ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews problems that arise from structural necessity in the conception of a polity, including: the problem of the multitude in relation to the center, structures for transmitting authority, and the polity in relation to the larger cosmos. Both Thomas Hobbes and Chinese political thinkers recognized that the multitude tends toward fragmentation, giving rise to a need to promote unity. Hobbes solved this problem by demanding conformity to the royal will, as did some medieval Chinese thinkers. Radical thinkers in Tang China suggested uniting the multitude by applying the law equally. Such a principle is necessary in any meritocratic system, and Song statesmen pressed this principle further, creating 1) institutions for popular feedback and the maintenance of public welfare; 2) a progressive tax system; and 3) checks on the abuse of power by government. These reforms did not always function as planned, and this chapter makes note of that. In the seventeenth century England’s political system was quite different from China’s, yet both nations were among the first to visualize the polity in art, so this chapter concludes with an examination of key works of this type.
