ABSTRACT
Politics may be defined as the art of facing or evading social problems; political science, as the methodical an objective study of the political issues raised by social problems; and political philosophy, as a value-laden deliberation on major political issues and the ways to resolve them. All serious political issues arise from social problems, but the converse is false. Consequently the view that political issues are nothing but institutional problems best left to jurists and politicians is a superficial, aseptic, and a historical account of politics. By contrast, the optimistic view of humans as reciprocators suggests alternative public policies that emphasize responsible citizen participation. Politics is about managing heterogeneity: about either securing or controlling social divisions. By contrast, the decline of the ancient civilizations was accompanied by drastic shrinking in sociodiversity and decline in opportunities to choose group membership. Biological reductionism is false, for it ignores that humans are not justsocial, like chimps, but "ultra-social".
