PROBLEMS OF POLITICAL THEORY 329 



give a common explanation for each would lead to absurdities. It 

 is evident that some of the confusion and differences which have 

 arisen are due to the attempt to account by political theory for non- 

 political facts. Dunning, in his History of Political Theories (p. xvii), 

 has observed that a history of political theories " would begin at the 

 point at which the idea of the state, as distinct from the family 

 and the clan, becomes a determining factor in the life of the com- 

 munity." It would not be maintained that any particular date or 

 degree of civilization could be fixed upon as a prerequisite for political 

 action. It is affirmed that there exists a problem for both the stu- 

 dent of political theory and political science in the way of discrimi- 

 nation between the political and non-political in early social data. 



Another important question in the consideration of the subject- 

 matter would be as to when and under what circumstances social 

 data would become political data properly to be used for political 

 theorizing. Dunning, in accord with the position above taken, 

 says, " Of all the multifarious projects for fixing the boundary which 

 marks off political from the more general social science, that seems 

 most satisfactory which bases the distinction on the existence of a 

 political consciousness." 



The subject-matter presents another difficulty from the fact that 

 the data upon which political theory must draw do not remain fixed. 

 Even if agreement were to be had upon definitions, the content 

 would change with the change in human relations. To adapt 

 political theory to the dynamic character of the subject-matter is an 

 ever-recurring problem.- 



Much of early political theory and, to some extent, present political 

 theorizing is concerned about the doctrine of form of the state, - 

 the question as to whether monarchy, oligarchy, or democracy is the 

 best form. This is a problem of some importance, but is insigni- 

 ficant in comparison with the problem of rendering efficient such form 

 as may exist. The consideration of political data without pre- 

 disposition in favor of any particular form of political organization 

 will discover efficiency under varying forms and also will discover 

 that in most instances the efficiency is not due to the form of organ- 

 ization. 



By political theory is generally understood the theory centering 

 upon the state. One of the primary problems would therefore be to 

 determine what the state is, and upon this definition would depend 

 much of the scope of the theory. After establishing a definition, 

 which the great diversity in existing definitions shows to be no easy 

 task, the problem of determining the relations of the states to each 

 other, to other political institutions, and to other social institutions 

 arises. This involves the question of the limits of state action, one 

 of the most difficult of all problems and one upon which much dis- 



