In 1690 Locke published his Two Treatises on Government. He agreed with Hobbes in general about the brutality of the state of nature, which required a social contract to ensure peace. But he disagreed with Hobbes on two important points. First, Locke argued that natural rights such as life, liberty, and property existed in the state of nature and could never be taken away by individuals or even voluntarily abandoned. These rights were “inalienable” (impossible to give up). Locke also disagreed with Hobbes regarding the statutes. For him, it was not only an agreement between the people, but between them and the sovereign (preferably a king). Hobbes believed that a government led by a king was the best form the sovereign could take. Putting all power in the hands of a king would mean a more determined and consistent exercise of political authority, Hobbes argued.
Hobbes also claimed that the social contract was an agreement only between the people and not between them and their king. Once the people gave the king absolute power, they had no right to revolt against him. Montesquieu did not describe a social contract as such. But he said that the state of war between individuals and nations has led to human laws and governments. The problem in the state of nature, Rousseau said, was finding a way to protect everyone`s life, liberty and property while keeping every person free. Rousseau`s solution was for people to enter into a social contract. They would give up all their rights, not to a king, but to “the whole community”, to all the people. He called all the people the “sovereign,” a term hobbes used primarily to refer to a king. The people then exercised their “general will” to legislate for the “public good”. Rousseau believed that religion divided and weakened the state.
“It`s impossible to live in peace with people you think are damned,” he said. He was in favor of a “civil religion” that embraced God but focused on the sanctity of the social contract. According to Locke, the natural rights of the individual limited the power of the king. The king had no absolute power, as Hobbes had said, but acted only to uphold and protect the natural rights of the people. When a sovereign violated these rights, the social contract was broken and the people had the right to revolt and form a new government. Less than 100 years after Locke wrote his Two Treaties of Government, Thomas Jefferson used his theory to write the Declaration of Independence. Hobbes borrowed a concept from English contract law: an implied agreement. Hobbes claimed that the people had agreed among themselves to “define” their natural rights to equality and liberty and to give absolute power to a sovereign.
The ruler created by the people can be a person or a group. The sovereign would make and enforce the laws to ensure a peaceful society that allows for life, liberty and property. Hobbes called this agreement the “social contract.” According to Rousseau, the powerful rich stole the land that belonged to everyone and deceived ordinary people by accepting them as rulers. Rousseau concluded that the social contract was not a voluntary agreement, as Hobbes, Locke and Montesquieu had believed, but a fraud on man committed by the rich. BRIA 20:2 | at home How women | the right to vote Have women achieved equality? | Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau on the government In 1751 he won an essay competition. His fresh view that man is inherently good and corrupted by society made him a celebrity in French salons where artists, scientists and writers gathered to discuss the latest ideas. C. A good way to legislate is for everyone to vote directly. Rousseau maintained that the general will of the people could not be decided by elected representatives. He believed in a direct democracy in which everyone voted to express the general will and enact the laws of the land.
Rousseau envisioned a small-scale democracy, a city-state like his hometown of Geneva. A few years later he published another essay in which he described savages in a state of nature as free, equal, peaceful, and happy. When people began to claim ownership of property, Rousseau argued that inequality, murder, and war were the result. Montesquieu somewhat misinterpreted how political power was actually exercised in England. When he wrote The Spirit of Laws, power was pretty much concentrated in parliament, the national legislature. Montesquieu believed that he saw a separation and balance of governmental power in England. 2. Members of each role group should investigate why their philosopher would agree or disagree with the topics of debate listed below. The article contains some tips, but students should learn more about the views of their philosophers using the school library and the Internet. Enlightenment thinkers wanted to improve human conditions on Earth instead of dealing with religion and life after death.
These thinkers valued reason, science, religious tolerance, and what they called “natural rights” — life, liberty, and property. Rousseau realized that democracy as he envisioned it would be difficult to maintain. He warned: “As soon as a man says about the affairs of state, `What is important to me?` the state can be abandoned for lost.” 3. At the end of the research, each role group will present its philosopher`s position on topic A. The groups should then discuss the topic from the perspective of the philosopher they are playing. Follow the same procedure for the rest of the topics. B. Only the president should have the power to declare war. Montesquieu wrote that the main purpose of government is to maintain law and order, political freedom, and property of the individual.
Montesquieu rejected the absolute monarchy of his homeland and favored the English system as the best model of government. Rousseau was quite vague about the mechanisms of operation of his democracy. There would be a kind of government responsible for the administration of the general will. But it would be composed of “simple officials” who received their orders from the people. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was born in Geneva, Switzerland, where all adult male citizens could vote for representative government. Rousseau traveled through France and Italy and continued his studies. John Locke (1632-1704) was born shortly before the English Civil War. Locke studied science and medicine at Oxford University and became a professor there. During the Glorious Revolution of 1685, he sided with the parliament protesting against the Roman Catholic King James II.
This event reduced the king`s power and made Parliament the most important authority of the English government. Second Treatise of the Civil Government Text of the book. 1. Which of the four philosophers discussed in this article do you think differ the most? What for? In the state of nature, there were no laws or person to enforce them. The only way out of this situation, Hobbes said, is for individuals to create supreme power to impose peace on all. Montesquieu regarded the English king as an executive leader, balanced by the legislative parliament, which itself was divided into the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which controlled each other. Second, the executive and legislative branches were balanced by an independent judiciary. All political power, Rousseau said, must belong to the people and exercise their general will.
There can be no separation of powers, as Montesquieu proposed. People who meet will discuss the laws individually and then find the general will through a majority vote. Rousseau`s general will was later expressed by the words “We, the people. “. Incarnate. at the beginning of the United States Constitution. 1. Divide the class into four groups, each taking on the role of Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu or Rousseau. Locke was in favour of representative government such as the English Parliament, which had a hereditary House of Lords and an elected House of Commons.
But he wanted the representatives to be just men of property and business. Therefore, only adult male owners should have the right to vote. Locke was reluctant to allow the dispossessed masses to participate in government because he believed they were not suitable. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Hobbes` Moral and Political Philosophy In Rousseau`s democracy, anyone who disobeys the general will of the people will be “forced to be free.” He believed that citizens should obey the laws or be forced to do so as long as they remained residents of the state. It is a “civil state,” says Rousseau, where security, justice, liberty and property are protected and valued by all. But the days of absolute kings were numbered. A new era with new ideas was emerging – the European Enlightenment. 2.
Which of the democratic forms of government proposed by Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau do you consider to be the best? What for? The supreme authority of government, Locke said, should reside in the legislature, like the English parliament. The executive (prime minister) and the courts would be creations of the legislature and under its authority. .