西方政治學如何興起,這對希臘政治思想史和政治學而言,都是一個重要問題。然而出人意料的是,學界雖然對希臘政治理論討論充分,但對西方政治學作為一門學問如何興起這一特定問題,似乎少有探討。政治哲學家列奧·施特勞斯對這一問題進行過深入分析。他的結論是,蘇格拉底的哲學和倫理學開創了西方政治學。然而,公元前5世紀希臘人對于政體問題的討論表明,從公元前470年代開始,希臘知識群體廣泛關注和參與政體討論,提出了不同政體之優劣和最好政體的問題。公元前4世紀的政治哲學家柏拉圖和亞里士多德延續了關于政體的討論,同時又深受蘇格拉底的影響,將政治倫理納入思考范圍,由此開創了西方政治學。以此看來,政體和政治倫理是西方政治學的兩個核心問題。

Regarding the history of Greek political thought and political science, the question of how Western political science came into being is an important one. Unexpectedly, however, although scholars have amply discussed Greek political theories, there are few explorations of the emergence of Western political science as a discipline. The political philosopher Leo Strauss offered a thorough analysis of this question. He concluded that Socrates’ philosophy and ethics initiated Western political science. Yet Greek people had been discussing matters concerning systems of government since 470 BC. Greek intellectuals paid extensive attention to and discussed systems of government. They debated the merits and drawbacks of different systems of government and the question of the ideal government. Plato and Aristotle, two political philosophers in the fourth century BC, carried on these discussions. Under the influence of Socrates, they also took political ethics into consideration and thus initiated Western political science. In this regard, systems of government and political ethics are two key issues in Western political science.