Classical philosophers had a very different conception of the meaning of the word "politics" than is that of the peoples of the modern world. For the philosophical decendants of Socrates, despite their differences, politics is the science of the pursuit of the good in the polis. For the moderns - the intellectual descendants of the Sophists - politics is the study of the pursuit of the beneficial through rhetoric and force; it is the power struggles of Max Weber, the class warfare of Karl Marx, and the supports & demands of David Easton.

And from this fallow ground of blood we built the modern State. The virtues of Aristotle, versues the 'virtu' of Machiavelli. Shall we say nothing of the Good, while the Italian performs his cuts? Ah, poor Sophia, how we kick your breast...