Module 02: Origins of Political Thought

Aquinas is important because he argues that politics should be guided by reason and moral truth, not just force, fear, or personal opinion. He believed that although human beings are imperfect, they are still capable of recognizing important moral truths through reason.

Augustine lived during the decline of the Roman Empire, a time of political instability, violence, and uncertainty. In that context, he asked a different question: what can politics really accomplish in a broken world?

Aristotle is often called the first political scientist. He was a student of Plato, but he did not approach politics in the same way.

Plato was deeply shaped by the political instability of Athens and by the execution of Socrates. He saw that democracies could be swayed by emotion, flattery, and shallow thinking. This led him to doubt whether politics should be left in the hands of the crowd.

One of the most important early figures in political philosophy was Socrates (c. 470–399 BCE), a Greek philosopher from Athens.

Module 2 traces the origins of political thought by following major thinkers who asked foundational questions about truth, justice, power, freedom, law, and government. It begins with classical Greek philosophy through Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, then moves through Christian thinkers such as Augustine and Aquinas, before turning to modern political thinkers like Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Burke, and Mill. Across these sections, the module shows how political thought developed from moral questions about justice and virtue into more practical debates about authority, rights, institutions, liberty, order, and social change.