Political Science and Its Antecedents

Political science is a late arrival in terms of social sciences. However, the discipline has a clear set of antecedents such as moral philosophy, political philosophy, political economy, history, and other fields concerned with normative determinations of what ought to be and with deducing the characteristics and functions of the ideal state.

In each historic period and in almost every geographic area, we can find someone studying politics and increasing political understanding. In ancient India, the antecedents of politics can be traced back to the Rig-Veda, Semites, Brahmans, and Buddhist Pali Canon.

Since political science is essentially a study of human behavior, observations in controlled environments are usually not available and impossible to reproduce or duplicate, so generalizations and theories can be made.

The book (in three volumes) contains the life and work of world great political thinkers.