“The body politic” refers to the government and citizens as a collective, with healthy governments functioning like a healthy human body. The term dates back to ancient times, but was popularized by Thomas Hobbes. The role of the people is crucial in society, and philosophers and political theorists explore the concept in academic journals. The term is also used in a religious sense, with the Church seeing itself as the body politic.
The term “the body politic” is used to describe the people of a government as a whole, from the head of government down to ordinary citizens. Some people describe government itself as the body politic, excluding citizens, but more commonly this term refers to government and the people as a collective. The idea behind the concept is that healthy governments should focus like a healthy human body.
This concept is quite ancient; the Greeks, for example, sometimes used the body as a metaphor to describe the state, as did people in India. However, the term “the body politic” is usually attributed to the author Thomas Hobbes, who mentioned it in his 1651 book Leviathan. Subsequent authors have followed suit, sometimes producing tortuously complex lines of thought to talk about the subject.
When considering a society, many people think it is crucial to look at the role of people, considering the society as a whole. In some cases, a government exists only with the will of the people, and the opinions of the people have a profound impact on the nature of government. In other cases, unrest among people can lead to problems in the head, even if it does not govern with the consent of the people. While the head of state may head the body politic, the leader cannot function in a vacuum. He needs other body parts to survive, such as a support cabinet, a legislature, and a willing population.
Opinion columnists often talk about the body politic when they want to emphasize the idea that a society must function as a whole. It can also be criticized as collective when things go wrong, on the logic that since all members of a society are responsible for a society’s function, everyone is at fault when a society is in trouble. Philosophers, economists and political theorists also enjoy exploring the concept of the body politic, with new interpretations of this concept regularly emerging in academic journals and books.
In addition to appearing in a political sense, the body politic is also sometimes used in a religious sense. The Church sometimes sees itself as the body politic, seeing God as the head of the body and the Church as the heart of it. This sense of the metaphor most commonly appears in the Catholic Church, although other branches of the Christian faith may use it as well, emphasizing the interconnected nature of God, Church, and faithful.
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