SİYASAL DÜŞÜNCE - Deneme Sınavı - 11

Bodin’s preference for the best form of government is monarchy. Bodin bases his preference for monarchy on three basic reasons. 1. By stating that all-natural laws lead us to monarchy, he claims that monarchy is the most appropriate form of state to nature. 2. He expresses that the talented people in the country could come into prominence only in the monarchy. 3. He asserts that the fact that sovereignty that is absolute, indivisible and continuous, can only take place in the form of monarchy.

As in all parts of Europe, the problems arising from Protestant Reformation in the 16th century overshadowed all of the other considerations in England as well. The political demand of various churches concealed the serious economic disorders that emerged parallel to the rise of modern trade and the collapse of the old economy (Sabine, 1969: 114). Utopia, which was written under these conditions, is a satire. The origin of the word utopia, which was created by Thomas More, is Greek. More used the prefix “ou”meaning “not” in front of the word “topos” meaning “place” and created this term which means nowhere, no place, anywhere, or placeless. He called his book Utopia, which he published in Latin in 1516. Since that date, the term has been generally used for a place that is outside the known boundaries of geographical world and human experience world.

Locke sets some limits to property: The limit of needs: We must leave enough, and as good, to those who need it. The limit of spoilage and destruction: God does not give the world and its possessions to us to spoil or destruct them. These are supplied to meet the need of individuals. Individuals should not possess more than they need. The limit of labor: Ad individual can only possess what he contributed his labor for.

What is peculiar to Hume’s exploration of morals is his two ways of analyzing reasonable and true propositions. The former belongs to the relationship among ideas, and the latter to that between ideas and phenomena. Hume asserts that reason functions on the relationship among ideas and on those between ideas and phenomena. If reason has the ability to refer to morals, it has to be either one or the other, or the combination of both. Secondly, according to Hume, reason is (and has to be) the slave of passions. Moreover, he claims that a particular passion cannot be considered as rational or irrational. They might be based on correct or incorrect beliefs, or they may confirm or contradict with other passions (Monk, 2004: 166). Hume’s philosophical investigations define moral beliefs as individual experiences and emotions that emerge from the sympathies of the related parties.

Hobbes succeeds in making a stringent transition from organic metaphors to mechanical metaphors to describe politics. For him, the state is not a biological but mechanical body.

According to Machiavelli, the main means of
The Prince is violence. A prince who wants to hold
power should not have any other purpose or thought
than war. The correct answer is A.

According to Machiavelli, the main means of
The Prince is violence. A prince who wants to hold
power should not have any other purpose or thought
than war. Machiavelli distinguishes between the
violence that is applied rightly and cruelties that
are applied wrongly when a prince is coming to the
power. However, this definition is not based entirely
on a moral basis, and for him, it is an appropriate
behavior for a prince to resort to violence intensely
at a time in order to secure himself against threads.
Once he defeats his enemies, a prince may leave
aside ruling by means of violence and begin to
take the most useful precautions for his subjects
(Abramson, 2014, 191). In addition to this, the
ruler should never stay away from the idea of war.
He must struggle with this thought in peace more
than in war. According to Machiavelli, violence may be a necessary means in politics, but it is rarely sufficient. The Machiavelist ruler must be both a lion and a fox at the same time: he must know in which case cunning and trick yield better results than directly using violence (Abramson, 2014: 195). The correct answer is C.

These theses had
social and political demands as much as theological
ones. These demands had three main consequences.
1. Catholic world was divided
2. The churches were brought under the
control of the states.
3. The bourgeoisie used these these demands
as a weapon against its opponents such
as aristocracy and the Roman Catholic
Church. (Ağaoğulları et al., 2016). The correct answer is D

Calvin claims that social order
organized in accord with the true religion is
composed of three elements:

1. The Governors, the source of duty is God.
2. Laws, as the products of natural justice imprinted in all minds by God.
3. The Governed, who are responsible to obey the governors as much as the laws of God (Ağaoğulları, et. al., 2016). So, the correct answer is A.

