Political theories

History

Diverse traditions of political thought also developed in ancient China. Confucianism, initiated by Confucius (c. 551 – c. 479 BCE), saw the virtue of humaneness or benevolence as the foundation of social order and norms. It sought to balance conflicting interests between private and public spheres, seeing society as an extension of the family. Taoism, another tradition, focused on the relation between humans and nature, arguing that humans should act in harmony with the natural order of the universe while avoiding excessive desires. It is sometimes associated with anarchism because of its emphasis on natural order, spontaneity, and rejection of coercive authority. Legalism, a realist school of thought, proposed that effective governance of large states requires strict laws based on rewards and punishments to control the harmful effects of personal self-interest. In ancient India, various social and political theories emerged in the 2nd millennium BCE, recorded in the Rig Veda, like the idea that the social order is naturally divided into castes, each fulfilling a different role in society. The Arthashastra, traditionally attributed to Kautilya (375–283 BCE), was a political treatise on the essential components of states, such as the king, ministers, territory, and army, describing their nature and interaction. Buddhist political thought, starting in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, rejected the strict caste division of Hindu society, focusing instead on universal equality, brotherhood, and the reduction of everyone's suffering.