the system; he goes further than Bentham by laying the foundation for liberal democratic thought in general and modern, as opposed to classical, liberalism in particular.
• Karl Marx: In large part, added the historical dimension to an understanding of society, culture and economics. Created the concept of ideology in the sense of (true or false) beliefs that shape and control social actions. Analyzed the fundamental nature of class as a mechanism of governance and social interaction.
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• John Dewey
• Antonio Gramsci: Instigated the concepts hegemony and social formation. Fused the ideas of Marx, Engels, Spinoza and others within the so-called dominant ideology thesis (the ruling ideas of society are the ideas of its rulers).
• Herbert Marcuse: One of the principle thinkers within the Frankfurt School, and generally important in efforts to fuse the thought of Freud and Marx. Introduced the concept repressive desublimation, in which social control can operate not only by direct control, but also by manipulation of desire. Analyzed the role of advertising and propaganda in societal consensus.
• Karl Popper
• Leo Strauss
• Hannah Arendt: Analyzed the roots of totalitarianism and introduced the concept of the "banality of evil" (how ordinary technocratic rationality comes to deplorable fruition).
• John Rawls: Introduced the concept of the Original position as an explanation for standards of social justice. Also published an influential criticism of utilitarianism.
• Noam Chomsky
• Guy Debord: Moved a Marxist analysis of commodity fetishism to the realm of consumption, and looked at the relation between consumerism and dominant ideology formation.
• Robert Nozick: Presented a rigorous defense of modern libertarianism.