SANTILLAN, POLL ANTHONY

POLITICS (concept)

We all know that Politics has a number of acceptable or legitimate meanings; the term is used with confusing meanings. The best first step to define the term is by knowing how the term was constructed. The term, itself comes from the Greek word polis meaning city-state. Hence, it refers to all the things relating to the affairs of the state, especially its government. Politics is thought of as voting, public processions, slogans, meetings, rallies, demands, strikes, politicians, political parties, false promises, etc. (Henry Adams summed up politics as the systematic organization of hatred.) Some peoples common sense notions of the term lead to condemning it as dirty term implying trouble, violence, manipulation and lies. But let us dissociate the term from such negative impressions. Politics is above all other sciences, combining them all to benefit the whole society in whole. (Aristotle called politics as master science) It studies all human actions to determine the good life for all. (Contradicting Aristotles statement is Chancellor Bismarck who said that politics is not science but an art.) But we jumped into conclusion that politics is both a science and an art. It is an art for its knowledge is utilized for the good of all, and a science for it uses behavioral method which is scientific in nature. What makes politics exciting is that people disagree. Politics is a social activity through which people make, preserve and change the general rules of life social life. While doing such things, people disagree among themselves on many issues.

PS1122