<P> As a social science , contemporary political science started to take shape in the latter half of the 19th century . At that time it began to separate itself from political philosophy , which traces its roots back to the works of Chanakya , Aristotle , and Plato which were written nearly 2,500 years ago . The term `` political science '' was not always distinguished from political philosophy , and the modern discipline has a clear set of antecedents including also moral philosophy , political economy , political theology , history , and other fields concerned with normative determinations of what ought to be and with deducing the characteristics and functions of the ideal state . </P>
when did political science become an academic discipline
started to take shape in the latter half of the 19th century