Social and Political Philosophy
Social and Political Philosophy
This domain examines the legitimate basis of political authority and the principles of justice, liberty, equality and rights. The exam typically asks you to compare theories and apply them to a public issue. Legitimacy concerns the right to rule; authority concerns the right to command.
Core rules
- Social contract theory grounds political obligation in consent: Hobbes stresses security, Locke natural rights, Rousseau the general will.
- Liberty can be negative (freedom from interference) or positive (freedom to realise one’s capacities).
- Equality includes formal equality before law, equality of opportunity, and equality of outcome.
- Justice can be procedural, distributive or retributive. Rawls’s veil of ignorance selects principles fair to all; Nozick emphasises entitlement and minimal state.
- Marxist critique focuses on class, alienation and exploitation; Ambedkar’s social justice addresses caste and constitutional morality. Civil disobedience debates ask when law-breaking is justified.
Worked example
A state proposes reserving jobs for a disadvantaged group. A libertarian asks whether the policy violates individual entitlement; a Rawlsian asks whether it improves the position of the least advantaged; a Marxist asks whether it changes underlying class relations. The same policy receives different justifications because the theories use different criteria of justice.
Traps
Do not equate freedom with absence of all law; do not treat equality as identical to sameness; and do not confuse justification of the state with justification of every state action. Define ‘rights’ as claim, liberty or entitlement.