| Adam Smith | Was a classical liberal economic theorist who was an exponent of capitalism and a laissez-faire economy.
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| Anarchism | A utopian political theory that seeks to eliminate all authority and state rule in favor of a society based on voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals and groups.
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| Argument ad hominem | The mistaken idea that you can successfully challenge any view by criticizing the person whose view it is.
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| Aristotle | Held that the state is good to the degree to which it enables its citizens to achieve the good life and believed that the form of the ideal state depends on the circumstances.
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| Capitalism | An economic system in which ownership of the means of production and distribution is maintained mostly by private individuals and corporations.
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| communism | An economic system.
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| Contractarian theory | The political theory according to which a legitimate states exists only by virtue of an agreement or "contract" among the subjects of the state.
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| Divine law | In the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, God's gift to humankind, apprehended through revelation, that directs us to our supernatural goal, eternal happiness.
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| Free market economy | An economic system built around the belief that supply and demand, competition, and a free play of market forces best serve the interests of society and the common good.
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| General will | In the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the will of a politically united people, the will of a state.
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| Harriet Taylor | Was a reformist philosopher who advocated the liberation of women and stressed the importance of political tolerance and individualism.
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| Human law | In the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, the laws and statutes of society that are derived from our understanding of natural law.
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| Jean-Jacques Rousseau | Another contractarian, held that through a social contract people may agree to unite into a state and through the state to enact laws reflective of the general will. He believed that people neither give up their rights to the state nor entrust them to it, for they are the state.
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| Jeremy Bentham | A utilitarian philosopher, dismissed talk about natural rights as meaningless.
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| John Locke | Held that people have God-given natural rights and that the state is created for the protection of those rights by mutual agreement among its citizens, who entrust their rights to the state for safeguarding.
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| John Stuart Mill | A classical liberal theorist, held that the function of the state is to promote the general happiness (not to safeguard natural rights). He stipulated that a person's liberty may be interfered with only to prevent harm to others.
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| Karl Marx | Held that human history is a dialectical interplay between social relationships and economic productive activity that involves class warfare but ultimately leads to an idea society lacking classes, wages, money, private property, or exploitation.
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| Leviathan | The coiled snake or dragon in the Book of Job in the Bible; in the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, "that mortal God, to which we owe our peace and defense"; that is, the state (or its sovereign) created by social contract.
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| Liberalism | A political philosophy whose basic tenet is that each individual should have the maximum freedom consistent with the freedom of others.
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| Marxism | The socialist philosophy of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and their followers that postulates the labor theory of value, the dialectical interplay of social institutions, class struggle, and dictatorship of the proletariat leading to a classless society.
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| Means (forces) of production | In Marxism, the means of producing the satisfaction of needs.
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| Natural law | In Hobbes's philosophy, a value-neutral principle, discovered by reason, of how best to preserve one's life. In Thomas Aquinas's philosophy, God's eternal law as it applies to humans on earth and dictates the fundamental principles of morality.
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| Natural right | A right thought to belong by nature to all human beings at all times and in all circumstances.
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| Plato | Held that the best or "just" state is a class-structured aristocracy ruled by "philosopher-kings."
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| Political philosophy | The philosophical study of the state, its justification, and its ethically proper organization.
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| Productive relations | In Marxism, social institutions and practices.
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| Social contract | An agreement among individuals forming an organized society or between the community and the ruler that defines the rights and duties of each.
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| St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas | Christianized the concept of natural law. They were concerned with the relationship of secular law to natural law and of the state to the church. Aquinas distinguished four kinds of law; this was one of his most important contributions to political philosophy.
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| Tacit consent | An implied rather than explicit consent, as, for example, when you consent to the laws of your state by continuing to live in it.
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| Thomas Hobbes | Was a contractarian theorist who held that civil society, civil laws, and justice come into existence when people contract among themselves to transfer their power and rights to a sovereign power who compels people to live in peace and honor their agreements. Hobbes believed the transfer is "commanded" by natural law, which he held to be a set of rational principles for best ensuring self-preservation.
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| Utilitarianism | The doctrine that the rightness of an action is identical with the happiness it produces as its consequence.
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education