Are people naturally good or naturally bad and
Are people naturally good or naturally bad and why?
What prevents me from killing you, or me from going into your house stealing you stuff?
So how do we become civilized?
Adam Smith • Wrote Wealth of Nations • he challenged mercantilist doctrine as selfish and unnatural; • the interdependence among nations; "Father of Modern Capitalism".
Montesquieu • Wrote the Spirit of the Laws • separation of powers in the government. • Discussed need for checks and balances.
"Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains!"
Rousseau • Wrote The Social Contract • felt government and law is the expression of the "General Will. " • rejected science and reason; go with your feelings (inner conscience). • Man chooses to create government because it’s what’s best for the good of all. • We give up our right to do whatever we want to create a government that will protect us all equally.
"We, the contracting parties, do jointly and severally submit our persons and abilities, to the supreme direction of the general will of all, and, in a collective body, receive each member into that body, as an indivisible part of the whole. "
LOCKE • man's nature is changeable and can be improved by his environment. • We learn from our experiences • We create government to protect our rights. • if government fails to protect our rights, we have right to abolish government and create a new one • Government exists to serve and protect rights of people. ***Unalienable rights: life, liberty, and property ***
“When legislators (lawmakers) try to destroy or take away the property of the people, or try to reduce them to slavery, they put themselves into a state of war with the people who can then refuse to obey the laws… It is then the privilege of the people to establish a new legislature to provide for their safety and security”
Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan “In [a state of nature], there is…. no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time; no Arts; no Letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. ” Reading Response Questions 1. According to the introduction quotation, how is life for man in the state of nature? 2. What is the first fundamental law of nature? (lines 1 -2) 3. What is the second law of nature? (lines 3 -4) 4. In lines 5 -8 it states that: “… he second necessary law of nature is derived from the first, and states that men must be willing, when others are willing also, to lay down his right to do any and everything they wish, in an effort to achieve peace…” Using context clues, what do you think the word derived means? 5. According to Hobbes, how much freedom should a man grant to another man? (lines 8 -11) 6. What state (condition) are all men in if they continue to do whatever they please? (lines 12 -13) 7. Reflecting on your reading, which line best summarizes the author’s purpose and why? --Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651 1 2 3 4 The first fundamental law of nature is to seek peace and follow it. The second law, which sums up the right of nature, is that we can defend ourselves by all means if necessary. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 The second necessary law of nature is derived from the first, and states that men must be willing, when others are willing also, to lay down his right to do any and everything they wish, in an effort to achieve peace, and as long as he still feels protected, and be content with as much freedom given to other men as he would want given to himself. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 For as long as every man has the right of doing whatever he pleases, all men are in a condition of war. But if other men will not lay down their right to do as he pleases as well, then there is no reason for anyone to give up their rights either, because then that person would basically expose himself as prey, which no man would do unless it gave himself peace. This is the law of the gospel; whatever you require that others do to you, you should do the same to them.
Reading Response Questions 1. According to the introduction quotation, how is life for man in the state of nature? 2. What is the first fundamental law of nature? (lines 1 -2) 3. What is the second law of nature? (lines 3 -4) 4. In lines 5 -8 it states that: “… he second necessary law of nature is derived from the first, and states that men must be willing, when others are willing also, to lay down his right to do any and everything they wish, in an effort to achieve peace…” Using context clues, what do you think the word derived means? 5. According to Hobbes, how much freedom should a man grant to another man? (lines 8 -11) 6. What state (condition) are all men in if they continue to do whatever they please? (lines 12 -13) 7. Reflecting on your reading, which line best summarizes the author’s purpose and why?
Reading Response Questions Jean Jacques Rousseau – The Social Contract “Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains. " The problem is to find a form of association which will defend and protect with the whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as free as before. " This is the fundamental problem of which the Social Contract provides the solution. . If, therefore, we take from the social compact every thing that is not essential to it, we shall find it reduced to the following terms: "We, the contracting parties, do jointly and severally submit our persons and abilities, to the supreme direction of the general will of all, and, in a collective body, receive each member into that body, as an indivisible part of the whole. " This act of association accordingly converts the several individual contracting parties into one moral collective body, composed of as many members as there are votes in the assembly, which receives also from the same act its unity and existence. …that whosoever refuses to pay obedience to the general will, shall be liable to be compelled to it by the force of the whole body. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1. According to Rousseau, what is man’s fundamental problem, of which the Social Contract provides a solution for? (lines 2 -5) 2. Within the social contract, what must each contracting party submit to the general will of all? (lines 10 -12) 3. What does Rousseau mean when he says the collective body (society) must receive each member “ as an indivisible part of the whole. " ? (lines 12 -13) 4. In the Social Contract, several contracting parties convert into one moral collective body. What does it mean when the individuals converted into one moral collective body? (14 -15) 5. What is the new moral collective body made up of? (lines 15 -16) 6. What should happen to whoever refuses to abide by the general will of the whole body? (lines 18 -20) 7. What do you think Rousseau means in the first line when he says, “ Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains”? Explain
Reading Response Questions John Locke – Second Treatise on Government 1. According to John Locke, what must happen to the power every man has in the state of nature, in order to have political power? (lines 1 -3) . . . political power is that power which every man having in the state of Nature has given up into the hands of the society, and therein to the governors whom the society hath(has) set over itself, with this (express or tacit) trust, that it shall be employed for their good and the preservation of their property. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hence each man joins in society with others to preserve life, liberty, and property. 7 8 Since men hope to preserve their property by establishing a government, they will not want that government to destroy this objective. When legislators (lawmakers) try to destroy or take away the property of the people, or try to reduce them to slavery, they put themselves into a state of war with the people who can then refuse to obey the laws… It is then the privilege of the people to establish a new legislature to provide for their safety and security. These principles also hold true for the executive who helps to make laws and carry them out. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 2. According to Locke, who creates the government, and what do they trust that government to do? (lines 3 -6) 3. What are the rights that each man joins together in society to preserve? (lines 7 -8) 4. What do people NOT want the government to do? (lines 9 -11) 5. The reading states: “… When legislators (lawmakers) try to destroy or take away the property of the people, or try to reduce them to slavery, they put themselves into a state of war with the people who can then refuse to obey the laws…” When Locke says that legislators will put themselves in a state of war, why does this happen and why would people be able refuse to obey laws? (lines 10 -14) 6. If the government fails to uphold its obligations to the people, what privilege do the governed have? (lines 14 -16)
“Hence each man joins in society with others to preserve life, liberty, and property. ”
“Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains. "
“be content with as much freedom given to other men as he would want given to himself. ”
“In [a state of nature], there is…. no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time; no Arts; no Letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. ”
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