DEFINITION OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Aristotle: “Political Science is the Science of Polis.”

‘Polis’ here mean ‘city-states’ the very small states that existed during the ancient Greek period. In the modern terminology, this definition can be read as

“Science of State.”

JW Garner: “Political Science begins and ends withe the state.”

This definition implies that the state is the main and the central theme of study of the subject called Political Science.

RG Gettle: “Polititical science is:

• a historical investigation of what the state has been
• an analytical study of what the state is and
• a politico-ethical discussion of what the state should be.”

This definition says that the discipline of Political Science studies the past, present and the future of the state.

Further, it elaborates on various methods used in the study of Political Science: historical, analytical and a futuristic ethical discussion.

We can also infer that the subject deals with not only ‘what is’ but also, ‘what ought to be’. That is both real and the ideal framework of the state.

Appadorai: “Political Science is concerned with the conditions essential for the existence and development of the state.”

Here we move towards the goal of the state which is development.

John Richard Seeley: “Political Science investigates the phenomenon of the government.”

Stephen Leacock: “Political Science deals with the government.”

Paul Janet: “Political Science is that part of the social Science which treats the foundations of the state and the principles of the government.”

RN Gilchrist: “Political Science is a study of the foundations of the state and government.”

George Catlin: “Political Science is a study of the political activities of the individuals and various organs of the government.”

Since George Catlin is a behaviouralist thinker, he includes the political activities of the individuals, along with the various organs of the state.

Earlier definitions do not take into consideration of the individual, without whom, the state cannot exist.

Harlold D Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan: “Political Science, as an empirical discipline, is the study of the shaping and sharing of power.”

This definition makes power, the centre of the study of Political Science.

So, each definition here brings out different dimensions of the subject Political Science.

Finally, let me add my own comprehensive definition of Political Science.

Annapurna Krishjeev: “Political Science is a systematic study that deals with all the matters -theoretical and practical, what is and what ought to be (real and ideal), actual and hypothetical, past, present and future, – related to State, relationship between human and the state, state and the state as well.”

Please make note, I am not including the definitions of Politics here. I will do that in a separate post.