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Democracy

A Ridiculously Brief Overview of Political Philosophy

A five-minute tour of some political thinkers and ideas by Anja Steinbauer.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), one of the greatest political thinkers of the Western tradition, declared that “man is by nature a political animal.” However, there is a tension between two forces which move us; the Greeks termed them ethos – morality and kratos – power. Is doing the politically prudent thing compatible with doing the moral thing? Aristotle, like Confucius (551-471 B.

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