Good Government or Bad Government?

Today, I would like to go back to the issue about political philosophy again and show you the frescoes in order to think why political philosophy is needed to the world. By the way, I discovered the attractive picture on the Internet while I was reading the book titled "A Very Short Introduction POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY". The author says it is the best way to look at the picture, Frescoes of the Good and Bad Government, for the purpose of understanding what is Political Philosophy and why it is necessity.

To begin with, let's take a look at Allegory of the Good Government at http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/l/lorenzet/ambrogio/governme/index.html

What's the first impression on this? This picture illustrate real nature of good government. The man who has an air of dignity on the right side is surrounded by six persons who are the symbol of Peace, Fortitude and Prudence on the left, Magnanimity, Temperance and Justice on the right. And there are crowd of citizens who are bounded with a long rope. Both ends of the rope are tied to the man, the governor.

In continuing of the story of Allegory of the Good Government, it is interesting to look at Effects of Good Government on the City Life and The Effects of Good Government in the Countryside. People in both of the fresco are leading good life thanks to the good governor.

On the contrary, Allegory of Bad Government shows us bad government itself. The man with the appearance of a demon is surrounded by four persons who stand for insatiability, cruelty and smugness. In addition, Effects of Bad Government on the City Life and Effects of Bad Government on the Countryside also suggest the result of bad government.

As a result, the frescoes represents nature of good and bad government, the cause and effect. To explore such things, political philosophy exists. Moreover, how we are govern means how we can lead daily life. Incidentally, The quality of a governor and people around him really affect our own lives. This means what kind of thoughts they have will result in either good government or bad government. What philosophy they have is by no means important for us to be govern.

See you,

Misaki