Fundamental Orientations of Mind in Political Thought

Abstract

A meta-theory was developed that brought together implicit premises or world views that constantly re-surface in human thought. Although these elements, which are often referred to as being the result of differences in human ‘temperament’, have long been part of the scholarly activity of humankind, a comprehensive synthesis has been lacking so far. In order to redress this shortcoming, an integrated perspective, supported by scholarly evidence, regarding basic characteristics of making sense of life and world was introduced. As a result, four paradigmatic or root intellectual orientations (designated as type I, type II, type III and type IV) have been identified. The theory was found to be applicable across a wide range of scholarly disciplines and cultures. In the present case the field of political thought is surveyed. Four basic paradigms in the literature on political thought are briefly described in terms of an example of each meta-type, namely: the objectivist-empyrean, e.g., Plato (type I), the objectivist-empiricist, e.g., Aristotle (type II), the subjectivist-empiricist, e.g., Rousseau (type III), and the subjectivist-empyrean, e.g., Marx (type IV).

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p2352