A2 Philosophy: Unit 3 Political Philosophy – Flashcards
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Legal positivism
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A school of legal thought centered on the assumption that there is no law higher than the laws created by a national government. Laws must be obeyed, even if they are unjust, to prevent anarchy. The legal philosophy holding that law is what the sovereign says it is, regardless of its moral content.
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Natural law
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God's or nature's law that defines right from wrong and is higher than human law. Argued by some philosophers to be the appropriate basis for human laws.
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Rights
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Powers or privileges granted to people either by an agreement among themselves or by law. Freedoms that are protected by a government's laws.
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Natural rights
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rights that belong to all human beings from birth
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Authority
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the right to use power
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Power
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the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person's intentions
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Liberalism
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a political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social, or economic institutions to assure unrestricted development in all spheres of human endeavor, and governmental guarantees of individual rights and civil liberties.
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Conservatism
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a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, favoring obedience to political authority and organized religion. The disposition to preserve or restore what is established and traditional and to limit change.
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Marxism
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the economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will untimately be superseded
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Communism
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a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state. A political theory favoring collectivism in a classless society.
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Socialism
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Socialists advocated government protection of workers from exploitation by property owners and government ownership of industries. This ideology led to the founding of socialist or labor parties in the late 1800s.
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Anarchism
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opposition to any form of government; the theory that all governments should be abolished. Belief in the abolition of all government and the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without recourse to force or compulsion.
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Collectivism
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Putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one's identity in terms of the groups one belongs to. A cultural orientation in which interdependence, cooperation, and social harmony take priority over personal goals.
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Organicism
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society is like an organism - each part keeps society together. A philosophy that views society as equivelant to a living organism and emphasizes the good of the whole over the good of parts.
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Individualism
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a belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence. Giving priority to one's own goals over group goals, and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications.
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Utilitarianism
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Idea that the goal of society should be to bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
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Censorship
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restricting access to ideas and information.
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Justice
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fairness; rightfulness. Respecting the rights of others and giving them what is rightfully theirs
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Negative freedom
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In contrast to positive freedom, the absence of restraint. You are free, in this view, if no one else is preventing you from doing what you want to do.
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Positive freedom
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In contrast to negative freedom, the belief that freedom is not simply the absence of restraint but also the power or ability to act and to develop one's capacities. Self-mastery or self realization; the achievement of autonomy and the development of human capacities
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Capitalism
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an economic system based on open competition in a free market, in which individuals and companies own the means of production and operate for profit
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Laissez-faire
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idea that government should play as small a role as possible in economic affairs. "hand off" free market economic system; most associated with capitalism.
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Nation state
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an independent geopolitical unit of people having a common culture and identity. A country who's population share a common identity.
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Nation
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tightly knit group of individuals sharing a common language, ethnicity, religion, and other cultural attributes
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Nationalism
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the doctrine that your national culture and interests are superior to any other. The doctrine that nations should act independently (rather than collectively) to attain their goals.
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Pluralism
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condition when many cultures coexist in one society
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Negative rights
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rights to non-interference. therefore others refrain from hurting you/doing something to you
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Positive rights
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Those rights that require overt government action, as opposed to negative rights that require government not to act in specified ways. Examples of positive rights are those to public education and, in some cases, to medical care, old age pensions, food, or housing. Rights to entitlement, the rights entail obligation, someone is obligated to give you what your have a right to.
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Neutrality
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to support neither side
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Value pluralism
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theory that there is no single, overriding conception of the 'good life'
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