Introduction to the Age of the Enlightenment

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New Views on Government
As the Enlightenment began, European thinkers
began looking for ways to apply reason in order
to improve the human condition.
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The Enlightenment in Europe
Two Views on Government
New Ways of Thinking Scientific Revolution
spurs reassessment of many prevailing ideas
- Europeans seek insights into society during
1600s, 1700s Leads to the Enlightenmenta
movement stressing reason and thought
Hobbess Social Contract Hobbes distrusts
humans, favors strong government to keep
order Promotes social contractgetting order by
giving power to monarch
Continued . . .
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Thomas Hobbes

• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
• Applied Newton to the nature of being
• Reality is bodies and motion
• Removed God from philosophy, not from religion
• Religious critics branded Hobbes a heretic
• Humans are purely material the body (monistic)
• Not concerned with souls or minds because these
  cannot be observed or measured and so cannot be
  proven to exist
• Humans are the sum of their physical parts
• Deterministicall human thoughts and actions are
  determined by past actions and environment and
  not by free will

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Thomas Hobbes

• Thomas Hobbes believed that all humans are
  naturally selfish and wicked and prone to
  fighting.
• He said that in order to escape a bleak life,
  people should give up their rights to a strong
  leader who would give them law and order.
• This is called the social contract.

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Thomas Hobbes

• Leviathan 1651
• Felt the horrors of the English Civil War
  convinced him that all humans were naturally
  selfish and wicked
• Social contract- in order to escape a bleak life,
  people gave up their rights to a strong
  rulerthey gained law and order
• He felt that a government as an absolute monarchy
  was the right choice

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• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
• The obligation of subjects to the sovereign is
  understood to last as long, and no longer, than
  the power lasteth by which he can protect them.
• Sovereign free to rule- must act in interest of
  subjects
• Monarchy best form of govt.
• All powerful, centralize state
• If ruler fails to ensure stability, society will
• dissolve into a state of nature/chaos until new
• contract is made
• Denies the peoples right to rebel in such
• instances
• Most famous work is Leviathan (1651)
• response to English Civil War

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Hobbes Famous Works

• Leviathan- 1651 Established the agenda for nearly
  subsequent Western Political Philosophy
• The book concerns the structure of society
• In the book Hobbes argues for a social contract
  and rule by an absolute monarch
• The social contract was made to institute a state
  that would provide for the "peace and defense" of
  the people, the contract would become void if the
  government no longer protected its citizens
• . In such a case, man would automatically return
  to a state of nature until the creation of a new
  social contract.

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Leviathan
A Leviathan is a huge sea monster
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Leviathan

• Metaphor for the state, the Leviathan is
  described as an artificial person whose body is
  made up of all the bodies of its citizens, who
  are the literal members of the Leviathan's body.
• The head of the Leviathan is the sovereign.
• The Leviathan is constructed through contract by
  people in the state of nature in order to escape
  the horrors of this natural condition.
• The power of the Leviathan protects them from the
  abuses of one another.
• "covenant" or "social contract," contract is the
  act of giving up certain natural rights and
  transferring them to someone else, on the
  condition that everyone else involved in making
  the contract also simultaneously gives up their
  rights.
• People agreeing to the contract retain only those
  rights over others that they are content for
  everyone else to retain over them.

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Absolutism to manage behavior
The Leviathan, or sea monster, represents the all
powerful government Hobbes believed exist to
avoid chaos
Hobbes absolute ruler
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• Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan The life without rule
  of law is the life of every man against every man
  which is solitary, dull brutish, nasty and
  short.

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Thomas Hobbes 1588-1679

• Leviathan 1651 Written in exile during the
  Puritan War
• Stressed the role of reason, social control to
  create a commonwealth where all could prosper

• Student of the Enlightenment stressing logic and
  reason of hard science Bacon, Newton, Descartes,
  Galileo

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Hobbes View on Government

• it is unnatural for man to put himself under
  control of a government, but knows it is rational
  to do so
• if we give up our rights to the government, the
  government will protect all the people and ensure
  peace
• power comes from the people not God he rejected
  divine right
• believed the best form of government was an
  enlightened despot a leviathan that will protect
  the people and make decisions that are best for
  the majority
• governments are created to protect people from
  their own selfishness and greed
• not possible to have peace and democracy because
  people are only interested in promoting their own
  interests

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Hobbes Views on Mankind

• humans are basically selfish by nature
• because people are equal and cannot accept this,
  they constantly compete to prove they are better
• this competition leads to violence
• people are motivated by a desire for power
• people should not be trusted to make their own
  decisions
• can apply the principles of mechanics and motion
  to humans
• a)de corpore behavior of physical life
• b)de homine actions of the body and mind
• c)de cine mans organized social life
• perpetual and restless desire (for) powerthat
  ceases only in death
• If men are not naturally in a state of war, why
  do they always carry arms and why do they have
  keys to lock their doors?- This quote supports
  the view that men are competitive by nature and
  are motivated for desire for power

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Hobbes views on Freedom and Liberty

• Believed that freedom and peace could not coexist
  
• everyone should have the right to own property

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Historical or Contemporary Examples to Support
Hobbes Views

• English Civil War
• Success of Enlightened Despots

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continued Two Views on Government
Lockes Natural Rights Philosopher John Locke
says government gets power from the people
Stresses that people have a right to overthrow
an unjust government
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John Locke held a different view because he felt
that people could learn from experience and
improve themselves. Because of this view Locke
favored the idea of self-government instead of an
absolute monarchy.
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John Locke

• He believed that people could learn from
  experience and improve themselves
• Two Treatises on Government
• Three natural rights
• Life
• Liberty
• Property
• Foundation of modern democracies.
• Favored limited governmental rule.

