Political Theory Has Changed Over The History Of The World

Political theory has changed over the history of the discipline. Two of the most influential and arguably most important theorists are the Greek philosopher Plato, and the Renaissance’s Niccolo Machiavelli. These two characters represent the beginning of idealistic political thought, and a more realist and contemporary way that politics are looked at even today. The ideals of these two will be discussed and dissected, to some extent to show how unobtainable Plato’s ideal is compared to Machiavelli’s realism that is seen in today’s political atmosphere in various types of political systems seen throughout the world. Looking at Plato, you must understand where and what the timeframe he lived in. He was born in Classical Greece in the year 427. He was educated, sophisticate, wise, intelligent, and also wealthy. These were traits that in this time period put you at the top of societal elites. Plato was a very gifted orator and speaker, giving him the ability t o reason and discuss any topic really, with the ability to win arguments and persuade people. Due to his status in society, he was very idealistic and used this idealism to reason how a perfect society should be constructed and run. Plato discusses and sets forth his political ideal in the Republic. He uses platonic type writing in the book, using characters to discuss, make points and arguments about how to form such a society. The ideal city, or state even, is a model for how we as people look atShow MoreRelatedContemporary Mainstream Approaches : Neo Realism And Neo Liberalism1527 Words   |  7 Pages(neo-realism and neo-liberalism) In the previous chapters, we’ve taken a broad glance of Realism and Liberalism; in this chapter we take a look at the modern version of these political theories and their respective differences. Although Realism and Neo-realism are close in name, they aren’t that close in ideologies. 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