--- title: Political Philosophy description: This topic examines the theoretical foundations of government, justice, liberty, and authority. You will analyze historical and contemporary debates regarding the social contract, individual rights, democracy, and the role of the state. category: social-sciences subcategory: philosophy difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/political-philosophy --- # Political Philosophy This topic examines the theoretical foundations of government, justice, liberty, and authority. You will analyze historical and contemporary debates regarding the social contract, individual rights, democracy, and the role of the state. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 3 Courses • 4 Websites ## Websites ### 1. PhilPapers - Political Philosophy Section of the PhilPapers index maintained by academic editors, listing journal articles, preprints, and books across political philosophy subfields. Use it to trace the current literature on a question and find peer-reviewed sources with abstracts. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://philpapers.org/browse/political-philosophy **Tags:** political-philosophy, bibliography, academic-research, philosophy-papers ### 2. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Political Philosophy Peer-reviewed encyclopedia entry surveying political philosophy from ancient Greece through modern liberalism, organized by historical period and by core questions about authority, justice, and the state. Gives you a map of the field before reading primary texts. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://iep.utm.edu/polphil/ **Tags:** political-philosophy, encyclopedia, history-of-political-thought, reference ### 3. constitution.org Constitution.org is an online archive of constitutional documents and political philosophy. It offers full texts of national constitutions (and amendments), historical charters, and accompanying essays that explain constitutional theory and governance. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://constitution.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, philosophy ### 4. marxists.org Marxists.org is a free online archive of Marxist and socialist literature, offering primary texts, translations, and secondary works across political philosophy, economics, and social theory. It hosts works by Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Mao, and many other theorists, as well as manifestos, essays, and historical documents. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://marxists.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, philosophy ## Courses ### 1. Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? Explore political philosophy with Michael Sandel's "Justice" course. Analyze complex moral dilemmas and discover your own ethical framework. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30C13C91CFFEFEA6 **Tags:** justice, moral-philosophy, harvard-lectures, political-theory ### 2. Introduction to Political Philosophy Explore fundamental questions about justice, liberty, and power in this introductory political philosophy course by Steven B. Smith. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://oyc.yale.edu/political-science/plsc-118 **Tags:** political-philosophy, political-theory, classic-texts, open-courseware ### 3. Moral Foundations of Politics **Author:** Ian Shapiro Yale political scientist Ian Shapiro's lecture course on Enlightenment, utilitarian, Marxist, and social-contract answers to what makes a government legitimate. Students finish able to apply each tradition to contested questions about rights, distribution, and democracy. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/moral-politics **Tags:** political-theory, political-legitimacy, social-contract, utilitarianism, marxism, democracy ## Podcasts ### 1. The Political Theory Review **Author:** Jeffrey Church Interview podcast hosted by political theorist Jeffrey Church in which scholars discuss their recent books in political theory and social and political philosophy, covering both contemporary arguments and the history of political thought. Listeners follow current academic debates in the field. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** en-us | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thepoliticaltheoryreview **Tags:** political-theory, political-philosophy, history-of-political-thought, author-interviews ## Books ### 1. Leviathan **Author:** Thomas Hobbes Hobbes's 1651 argument that people in a state of nature face constant war and therefore consent to an absolute sovereign. Reading it gives you the social contract tradition's starting point and its case for undivided political authority. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140431950?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, philosophy ### 2. The Republic **Author:** Plato Plato's dialogue building an ideal city in order to define justice, containing the theory of forms, the allegory of the cave, and the argument for philosopher-rulers. Working through it teaches how Socratic questioning constructs and tests a political theory. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195003640?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** plato, ancient-philosophy, political-philosophy, justice, primary-sources ### 3. On Liberty **Author:** John Stuart Mill Mill's 1859 defense of individual freedom, arguing that society may restrict a person only to prevent harm to others. Sets out the harm principle and the case for free expression against majority opinion and social conformity. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140432078?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, philosophy --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/political-philosophy