groupings seems to be oppressive rather than liberat-
ing. The American credo to judge people by their indi-
vidual personality and accomplishments eschews class
perspectives.
Further Reading
Roemer, J. A General Theory of Exploitation and Class.Cam-
bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982.
classical
Political thought of the CLASSICALor ancient Western
world. This usually means the Golden Age of Greece
(Athens) 400–300 B.C. and Rome (200 B.C.–A.D. 200).
Among the major classical Greek political philoso-
phers are SOCRATES, PLATO, and ARISTOTLE. The leading
Roman or Latin political thinkers are Cato, Posido-
nius, CICERO, TACITUS, and MARCUS AURELIUS.
Although important differences exist among differ-
ent classical thinkers, they are considered similar in
their concerns for JUSTICE, VIRTUE, devotion to the com-
mon good, and citizen participation in rule through
rational deliberation. Aristotle is the fullest expression
of classical political thought. His belief that people are
naturally “social and political animals” who require
training and experience in governing to be fully
human forms the basis of much classical thought. This
active citizenship requires educational, economic, and
cultural preparation to form the independent, reason-
able, ethical, just citizen. Politics is a high occupation
to the gentleman who is freed from economic concerns
by wealth and is happy to exercise his reason and
ethics in rule. Consequently, those social conditions
that harm such personal and political fulfillment are
dangerous. The main threat to civic virtue and the just
REPUBLICis TYRANNY, or the concentration of political
and economic power in the hands of a few people who
use government to further their own interests. This is
the classical definition of corruption:rulers who govern
for their own interest rather than for the common
good. Provisions should be made in the just republic
to prevent the concentration of power and wealth and
corruption.
This “classical REPUBLICANISM” affects Western polit-
ical thought through the RENAISSANCE, the MIDDLE AGES
(St. Thomas AQUINAS), and MODERN Anglo-American
thinking (James HARRINGTON, Thomas JEFFERSON).
Further Reading
Finley, M. I.The Legacy of Greece.Oxford, Eng.: Clarendon
Press, 1981.
Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634) English juris-
prudence scholar, judge, and writer
Coke (pronounced “Cook”) greatly influenced the
British and American view of English common law
and government. He held that common law (or the
body of court rulings in English history) provided a
foundation for individual RIGHTS, PROPERTY, and CITI-
ZENSHIP, along with parliamentary legislation and royal
power. Such historical precedent of judges’ decisions,
along with major legal documents such as the MAGNA
CARTA, embodied a collective wisdom superior to any
one individual’s reason. This conclusion effectively
put the RULE OF LAWabove the king. This displeased
King James I, who dismissed Coke as chief justice in- But Coke’s analysis of the limits on MONARCHY
by Parliament and the common-law tradition were
invoked by British parliamentarians against the
Crown in the 1640s and 1680s, and by American rev-
olutionaries such as Thomas JEFFERSONin the 1770s.
Coke’s respect for the past in English common law
became the basis for American CONSTITUTIONAL LAW,
which consults past court decisions when making rul-
ings on new cases.
Coke’s primary writings appear in his books The
Institutes of the Laws of Englandand Reports.
Further Readings
Bowen, Catherine Drinker. The Lion and the Throne: The Life and
Times of Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634),1st ed. Boston: Lit-
tle, Brown, 1957.
Coke, Sir Edward. Institutes of the Laws of England,4 vols. 1797.
———. Reports,13 vols. 1777.
Hill, C. Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution.Oxford,
Eng.: Clarendon Press, 1972.
Hobbes, T. Dialogue Between a Philosopher and a Student of the
Common Laws of Emgland, J. Cropsey , ed. Chicago: Univer-
sity of Chicago Press, 1969.Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772–1834) Poet,
philosopher, and political theorist
Coleridge was born in Devonshire, England, the son of
a clergyman. He is known most widely as a romantic
poet, but he was also an influential and important
political theorist and philosopher. As a philosopher, he
was an idealist who was influenced by the German
thinkers KANT and Schelling and the British idealist
Berkeley. As a political critic and theorist, Coleridge
wrote extensively on the foundations of political the-
ory, on the connections between CHURCH AND STATE,64 classical