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John Locke

• John Locke (1632-1704) Social realist
• Influenced American writers of Constitution
• Believed mind was a tabula rasa (blank slate)
• Senses act on mind to train all aspects of a
  person
• Body is important for human development
• Intellectual pursuits are more important
  (dualist)
• Argued for the health of the student
• Proper diet and exercise
• A sound mind in a sound body

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• John Locke (1632-1704)
• Two Treatises of Government (1690)
• Mankind naturally in state of anarchy (no
  government)
• Individuals left to own device would act with
  self-interest
• Mankind must enter into a political society to
  ensure stability
• Government therefore necessary, but
• only if it acts in the interest of the
• people- Social Contract Theory
• People have right to rebel in such cases
• Glorious Revolution (1688)

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Locke believed all people were born with 3
natural rights
Right to Life
Right to Liberty
Right to Property
Locke believed government was responsible for
protecting these rights and could be overthrown
if it failed. This is consistent with democracy -
- people have the right to be in charge
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Lockes View on Mankind

• Man has the ability to reason and compromise
• Man kind is innately good
• Man has the ability to think and problem-solve
• Man is born with a blank mind and shaped by his
  experiences and education
• Man uses his five senses to learn about the
  world. He uses this information to develop ideas
• All men are equal
• Men should help one another
• Happiness is determined by the will of the people
• Man's desire to pursue one's happiness is
  inborn.

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John Locke

• Studied human reason, rationale
• Used empirical studies to interpret human
  behavior
• Individuals are autonomous-
• no longer dependent on Church or King to make
  decisions
• Each person free to decide personal matter
• Each person free to decide matters of the state
• Opposes absolute ideas of governance

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Lockes View on Government.

• Did not believe in divine right
• Believed in a constitutional monarchy with
  limited powers and three branches of government
• Social Contract government is formed with the
  consent of the people if the government fails to
  protect the people, the people have the right to
  revolt against the government
• Governments are formed to protect the people and
  their rights

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John Locke

• View of the state of nature (pre-civil society)
• Human beings are rational, free equal. They
  are capable of running their own lives.
• They have rights to life, health, liberty and
  possessions that no one should harm.
• Yet there are no mechanisms (no police, no
  courts, etc.) to ensure that the strong do not
  prey upon the weak.

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John Locke, continued

• To secure their rights, therefore, people give up
  some freedom and form government.
• The governments purpose is to protect rights.
  It is a type of contract.
• The people retain their sovereignty, and the
  government is just a mechanism to help them.
• The individual is superior to the government.

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John Locke, continued

• If government fails to protect those rights and
  becomes tyrannical, then the contract is null and
  void.
• The government loses its legitimacy, and people
  are free to make a new government. The Second
  Treatise on Government
• Called a right of revolution.

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Lockes Views on Freedom

• Slavery is wrong
• Women have the ability to reason, and should be
  treated as equals to men
• Freedom of religion but only for forms of
  Protestantism not for Catholics, Jews, or
  Muslims
• Everyone should have the right to life, liberty,
  and property

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Lockes Views on Knowledge

• Knowledge reduces intolerance, bigotry, and
  violence
• More you know and understand, less you have to
  argue about
• Thoughts should be based on reason
• Law of nature can be observed through experiments

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John Locke Essay on Human Understanding

• This was his major essay on people and how
  individuals learn.
• Believed that people are born with minds like a
  blank slate, tabula rasa, and what they know is
  based on experiences in their life.
• Saw inductive reasoning, reasoning that takes
  specific examples and attempts to draw general
  conclusions, as a way to establish laws for human
  behavior.

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John Locke Essay Concerning the True Extent and
End of Civil Government

• In this essay, Locke states that all individuals
  are born equal and entitled to some basic rights.
• The government is designed to protect peoples
  rights.
• When it ceases to do this, the people should
  revolt and form a new government.

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Enlightenment influences

• John Locke (1632-1704)
• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
• Tabula rasa
• Knowledge is sensory
• Denied inherited ability
• Rejected original sin This is key!
  Why??????

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Enlightenment Influences

• John Locke (1632-1704)
• Every person has right to life, liberty, and
  property (except slaves)
• Necessary for..Educational reform, freedom of
  the press, religious toleration

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Historical or Contemporary Examples to Support
Lockes Views

• Success of the American Revolution
• a) Declaration of Independence
• b) Preamble to Constitution
• c) The Constitution

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Contrast of Locke and Hobbes

• LOCKE
• Two Treatises of Government
• Government voluntary association of humans
  acting in their self-interest
• Humans are reasonable and cooperative
• Power of the legislature the people
• People could overthrow government and replace
  with better one

• HOBBES
• Leviathan
• All-powerful sovereign should rule stupid humans
• Humans greedy and violent
• Power of the executive the government should be
  an enlightened despot