Policy, History, and Philosophy
In this article, we look at Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Plato used this story, or thought experiment, to show us his understanding of reality and our ability to understand it. Throughout Western history, there has been general agreement that there is
At Spirit of the Republic, we speak a lot about government. We will take a step back here and look at some early thoughts on different forms of government. The first person to reflect upon forms of government may also be regarded
In a previous article, we encountered Madison’s thoughts on how to control faction within a community. We touched on the idea of letting groups flourish to counteract each other. Finally, we touched on how the structure of a federal republic might control
In a free society, people have the right to organize themselves to advocate for their policy preferences. Policy preferences may be based on a variety of different things. Among these are religious or philosophical beliefs, self-interest, or loyalty to some group such
The late Harvard philosopher, John Rawls, wrote one of the most influential works in 20th century political thought — his 1971 book, A Theory of Justice. Twenty-two years later, he updated some of his ideas from A Theory of Justice with in
