Introduction to Political Theory

The book is divided into five main sections, one for each of the fundamental aspects of political theory or philosophy: ontology, epistemology, anthropology, ethics, and politics. In each of the five main sections, the four philosophical traditions that have been most influential in political thought are examined: the classical, the Epicurean, the classical religious, and the esoteric. Each section, except the section on esoteric thought, includes readings excerpted from primary texts of ancient, medieval, and early modern Western writers. The section on esoteric thought includes excerpts from gnostic, millenarian, and Hermeticist literature.

The book focuses primarily on the Western Tradition. It includes many philosophic definitions. It takes as its model Ernest Barker’s From Alexander to Constantine. Each reading includes a paragraph or two of explanatory material. At present, the readings require the addition of a prose translation of Lucretius’s On the Nature of the Universe (or alternatively On the Nature of Things–De Rerum Natura). Study questions are included for most readings.

The readings, which can be found in detail at <https://www.millerpolitics.com/ConceptsI.htm> include the following:

Section/Chapter One: Ontology-Cosmology Readings.

Pre-philosophical: Henri and H.A. Frankfort, selections from “Myth and Reality” (The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man).

Epicurean: Selections from Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe, and Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan.

Classical: Selections from Aristotle, and from the Stoics Cicero, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, and from Avicenna

Classical Theological: Selections from St. Augustine’s City of God, St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, and from the works of Al Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroës.

Esoteric: the Gnostic Apocryphon of John, the Esoteric Poemandres, selections from Christian millennialist literature

Section/Chapter Two: Epistemology Readings.

Pre-Philosophical: Henri and H.A. Frankfort, selections from “Myth and Reality” (The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man).

Epicurean: Selections from Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe and Hobbes, Leviathan.

Classical: Selections from Plato’s Republic, and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Physics.

Classical Christian: Selections from St. Augustine’s early dialogue On Free Choice of the Will, from the City of God, from his Confessions, and from On Christian Doctrine. Excerpt from Oregon State University website on “faith,” “belief,” “knowledge.”

Esoteric: Excerpts from Hans Jonas’s The Gnostic Religion.

Section/Chapter Three: Anthropology—Empirical and Philosophic—Readings

Epicurean: Selections from Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe, Hobbes, Leviathan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality.

Classical: Selections from Plato’s Republic, and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.

Classical Christian: Selections from St. Augustine’s City of God.

Esoteric: The Gnostic In Quest of the Priceless Pearl, the Hermeticist Poemandres, and excerpts from Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, from Pico della Mirandola, On the Dignity of Man, and from Ibn Arabi, The Structure of the City of Man Whose King is the Soul.

Section/Chapter Four: Ethics and Morality Readings.

Epicurean: Epicurus, Principal Doctrines; selections from Hobbes, Leviathan, Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Jeremy Bentham, Principles of Morals and Legislation, John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism.

Classical: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book Two; excerpts from Plato’s Republic; excerpts from Epictetus, Enchiridion.

Classical-Christian: Selections from St. Augustine’s On the Free Choice of the Will and St. Thomas’s Summa Theologica, Treatise on Law.

Esoteric: Excerpts from Hans Jonas, Norman Cohn, Ronald Knox, and Jean-Pierre Mahé.

Section/Chapter Five: Politics Readings.

Pre-Philosophical: excerpts from Thorkild Jacobsen, “Mesopotamia: The Cosmos as a State and the Function of the State” in Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man

Epicurean: excerpts from Hobbes, Leviathan, Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and The Social Contract

Classical: excerpts from Aristotle’s Politics, and Nicomachean Ethics; and Plato’s Republic

Classical-Christian: excerpts from St. Augustine’s City of God, and St. Thomas’s Summa Theologica, Treatise on Law; from Norman Cohn’s Pursuit of the Millennium.

Esoteric: utopian, millenarian, apocalyptic