Concept
Political science
Overview
Political science (sometimes abbreviated as poli sci) is a field which aims to study the scientific aspect of politics. It deals with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and laws. Specialists in the field are political scientists. Unlike political philosophy, which is primarily normative and evaluates politics through value judgments, political science emphasizes descriptive and explanatory means of articulating what is (the de facto, status quo, lex non scripta, etc.) and favors empirical evidence over ethical judgements.
Political science emerged as a distinct academic discipline in the late 19th century, influenced by the rise of empiricism and positivism. It emerged from history, philosophy, and law amid university professionalization and the founding of bodies such as the American Political Science Association in 1903. The behavioral revolution of the 1950s played a significant role in shifting emphasis to scientifically explaining human behavior from an unbiased and neutral point of view using quantitative research methods such as surveys, historical analysis, and empirical testing.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Political science is discussed.
V. There is a certain political science which is made up of many and important particulars. A very great and extensive portion of it is artificial eloquence, which men call rhetoric. For we do not agree with those men who think that the knowledge of political science is in no need of and has no connexion with eloquence; and we most widely disagree with those, on the other hand, who think that all political ability…
Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
Now this is called a city, and the society thereof a political society; for those who think that the principles of a political, a regal, a family, and a herile government are the same are mistaken, while they suppose that each of these differ in the numbers to whom their power extends, but not in their constitution: so that with them a herile government is one composed of a very few, a domestic of more, a civil and…
Aristotle, Politics
states what it is; names the idea
For the fact that this political science is also so constituted “that everyone by education and diligence (_ἐξ ἐπιμελείας_) may acquire it,” Protagoras gives additional reasons in the following argument: “No one blames or punishes on account of a defect or evil that has come to anyone by nature or by chance. But defects and faults which can be removed through diligence, exercise and teaching are considered to be…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
states what it is; opens on it; names the idea
YOUNG SOCRATES: You are quite right, and we should choose that above all. STRANGER: The members of all these States, with the exception of the one which has knowledge, may be set aside as being not Statesmen but partisans,--upholders of the most monstrous idols, and themselves idols; and, being the greatest imitators and magicians, they are also the greatest of Sophists. YOUNG SOCRATES: The name of Sophist after…
Plato, Statesman
states what it is; names the idea
Of the practical sciences, that one is nobler which is ordained to a further purpose, as political science is nobler than military science; for the good of the army is directed to the good of the State. But the purpose of this science, in so far as it is practical, is eternal bliss; to which as to an ultimate end the purposes of every practical science are directed.
Aquinas Thomas, Summa Theologica, Part I
states what it is; names the idea
Philosophers who discussed Political science
- Hans Kelsen
- Norberto Bobbio
- William Godwin
- Jürgen Habermas
- Thomas Sowell
- Eric Voegelin
- Noam Chomsky
- Charles Taylor (philosopher)
- Raymond Aron
- Shen Buhai
- Martha Nussbaum
- Aristocles of Messene
- Hans Jonas
- Antonio Gramsci
- Immanuel Wallerstein
- Catharine A. MacKinnon
- Karl Polanyi
- John Zerzan
- Jon Elster
- Harvey Mansfield
- Joel Feinberg
- Michael Otsuka
- John W. N. Watkins
- Franz Neumann (political scientist)
Related ideas
- Empiricism
- Samuel P. Huntington
- Game theory
- Greece
- American Political Science Association
- Philosophy
- Indonesia
- Power (social and political)
- Public policy
- National Science Foundation
- Modernity
- Library of Congress
- Law
- Leo Strauss
- North America
- Nation state
- Unitary state
- Physics
- Politics
- Political philosophy
- Princeton University
- Science
- Scientific method
- Positivism
Opposing perspectives
- Social choice theory
- Sociology
- Ibn Khaldun
- Power (social and political)
- Justice
- Political economy
- Public health
- Public administration
- Governance
- International relations
Place in the tradition
Part of British philosophy.