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Why political science matters?

The meaning of political science is often restricted to the state, government, and everyday politics. However, it goes beyond that. We as humans share various relationships. What do we do when conflicts arise in these relationships? How do we resolve them? The Socratic dialectical method or Habermas’ idea of deliberation provides a solution. It says conflicts are better resolved through dialogue rather than domination. Hence, it tells us how to talk in a dialectical manner. It is the process of reasoning together. For instance, when your father asks you to aim for a government job, but you want to become a content creator, you do not totally oppose each other. Instead, you engage rationally: Why is a government job important? Maybe because it provides security and financial stability. But being a content creator might give you creative freedom. So you decide to take a government job but also start your creator journey simultaneously — maybe by vlogging your day as a government employee...
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Kautilya: Moral or Immoral?

 


Kautilya, also known as Chanakya and Vishnu Gupta is an ancient Indian teacher, philosopher, economist and a royal adviser.

It is wrong to see Kautilya as an idealistic philosopher full of morality, ethics and principles.

He can be associated with these terms but not in the political sphere at least. In political dimension talking about Rajdharma, he says that the king should constantly struggle to augment his power.

Also, he says that “sole dharma (raj dharma) of the king is to protect the dharma (swadharma) and varnashram.” But at that time caste mobility didn’t exist and Brahmanic supremacy was so rigid. So that means this establishment of varnashram can not be seen in a positive manner as simply division of labour. Because Jainism, Buddhism and more or less Upanishads have already been propounded as a response to the Brahmanical supremacy established by the Vedas, know as Shamanic tradition in Indian Political Thought. Kautilya even allows the king to kill the person who comes in his path towards achieving the goals.

Kautilya says ahimsa, sāuca, satya, anasūya, ānrsamsya and ksamā are the common bounden duties of everybody but he puts the king out of it. He allows the king to violate these duties.

Duty is basically Dharma. So if one performs his/her duties s/he is performing dharma if not then adharma. He even exploits the religiosity of people. He allows the king to loot the temples in the emergency. So Kautilya’s king can be untruthful at times and also uses foul means to achieve ends. His views on women are also repugnant.

So Kautilya crosses the boundary of morality and enters into amoral acts as far as the state/king is concerned. Kautilya is a realistic and practical philosopher. It can also be said that for him end justifies the means. No question that Kautilya has laid the foundation of a sophisticated and scientific administration but at the same time, he had regressive, fallacious and immoral views regarding certain issues.



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