Polıtıcal Thought

Yanıt Açıklaması: Renowned scholar Leo Strauss had a considerable level of impact upon the interpretation of political classics in the post-war era. Explicitly criticising historicism and positivism, he recommended reading between the lines and unorthodox ways of interpretation according to the standards of his own time. For Strauss, studying political thought is “primarily and in a way chiefly... listening to conversations between the great philosophers... the greatest minds, and therefore... studying the great books.” According to the Straussian approach regarding with the political thought, universal human condition must be evaluated autonomously. According to this approach, various elements in political thought such as time and place are degenerating accompaniments for the abstract and clear form.

Yanıt Açıklaması: It has to be kept in mind that ideal state of Plato is not a historical one. It has not become concretein any period of history. It is timeless. Four elements affect the degeneration of the states: disappearance of internal harmony of society, violation of division of labour within the society, emergence of economical class conflicts, and finally, moral corruption and destruction of unity of the rulers. "A) The need of mass for social knowledge" is one of the reasons for the birth of sophist thought in Athens.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Legibus solutus means solved/released from laws; and used to denote the situation when the ruler is not subject to the sanctions of laws, or, when the ruler- a tyrant, or a dictator in this case- sees himself as “above the laws”.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Political thoughts are not descriptive, but normative perspectives; meaning that they do not aim to find out how things are, but attempt to convince us how things ought to be.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Relying on aforementioned background information, we can notice that power inevitably refers to the use of force in relational terms.

Yanıt Açıklaması: As social movements and political groups campaign and struggle according to their ideological orientations, political parties deal with the task of formulating interests and particular preferences into acceptable public positions. Policy making derives from the attempt to address societal issues and the term policy mainly refers to the outcome of the struggle over resource distribution and the way governments address the social-political problems to achieve their goals in political thought.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Protectionist policies aim to preserve the economy from harsh competition or particular sectors from foreign competitors in order to speed up the development and increase the pace of the economic growth.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Dominium, as a legal term in Latin, means ownership or right to possess a property, or, to have control over a certain property, i.e., the right to use it.

Yanıt Açıklaması: In the 19th Century France, the terms of left and right were used to delineate the supporters of the Republic vis-á-vis the supporters of the monarchy.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The statements in the choices B to E are not true of the contextual approach. The contextual approach states that political thought of a given time should be interpreted with the historical events of that time to be able to understand it better.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The statements in II, III and IV are correct.  The statement in I is not correct because the term left/right was originated during the French Revolution (18 th century)

Yanıt Açıklaması: Free population of Athens had four strata: Eupatrides , geomores , demiurgus , and thetes – the nobles, small farmers, craftsmen, and poor peasants, respectively (Ağaoğulları, 2011, p.36). Both inter-class and intra-class struggles between these groups had led to different types of administrations such as Aristocracy , oligarchy , plutocracy , and democracy . Perioikos (strata of Sparta)

Yanıt Açıklaması: Fuqaha is the plural form of faqih. Faqih is the person who either is specialized in the Islamic science of law (ilm al-fıqh) or the execution of law.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Christianity is agreed to be indifferent to matters of slavery; which is also compatible with the Ancient Greek thought. The following quotations from the different parts of The New Testament show that slavery is not considered a big social problem in the eyes of Christianity. Moreover, Christianity advises slaves to be obedient to their masters, regardless of whether they are good or evil: However, there are also verses that refer to the equality and unity of all human beings-around the personality of Jesus Christ, which leads us to thinking that the social order making room for slavery is only a worldly illusion. On the basis of these quotations from the primary source of Christianity, it is possible to argue that even religions-including the monotheistic were inadequate in changing the socio-economic circumstances of the time they emerged. So, even the apostles of Jesus Christ did not have enough courage and confidence to forbid and/or to stand against slavery although Christianity is quite often advertised as “the religion of free will/freedom”.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Christianity is agreed to be indifferent to matters of slavery, which is also compatible with the ancient Greek thought. Thus, the correct answer is D.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Conditio sine qua non is a Latin term most frequently used in logic; and it means the condition in the absence of which something cannot be: So, politics cannot be understood without any reference to fiqh.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Canon law is divine law, natural or positive, incorporated in the sacred book collections and codes

Yanıt Açıklaması: Women should, in general, be ruled by men. The inferiority of women was already the general opinion in the medieval ages, but Aristotle also reinforced it.

Yanıt Açıklaması: A comprehensive understanding of the western political thought requires a careful reading of the early Greek and Roman tradition in this field. Political institutions in ancient Greece started with the birth of polis that is today literally known as city. However, the polis, beyond various concrete structures, represented a particular social organization where a vivid and secure atmosphere for social, political, and cultural opportunities as well as discussions about them were being provided to residents.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The characteristics that should be possessed by the ruler/Imam/Caliph, or by the philosopher-king, on Averroës’ view, are as follows: 1. Love of knowledge and the aptitude to acquire theoretical sciences and teach them, 2. Good retention-as a prerequisite for learning, 3. Love of learning, 4. Love of truth and hatred of falsehood, 5. Contempt for sensual pleasures, 6. Aversion to amassing wealth (as well as desire for wealth), 7. Magnanimity, 8. Courage, 9. Resolve to pursue on his own for what is good or beautiful, 10. Eloquence/facility in expressing thoughts, 11. Ability to light quickly on the middle term (Fakhry, 2001: 111). These criteria, according to Averroës, are both in compliance with the ethical standards of Plato and Aristotle on one hand, and, with the ethical code of shari‘ah on the other (ibid).