Law & Political Theory

Ungoverned man will eventually get up to no good. The ancient Greeks understood this, but apparently failed to see that self-governed man is often not much better. Except, of course, for Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle claimed the ideal government (or constitution, as he called it) is a benevolent monarchy in which the king rules according to the needs and desires of the people. His teacher, Plato, opted for a whole group of philosopher-kings as heads of a communal society dependent on cooperation and education for its success. Man has discussed and tried to implement a variety of "utopias" ever since.

According to St. Paul, the purpose of government is to uphold good and punish evil. Usually we assume government's purpose is to take money from people who need it and give it to people who don't, in which case it's doing the opposite of what it should. But political theory debates are often not about what government should do, as in how it should do it.

A poorly run government will have unhappy and possibly revolutionary citizens. The solution is not to make the people happy, however, but to learn to govern well.This is typically the nature of political theory in its philosophical and ethical context—what method of rule will work best, given the typical behavior of mankind? Christians know that proper government must adhere to biblical principles, even if it doesn't specifically acknowledge them to be such. We can't let pragmatism and emotional feeling misdirect us from the pursuit of a truly godly and well-governed society.

Did you find this review helpful?
Parent Categories
Law & Political Theory
60 Items found Print
Active Filters: 12th grade (Ages 17-18)
Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates
Signet Classics
by Patrick Henry & John DeWitt
from Signet Classics
American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$7.95
Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates
by Patrick Henry & John DeWitt
from Dover Publications
American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$6.00
City of God
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (translated by Henry Bettenson)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient/Medieval Theology for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$18.00
Common Sense
Dover Thrift Editions
by Thomas Paine
from Dover Publications
Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$4.00
Common Sense
Dover Thrift Editions
by Thomas Paine
from Living Book Press
Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Communist Manifesto
Penguin Classics
by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00
Communist Manifesto
by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
from Signet Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95
Communist Manifesto
Penguin Classics
by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Essential American
by Jackie Gingrich Cushman
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$15.00
Federalist Papers
Signet Classics
by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay
from Signet Classics
American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$7.95
Federalist Papers
Dover Thrift series
by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay
from Dover Publications
American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$7.00
Five Dialogues of Plato
by Plato, translated by G.M.A. Grube, revised by John M. Cooper
2nd edition from Hackett Publishing Company
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Five Great Dialogues of Plato
by Plato
2nd edition from Walter J. Black, Inc.
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
God and Politics
1st edition from P&R Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in Law & Political Theory (Location: GOV-LAW)
Gorgias
Penguin Classics
by Plato
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$10.00
Gorgias
Oxford World's Classics
by Plato
from Oxford University
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$8.95 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Great Dialogues of Plato
Signet Classics
by Plato
from Signet Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$6.95
Keys to Good Government
by David Barton
2nd edition from WallBuilder Press
for 7th-12th grade
in Law & Political Theory (Location: GOV-LAW)
$4.95
Last Days of Socrates
Penguin Classics
by Plato
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00
Law
by Frederic Bastiat
2nd edition from FEE
for 9th-Adult
in Law & Political Theory (Location: GOV-LAW)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Law
by Frederic Bastiat
2nd edition from CreateSpace
for 9th-Adult
in Law & Political Theory (Location: GOV-LAW)
Law
by Frederic Bastiat
from Laissez Faire Books
for 9th-Adult
in Law & Political Theory (Location: GOV-LAW)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Leviathan
Penguin Classics
by Thomas Hobbes
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$13.00
Lex Rex
by Samuel Rutherford, introduction by Douglas Wilson
from Canon Press
for 11th-Adult
in Christianity and the State (Location: XWV-STA)
