Curated playlist
Political philosophy
- TotalitarianismThe word totalitarianism began in 1923 as an insult, and Mussolini's fascists wore it proudly.
- Freedom of speechVoltaire never said the most famous line about free speech. A biographer wrote it in 1906 to illustrate his beliefs.
- Political philosophyPolitical scientists describe how governments work, while political philosophers ask how they ought to work.
- RepublicanismRepublicanism began when Romans expelled their kings in the 6th century BCE.
- SecularismIn 1851, a British writer picked the word secularism because atheism felt too aggravating.
- Social democracyOtto von Bismarck built the first modern welfare state to defeat the socialists. His welfare plans began in 1883.
- WhiggismWhiggism, a political philosophy, was born in the chaos of England's civil wars.
- PlutocracyPlutocracy, sometimes called plutarchy, describes a society governed or controlled by people of great wealth or income. One of its most striking witnesses is a man who belongs to the group being described. Warren Buffett, an investor and…
- Dignitas (Roman concept)When his career ended, Cicero rewrote what dignitas meant. He redefined the Roman idea as "lifetime impact."
- Redistribution of income and wealthPoor Americans and equally poor Europeans disagree sharply on redistribution.
- Divine right of kingsThe divine right of kings is the claim that a monarch answers to God and to nobody on earth. In 1193, Richard I of England gave that claim voice at his trial during the diet at Speyer. He said: "I am born in a rank which recognizes no…
- ImperiumIn ancient Rome, you could read a magistrate's power by counting his attendants. A consul had 12 lictors, a praetor 6.