Joseph Pallattil

Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, its origin and so on. We can see Baruch Spinoza’s understanding in relation to politics in his work Tractatus Politicus. It is a brief work, but with full of thoughts. In this work Spinoza expressed the liberal and democratic hope. In metaphysics, reason is the establishment of order among things in the universe. In ethics, reason is the establishment of order among desires. Likewise, in politics reason is the establishment of order among men.
According to Baruch Spinoza, Political philosophy should grow out of a distinction between natural and moral order. This distinction is between existence before and existence after the formation of organized societies. His political philosophy speaks about the distinction between and evolution of civil state and natural state. In natural order, human beings lived in isolation. There was no such law or social organization. There was no conception of right or wrong. There was no idea of justice and injustice. The principle then was the might is right. In natural order, might and right were considered one and the same. Moreover, in natural state, there was no good or bad. There was no conception of sin. A person consults only his own advantage and determine what is good or bad according to his own fancy.
Later the natural order gave way to civil state. The natural order of powers passed into moral order of rights. The reason behind this shift is fear. Fear of solitude lead to social organization. In other words, fear of danger begets association. “Since fear of solitude exists in all men, because no one in solitude is strong enough to defend himself and procure the necessaries of life, it follows that men by nature tend towards social organization.” Here in this state too, the principle remains as might is right. But, here might of the whole becomes important. The might of the whole limits the might of the individual. Individually human person is selfish. They are individualistic. But through association they become good. They imitate values from others through association. There emerges conscience. According to Spinoza, conscience is not innate. It is acquired through association.
The end of the state is liberty. “The last end of the state is not to dominate men, nor to restrain them by fear; rather it is so to free each man from fear that he may live and act with full security and without injury to himself or his neighbour. Democracy is the most reasonable form of government. “Democracy has still to solve the problem of enlisting the best energies of men while giving to all alike the choice of those, among the trained and fit, by whom they wish to be ruled.”