$17.95
Naked Communist
by W. Cleon Skousen
from Albatross Publishers
for 11th-Adult
in Law & Political Theory (Location: GOV-LAW)
$19.99
On Politics and Education
Walter J. Black Classics Club
by John Locke
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
On the Social Contract
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from Dover Publications
Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$5.00
One and the Many
by R. J. Rushdoony
from Chalcedon / Ross House Books
for 11th-Adult
in Philosophy (Location: XWV-PHI)
$26.00
Original Intent
by David Barton
3rd from WallBuilder Press
for 11th-Adult
in Law & Political Theory (Location: GOV-LAW)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Original Intent
by David Barton
3rd from WallBuilder Press
for 11th-Adult
in Law & Political Theory (Location: GOV-LAW)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Political Thought
by Hunter Baker
from Crossway Books
for 10th-Adult
in Law & Political Theory (Location: GOV-LAW)
$8.00
Politics
by Aristotle
from Dover Publications
Ancient Greek Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$7.00
Practical View of Christianity
by William Wilberforce
from Hendrickson Publishers
Religion/Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in Hendrickson Christian Classics (Location: XCL-DEV)
$12.95 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Prince, The
Penguin Classics
by Niccolò Machiavelli
from Penguin Classics
Political Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$8.00
Prince, The
Dover Thrift Editions
by Niccolo Machiavelli
from Dover Publications
Political Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.00
Prince, The
by Niccolò Machiavelli (translation by Harvey C. Mansfield)
from University of Chicago
Political Philosophy for 11th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Reflections on the Revolution in France
Penguin Classics
by Edmund Burke
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$14.00
Reflections on the Revolution in France
by Edmund Burke
from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Republic
Dover Thrift Editions
by Plato
from Dover Publications
Ancient Philosophy/Utopian Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.00
Rights of Man
by Thomas Paine
from Living Book Press
for 10th grade-adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Rights of Man, Common Sense
by Thomas Paine
from Oxford University
for 10th grade-adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$11.95
Second Treatise of Civil Government
by John Locke
from Prometheus Books
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$12.99
Second Treatise of Civil Government
by John Locke
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$5.00
Selected Works of Cicero
Penguin Classics
by Cicero
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Roman Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$17.00
Selected Works of Cicero
by Cicero
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
Ancient Roman Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Social Contract
Penguin Classics
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from Penguin Classics
Philosophy/Politics for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$11.00
Socrates Meets Machiavelli
by Peter Kreeft
from Ignatius Press
for 11th-Adult
in Philosophy (Location: XWV-PHI)
Socrates Meets Marx
by Peter Kreeft
from Ignatius Press
for 11th-Adult
in Philosophy (Location: XWV-PHI)
Student's Guide to American Political Thought
by George W. Carey
1st edition from Intercollegiate Studies Institute
for 9th-12th grade
$12.99
Student's Guide to Political Philosophy
by Harvey C. Mansfield
from Intercollegiate Studies Institute
for 9th-12th grade
$8.00 $5.50 (1 in stock)
Student's Guide to the Study of Law
by Gerard V. Bradley
1st edition from Intercollegiate Studies Institute
for 9th-12th grade
$8.00
Team of Rivals
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Trial and Death of Socrates
Dover Thrift Editions
by Plato
from Dover Publications
Ancient Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$4.00 $2.00 (1 in stock)
Two Treatises of Government
by John Locke
from Tuttle Publishing
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$9.95
Two Treatises of Government
by John Locke
3rd edition from Cambridge University
Political Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$19.99
U.S. Supreme Court
by Linda Greenhouse
from Oxford University
for 9th-Adult
in Government & Civics Resources (Location: GOV-REF)
$11.95 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Wealth of Nations
by Adam Smith
from Bantam Books
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$9.99
Wealth of Nations
by Adam Smith, introduction by Robert Reich, notes by Edwin Cannan
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
What Would the Founders Do?
by Richard Brookhiser
from Basic Books
for 10th-Adult
in Law & Political Theory (Location: GOV-LAW)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Whatever Happened to Justice?
by Richard Maybury
2nd edition from Bluestocking Press
for 9th-Adult
in Uncle Eric books (Location: ECON-ERIC)
$17.95