Social Constructs and the Fluidity of the Components of Political Philosophy

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Professor of Philosophy Department, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Various schools of political philosophy seek to answer fundamental questions concerning the nature of government, the ideal forms of political systems, the qualifications of rulers, governmental structures, the criteria of legitimacy, popular acceptance, and efficiency, as well as people’s expectations of governments and the nature of the relationship between the state and society. In fact, the type of answers given to these questions is deeply dependent on the worldview, philosophical anthropology, and political philosophy from which thinkers draw their assumptions. This study examines the nature of these questions and their answers from the perspective of socially constructed perceptions (iʿtibārāt). Social constructs encompass all socially established principles, ideas, structures, and laws created by human beings on the basis of their needs; they do not exist prior to those needs. The theory of social constructs demonstrates that rational responses to the aforementioned political questions are increasingly shaped by variables such as time, place, culture, traditions, customs, social classes, collective mentalities, and people’s needs and expectations. Since these variables are fluid and subject to historical and geographical change, the central questions of political philosophy do not admit fixed and immutable answers. Rather, in accordance with the changing nature of social constructs, the answers themselves undergo fluctuation and transformation. Nevertheless, it is possible, based on historical experience, to identify certain relatively stable principles, such as the centrality of knowledge, virtue, efficiency and skill, public satisfaction and acceptance, justice, freedom, law, welfare and security, ethical life, and similar values, which appear across theories of political philosophy, even though their concrete manifestations may differ.

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Social Constructs and the Fluidity of the Components of Political Philosophy

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References

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Journal of Philosophical Investigations
Volume 20, Issue 55 - Serial Number 55
Articles
Issue 55, Summer 2026
July 2026
Pages 129-148

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