The study of political philosophy was born from the branch of practical philosophy. However, the discussions of political philosophy must still be distinguished with philosophy of science. Philosophy is an attempt to seek the truth down to its roots. While political philosophy is the study of moral judgments and criticism of the processes underlying social, political and economic which aims to drive the creation of good and proper organizational structure of society.

Political philosophy has occurred since the era of ancient Greece. Till now political philosophy continues to experience growth, starts from its journey since the era of Ancient Greece, then passes through the medieval, renaissance, the Enlightenment Era, modern century until today raises a variety of work and great ideas from the experts.

From the eras at least 18 major works appeared on political philosophy field. Here we will explore some big ideas about political philosophy from every era, including:

Plato – Politea

Plato was a philosopher who lived during the period about 428 to 348 BC in Athens. He wrote the concept with the name Politea at 365 BC, at the time when the concept of Athenian democracy (Polis) has been applied. Principal thoughts of Politea were talking about the concept of the State as macro-antropos. Plato focuses his study about the concept of justice, the virtue and political order. Political philosophy have evolved since the era of Plato.

Aristoteles – Politica

Aristotle was also a Greek philosopher who lived from about 348 to 322 BC. He was born in Stagira and died in Chalkis. Aristotle Politica draft after he studied the concept of Plato about Politea. Thoughts about Politica
were addressed in response to Plato. Aristotle sparked his thinking when it starts to collapse the concept of Polis in Athens. At that time the prevailing concept was regarding to cosmopolitan Hellenism initiated by Alexander de Great. The idea from Politica is there should be a separation between the political and non-political. Because of the thought, Plato finally expose the cores regarding the concept of citizen, the concept of property, and the concept of political community. The concept of proprietary was later developed by John Locke.

Aurelius Agustinus

Aurelius Augustine was famous church fathers through the ages. He was born in Tagase, North Africa in 354 AD. Although was born as a son of Africa, but Augustine has a big name in the Roman. Augustine lived in the early medieval Christian (post-Roman). At that time the displacement occurs between the nations which then caused controversy among Christian and non-Christian.

At this time, Augustine then collects his thoughts on political philosophy into a masterpiece called “De Civitate Dei”.  In the great work, Augustine describes his ideas about “justice as a criterion of legitimacy of the nation”. Augustine also emphasizes on “God’s Country” and “State of the World”, mingle in empirical state.

The most interesting is the emergence of the phrase about “religion as a critique of power”. Perhaps his thinking is the first in history, when religion was used as a political criticism. In addition, Augustine also describes the concept of legitimacy of power.

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas was a famous theologian, very well known until this century. He dedicated his whole life to develop Christian doctrines. Until on his way of thinking, he had political and social issues. Thomas was born in in 1224 AD in Roccasecca and died in 1274 AD in Fossanuova. Thomas lives in a state of feudal. So then he formulated his theory of “natural law” magnitude in the works called “De Regimine Principum”. He formulated his writings in 1265 BC in the midst of life conditions of feudalism. He also stressed the views on the fight against tyranny and about politics and justice.