Essay Example on Political Philosophy: Exploring Society, State, and Justice.

Introduction

Political philosophy is a discipline that has been in existence for a very long time. It is the study of fundamental questions surrounding the state, politics, government, justice, liberty, and how the authority enforces legal code. In other words, political philosophy is the ethics that is applied to a group of people, which discusses how a given society should be established and how the people living within the society should act. It establishes the individual rights that explicitly state the requirements for a person to accrue benefits from their society rather than suffer from living within society. In this case, I am going to compare and discuss the philosophical contributions made towards political thought by the two philosophers, Thomas Hill Green, and John Locke.

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Thomas Hill Green

Thomas Hill made major contributions to political thought in several ways. One of them was through the clarification of the complex relation of human actions and human consciousness in political and ethical life. Many subsequent philosophers, social activists, and politicians got inspired through the depth and breadth of his intellectual vision. The scope of his writings covers theology, literary criticism, metaphysics, ethics, philosophy, history, political, and social theory (Martin). The seven major political ideas contributed by Thomas Hill included the theory of freedom, theory of right, theory of the state, right against the state, theory of sovereignty, revision of idealism, and right to property.

According to Green, freedom is the greatest of all blessings, but he explains that when we speak of freedom, we ought to consider what we mean carefully, and that freedom is not merely doing what we like regardless of what it is like (Liu 19). Freedom is not one man or a set of men enjoying at the expense of others, but something that we do and enjoy in common with others. Green also spoke and wrote about the theory of right, connecting closely to the theory of freedom. According to Green, the development of human consciousness is the foundation of both rights and liberty. In his Theory of State, Green gave an interesting analysis of what the state is and the functions for which it is meant to perform.

Hill believed that states are not responsible for creating rights, but rather giving fuller reality to the already existing rights by removing any hindrances that stand on the way of enjoyment or implementation of such rights. According to Green, such duties could be performed by any other association, but their eligibility and capacity to perform them is the major point of doubt. The state is supreme, and that enables it to be able to perform the duties effectively. He put a lot of emphasis on universal brotherhood when referring to the right to live, saying that this is a universal right and that all the people of all countries in the world have the right to live, and that the right needs universal recognition (Martin).

John Locke

The political philosophy of John Locke, his breadth of scholarly activity, and brilliance exposition remain profoundly influential. He proposed a political philosophy radical conception reasoned from the self-ownership principle and the effect right to own property, and this is based on one of his famous claims that it is through labor that a man earns ownership. Besides, Locke is also known for his political contributions through his work, where he wrote on toleration by espousing the right to freedom of religion and conscience, except in cases where religion is deemed to be intolerant. He is also known for his content criticism of patriarchalism and hereditary monarchy.

Locke's mature political philosophy propped support to the British Whig party and its values, to the Enlightenment Age, and to the growth of the separation of the church and state in the American constitution, and to the rise of theories of human rights in the Twentieth Century. His political theories are divided into two eras, which are the Oxford period and the Shaftesbury period (Martin). The treaties he wrote in his later incarnation are a mature culmination of his political philosophy into an insightful and original theory of government, property, power, rights, and trust.

Locke also argued that legitimate government is based on the concept of powers separation, with legislative powers being the first one. In his writing "Two Treaties), Locke described legislative powers as being supreme in having ultimate authority over the manner in which the commonwealth force shall be employed (Tuckness). The thoughts of Locke are fundamental and are still applied to date. His third power, which he called the "federative power," where states are to act according to the law of nature, is applied to date. Countries are in the state of nature with respect to each other, and hence follow the dictates of natural law where they can punish one another for violating that law so as to protect their citizens' rights.

Works Cited

Liu, Jia-Hau. The practical philosophy of TH Green: an idealistic conception of liberal politics. Diss. Cardiff University, 2015. Retrieved from www.orca.cf.ac.uk/76111/1/The%20Practical%20Philosophy%20of%20T.%20H.%20Green-by%20Jia-Hau%20Liu.pdf. Accessed 31 March 202

Martin, Rex. "TH Green: Ethics, Metaphysics, and Political Philosophy." (2007): 1104-1110. Retrieved from www.researchgate.net/profile/Maria_Dimova-Cookson/publication/30053047_TH_Green_ethics_metaphysics_and_political_philosophy/links/5759297508ae9a9c954a8457/TH-Green-ethics-metaphysics-and-political-philosophy.pdf?origin=publication_detail. Accessed 31 March 2020

Tuckness, Alex. "Locke's political philosophy." (2016). Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/. Accessed 31 March 2020