Jevons learns to economise
politikê, which is short for
politikê epistêmê – or political science.
W. Stanley Jevons. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The encyclopedia, published by California’s Stanford University, explains that Aristotle (384–322 BCE), who studied under Plato and later tutored Alexander the Great, ranked politics as one of the three main branches of science, which are “distinguished by their ends or objects”.
“Contemplative science (including physics and metaphysics) is concerned with truth or knowledge for its own sake; practical science with good action; and productive science with making useful or beautiful objects.”
The encyclopedia says politics is a practical science, “concerned with the noble action or happiness of the citizens (although it resembles a productive science in that it seeks to create, preserve, and reform political systems). Aristotle thus understands politics as a normative or prescriptive discipline rather than as a purely