After studying this chapter, you will be able to do the following:

1. Explain the differences between the ideas of Plato and his student Aristotle.
2. Analyze the ways Christian thinkers like St. Augustine and St. Aquinas changed the way people thought about politics.
3. Explain how Machiavelli’s thought represented a break from previous ways of theorizing politics.
4. Compare the way modern political philosophers dealt with the issues of individualism, sovereignty, and the popular government.
5. Summarize theway twentieth century and contemporary political philosophy continues and critiques the political philosophy of the previous centuries.