Political Philosophy

“Like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one.” A timeless quote, usually associated with family, but can still transcend different aspects in life as we give it a different interpretation. Like the continuous growth of the branches of the tree, different branches of academic discipline continue to grow as they boldly go outside the academe to have its own identity and establish its relevance, but still goes back to its roots, the study of philosophy, which is the mother of all disciplines. Philosophy is said to be the mother of all disciplines. It is the oldest of all disciplines and gave rise to modern science as we know it today as both social and natural sciences have their roots in philosophy.

One of the main reasons why it encountered a great change is because of the mere existence of science. Modern science is the highest form of knowledge specifically because it aims no longer at absolute knowledge of the why, but only at relative knowledge of the how. The progression of political philosophy ushered in the formation of political science and political theory. What played a big role in the formation of political science and political theory is the existence of a new approach called behavioralism and its supporters. The behavioralist movement disregarded political philosophy because they considered it to be less dense. They wanted to achieve a value free science which is the counter part of political philosophy. The shift in the study of the discipline occurred because the people during the 20th century demanded answers aimed at precision. Because of the crisis faced by political philosophy, paradigm changes are called for as a result of the failure of an existing theory to solve the problems defined by that theory. A paradigm is essential to scientific research and inquiry. According to Kuhn (1987) “No natural history can be interpreted in the absence of at least some implicit body of intertwined theoretical and methodological belief that permits selection, evaluation

What happened was that the behavioralist wanted to copy the ways of the natural sciences to the extent of borrowing their approaches, methods, and tools to use in the study of man. This resulted in the formation of political science. Even though this approach created a more diversified study of politics because it allowed the discipline to transcend beyond the academe, the discipline was still questioned by the people in the same academe Susser (1992) described the development of political science since World War II “as one of the most turbulent and fascinating chapters in its long history. It is a period marked by high hopes and revolutionary change, a period that has witnessed a broadening of the discipline’s subject matter and a striking reorientation in its methods and techniques. But it also a period characterized by deep rifts and heated battles. The most basic questions regarding what political science should be and what political scientists should be doing were fiercely, sometimes venomously, debated, continuing to the future.” Because of the approach of political philosophy being ancient and not transcending the academe, this caused the discipline to be more alienated because of its approach. Political science wanted political philosophy to have a natural death and in order for this to happen, political philosophy should be seen as something