Bodin’s preference for the best form of
government is monarchy. Bodin bases his
preference for monarchy on three basic reasons. The correct answer is C.

The model of society that More represents in
Utopia is authoritarian, patriarchal, and hierarchical.
There is a total economic equality. The elderly,
husbands and fathers have respect and authority.
Property is collective, there is no competition,
and everyone works towards common interests
(Blackwell Political Thought Encyclopedia, 1994).
Utopia takes the Republic of Plato as an example
in some ways. There is a longing for the past in
this satire where there is an intense criticism of the
economy of the business life. Namely, the correct answer is D.

Hobbes says that there are three basic
characteristics belonging to human nature that
lead to conflict in the state of nature: competition,
insecurity and honor. The correct answer is B.

Sovereignty rights are identical whether it is
established by a covenant or by subjugation. Some
of the characteristics of the covenant are as follows:
1. First of all, as men establish the state by
consensus, not by a natural means, state is
artificial.
2. What men agree upon is that they surrender
their rights to the state in order to be in
peace and safe.

3. Each and every man equally surrender their
rights to the one and the same entity.
4. The sovereign is not included, only the
governed subjects are. The relationship
between the sovereign and the citizens is
one of inequality.
5. Any individual who agrees, authorizes
Leviathan in decisions in his name. The
superior government or sovereign power
has the right to use all the powers and
opportunities of all the people.
6. Only the sovereign power can keep the
covenant valid and sustainable. (Ağaoğulları,
et. al., 2016).

According to these information, the correct answer is given in option C.

Locke posits the natural law in such a way
that corresponds to human behavior and moral
law. Natural law indicates normative codes of what
ought to be. In this sense, it is universal. Natural
law corresponds to rational law. Locke’s nature is
defined by equality, freedom and rationality. So, the correct answer is option E.

Machiavelli had two different but interrelated
objectives. His personal objective was to return to
his active duty in the state. His second objective
arose from rejection of the past. According to
Machiavelli, the Italian city states, including
Florence, often had instability for that reason and
they obviously tended to decline. As a result, they
were dominated by external powers such as Spain,
France or the Papacy. Machiavelli’s second objective
was of political: to ensure stability and to free entire
Italy from any kind of secular or religious external
control. So, the correct answer is option D.

First, the working conditions were very heavy in the 19th Century and work itself became a form of persecution for workers rather than a joyful process of the self creation. Work under these conditions was physically disturbing and did not provide mental satisfaction. But, they had to work to earn their livings. Therefore, they became alienated from their own selves.

Second, workers became a part, a gear of the machine they operate. They worked even without knowing what exactly they were producing, because they were deprived of the information about the whole process of production. The labor of the worker was taken away from him/her and was transformed to an external entity. The physical, objectified form of their labor was the product, and these products were used to exploit them further by capitalists. Workers did not work to produce for their needs; they worked to produce commodities which will be sold for profit of the capitalist. Therefore, they became alienated to their labor and to the products they produced.

Third, working under these conditions, workers were also alienated to their species, their population, and their fellows. They only felt free in their spare time and were encouraged to be interested in their selves. In addition, the population of the industrial society was divided into two groups, one of which lived in physical comfort and was able to participate in creative actions freely whilst the other was degraded to a lower category who had to work under poor, dirty and severe conditions of the 19th Century factories.

The value that workers produce above their wages, which is at the survival level, is called surplus value that is appropriated by capitalists as their profit.

The roots of dialectical materialism lie in the dialectic method of Hegel, who developed a theory of history focusing on change.

He adopted the dialectic as the essential logic of history 

He did not accept the metaphysical assumptions of Hegel 

He claimed that the dialectic was a conflict among worldly interests 

He considered the dialectic as a means of accomplishing historical progress through struggle

It suggests that all social arrangements are formed on the ground of economic relations 

He does not argue that the consciousness of human determine their existence 

People are pupils of economic power or structure

The real driving force of change is only technology or economic systems