1. Why Politics?

• From Greek polis (city-state). Politics is “the art of the possible,” the craft of
reconciling differences to reach binding collective decisions.
• Aristotle: “Man is by nature a political animal.”
• Politics is power-laden—acquiring, retaining, exercising it. Garner’s state-centric
maxim—“Political science starts and ends with the state”—now competes with society wide readings.


2. Political Theory vs Political Science

 

Political Theory Political Science
Focus Why / should? (conceptual) What / how? (empirical)
Method Abstract reflection Observation, statistics
Scope Timeless, universal (⏤ Germino) Context-bound generalisations
Bridge Theory supplies the ideas, science tests them

3. Political Philosophy, Theory, Ideology, Thought – Know the Splits

 

Category Core Question Scholars / Pointers
Political
Philosophy		 What ought to be? justice, liberty,
equality		 Plato, Aristotle, John Rawls
(normative)
Political
Theory		 Explains political phenomena, may
borrow from philosophy		 Leo Strauss calls it the search for
the “right & good order.”
Ideology Programmatic, dogmatic defence of
power		 Karl Marx, liberalism, feminism…
Political
Thought		 Time- & place-bound communal
ideas		 Machiavelli, British idealists etc.

“Every political philosopher is a theorist, but not every theorist a philosopher.” — exam-worthy
line.

4. Five-Stage evolution of Political Science

1. Greek–Ethical – Aristotle dubs it the “master science”; Barker calls it architectonic.
2. Medieval–Theological – St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas fuse politics with
salvation.
3. Renaissance / Enlightenment – Machiavelli separates power from morality; Hobbes,
Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu add social contract, rights, separation of powers.
4. Behavioural Turn – stats & surveys; David Easton wants politics “as it is, not as it
ought.”
5. Post-Behaviouralism – Easton’s “Credo of Relevance” reunites values with data.


5. Approaches & Their Critics

 

Approach One-liner Champion Classic Critique
Historical “History is the root;
PS the fruit.”		 Sabine, Machiavelli, Laski Over-traditional,
state-centric
Sociological Politics embedded
in social structure		 Catlin Can downplay
institutions
Philosophical Purpose & morality
of rule		 Leo Strauss Relativity of values
(⏤ Isaiah Berlin)
Empirical vs
Normative		 Facts vs ought John Locke, Mill, Marx,
Easton vs Plato, Aristotle,
Rawls		 Each calls the other
incomplete

Jacobson warns against both scientism & moralism; balance is key.

6. Normative ↔ Empirical Debate 

Normative Empirical
“Best possible prescription” “Describe, explain, predict”
Plato – knowledge state Locke – property & consent
Rawls – fairness Easton – systems analysis

7. Textual vs Contextual Interpretation


• Textual: text as timeless artefact; risk = anachronism (think virtù vs virtue).
• Contextual: embed writings in economic-political milieu.
• C.B. Macpherson reads Locke through emergent bourgeois lens.
• James Tully situates Locke’s property theory amid dissenters’ rights.
• Critics ask: if every text is context-bound, can old ideas still guide today?


8. Key Quotes


• “Politics is the authoritative allocation of values.” — Easton
• “History is the best guide to politics.” — Machiavelli
• Without science, theory is worthless ethical residue. — paraphrasing Jacobson
• “Man is a political animal.” — Aristotle


9. Positivism → Behaviouralism: “Count what is, ignore what ought.”

Building-block Quick take Must-cite names
Positivism Social science should mimic
natural science; value-free
knowledge monopoly		 Auguste Comte (root), Logical
Positivists
Behaviouralism Systematic, empirical study of
individual & group behaviour		 Charles Merriam, Gabriel Almond,
V.O. Key, Harold Lasswell, Herbert
Tingsten
Seeds Post-WW I; bloomed after WW II Frank Kent encouraged statistics in
politics

David Easton distilled eight foundations—Regularities · Verification · Techniques ·
Quantification · Value-Neutrality · Systematization · Pure Science · Integration.

10. Why Behaviouralism peaked – and cracked


Achievements

Precision, survey tools, comparative data; made political science look “scientific.”

Limitations


1. Over-complication – jargon > clarity.
2. Reductionism – numbers flatten nuance.
3. Reality gap – “ivory-tower” retreat (critique by Leo Strauss).
4. Ethical vacuum – values labelled metaphysical.
5. Status-quo bias – avoided big moral questions.


11. Post-Behaviouralism – Easton’s Credo of Relevance


• Trigger: 1960s crises—war, poverty, civil rights.
• Intellectual sparks: Thomas Kuhn (paradigms) · Karl Popper (falsification).
• Mantra: “Substance before technique.” — Easton, 1969 APSA Address
• Five watch-words: Action · Relevance · Social change · Values · Reality-connection.
“To know is to bear responsibility for acting.” — Easton
Critiques
• Philip Beardsley: science vs relevance is a false dichotomy.
• Still leans on systems theory it once denounced (Waldo: “raving, rumbling structure
without destiny”).



12. Critical School: Behaviouralism = Status-quo Science?

Critic Charge
Dante Germino “Quantification without reflection” killed political
theory.
Theodor Adorno & Max
Horkheimer		 Instrumental rationality props up capitalism.

 

Jürgen Habermas Technology now colonises lifeworld; Behaviouralism
applauds.
Herbert Marcuse Mass media creates one-dimensional man, dampening
revolt.

Yet even critics admit Behaviouralism’s technique revolution (see Talcott Parsons).

13. Decline → Resurgence of Political Theory

Why it declined (per Easton)
Historicism · Moral relativism · Hyper-factualism · Science fetish.
Mid-century verdict (Alfred Cobban): theory “played no role” in both capitalism &
communism.
Why it bounced back

Catalyst Thinker & Text
Experience as philosophy Michael Oakeshott –Experience and Its Modes
Lost public realm Hannah Arendt –The Human Condition
Return to classics Leo Strauss
Justice re-imagined John Rawls –A Theory of Justice
Democracy, property, class C.B. Macpherson

Scholar Index –


Adorno · Alfred Cobban · Aristotle · Auguste Comte · Barker · Beardsley · Berlin · British
Idealists (Bradley, Bosanquet) · Charles Merriam · C.B. Macpherson · Dante Germino ·
David Easton · Frank Kent · Gabriel Almond · Garner · Harold Lasswell · Hannah Arendt ·
Herbert Marcuse · Herbert Tingsten · Hobbes · Isaiah Berlin · J.S. Mill · James Tully ·
Jürgen Habermas · Karl Marx · Karl Popper · Leo Strauss · Locke · Logical Positivists · Laski
· Machiavelli · Michael Oakeshott · Montesquieu · Philip Beardsley · Plato · Rousseau ·
Sabine · St Augustine · St Thomas Aquinas · Talcott Parsons · Thomas Kuhn · V.O. Key ·
Waldo (Dwight)




—Amit Pratap Singh

 

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