Review - Philosophical Roots of Public Policy

SOPHISTS: Specific kinds of teachers in ancient Greece who were specialized in using the tools of philosophy and rhetoric. There were also other sophists who taught subjects such as music, athletics, and mathematics. In general, they claimed to teach arete ("excellence" or "virtue", applied to various subject areas), predominantly to young statesmen and nobility.

SOCRATES: A classical Greek philosopher who is known to be one of the founders of Western Philosophy and being the first moral philosopher. For ethics and epistemology, Socrates has made a lot of contributions. Because Socrates didn’t write anything by himself and his followers like Plato and Xenophon depicted him, there are sometimes contradictions found too.

PLATO: An Athenian philosopher during the classical period in Ancient Greece. He is founder of Platonian school of thought and the Academy where people could reach out for higher education. He was the innovator for the written dialogues and dialects for philosophy. His most famous contribution is the Theory of Forms. He had been in relation to several great scholars and he was considered accomplished teacher of mathematics, politics, etc.

ARISTOTLE: also was a Greek philosopher during the classical period in ancient Greece. He was the founder of the Lyceum and the Peripatetic school of philosophy along with Aristotelian tradition. He has his written contributions in many subjects like physics, biology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, psychology, economics, politics and government also.

POLYBIUS: A Greek historian of the Hellenistic period who is popular for his work “The Histories”. He is considered important for his analysis of the mixed constitution or the separation of powers in government, which was influential on Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws and the framers of the United States Constitution.

SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS: An Italian philosopher, catholic priest and doctor of the church. He was an immensely influential philosopher and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, for which he is also known to be Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor Communis. He presented his analysis mostly in the fields of ethics, natural law, metaphysics and political theory.

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI: was an Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher and was very influential. He is also popularly known to be father of modern political philosophy and political science. He had also served as senior official in the Florentine Republic with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He said immoral behaviors like dishonesty and killing of innocents as normal and effective in his works.

THOMAS HOBBES: was an English philosopher and is considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. He is famous for his book which provided influential formulation of social contract theory. He also contributed in the fields of history, geometry, the physics of gases, ethics, etc.

JOHN LOCKE: was an English philosopher and physician and is commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism". He is equally important to the social contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self. Locke is said to have established the method of introspection, or observing the emotions and behaviors of one's self.

CHARLES MONTESQUIEU: was a French judge, man of letters and political philosopher. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. He is also known for doing more than any other author to secure the place of the word "despotism" in the political lexicon.

JEAN BODIN: was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parliament of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is best known for his theory of sovereignty; he was also an influential writer on demonology. He was critical of papal authority over governments, favoring the strong central control of a national monarchy as an antidote to factional strife. He has also contributed for history and economics.

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU: was a Genevan philosopher, writer and composer. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic and educational thought. His Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract are cornerstones in modern political and social thought. His Emile, or On Education (1762) is an educational treatise on the place of the individual in society.