Daniele Katrina Pimentel BSN NG3-01

Locke's Political Philosophy Consent, Political Obligation, and the Ends of Government The most direct reading of Locke's political philosophy finds the concept of consent playing a central role. His analysis begins with individuals in a state of nature where they are not subject to a common legitimate authority with the power to legislate or adjudicate disputes. From this natural state of freedom and independence, Locke stresses individual consent as the mechanism by which political societies are created and individuals join those societies. While there are of course some general obligations and rights that all people have from the law of nature, special obligations come about only when we voluntarily undertake them. Locke clearly states that one can only become a full member of society by an act of express consent. The literature on Locke's theory of consent tends to focus on how Locke does or does not successfully answer the following objection: few people have actually consented to their governments so no, or almost no, governments are actually legitimate. This conclusion is problematic since it is clearly contrary to Locke's intention. Locke's most obvious solution to this problem is his doctrine of tacit consent. Simply by walking along the highways of a country a person gives tacit consent to the government and agrees to obey it while living in its territory. This, Locke thinks, explains why resident aliens have an obligation to obey the laws of the state where they reside, though only while they live there. Inheriting property creates an even stronger bond, since the original owner of the property permanently put the property under the jurisdiction of the commonwealth. Children, when they accept the property of their parents, consent to the jurisdiction of the commonwealth over that property. There is debate over whether the inheritance of property should be regarded as tacit or express consent. On one interpretation, by accepting the property, Locke thinks a person becomes a full member of society, which implies that he must regard this as an act of express consent. Grant suggests that Locke's ideal would have been an explicit mechanism of society whereupon adults would give express consent and this would be a precondition of inheriting property. On the other interpretation, Locke recognized that people inheriting property did not in the process of doing so make any explicit declaration about their political obligation.

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Jean Jacques Rousseau Political Philosophy Rousseau's contributions to political philosophy are scattered among various works, most notable of which are the Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, the Discourse on Political Economy, The Social Contract, and Considerations on the Government of Poland. However, many of his other works, both major and minor, contain passages that amplify or illuminate the political ideas in those works. His central doctrine in politics is that a state can be legitimate only if it is guided by the general will of its members. This idea finds its most detailed treatment in The Social Contract. In The Social Contract, Rousseau sets out to answer what he takes to be the fundamental question of politics, the reconciliation of the freedom of the individual with the authority of the state. This reconciliation is necessary because human society has evolved to a point where individuals can no longer supply their needs through their own unaided efforts, but rather must depend on the co-operation of others. The process whereby human needs expand and interdependence deepens is set out in the Discourse on the Origins of Inequality. In that work, the final moment of Rousseau's conjectural history involves the emergence of endemic conflict among the now-interdependent individuals and the argument that the Hobbesian insecurity of this condition would lead all to consent to the establishment of state authority and law. In the Second Discourse, this establishment amounts to the reinforcement of unequal and exploitative social relations that are now backed by law and state power. In an echo of Locke and an anticipation of Marx, Rousseau argues that this state would, in effect, be a class state, guided by the common interest of the rich and propertied and imposing unfreedom and subordination on the poor and weak. The propertyless consent to such an establishment because their immediate fear of a Hobbesian state of war leads them to fail to attend to the ways in which the new state will systematically disadvantage them. Karl Marx is best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary communist, whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. Marx sees the historical process as proceeding through a necessary series

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of modes of production, characterized by class struggle, culminating in communism. Marx's economic analysis of capitalism is based on his version of the labour theory of value, and includes the analysis of capitalist profit as the extraction of surplus value from the exploited proletariat. The analysis of history and economics come together in Marx's prediction of the inevitable economic breakdown of capitalism, to be replaced by communism. However Marx refused to speculate in detail about the nature of communism, arguing that it would arise through historical processes, and was not the realization of a pre-determined moral ideal. Philosophy and social thought Marx polemic with other thinkers often occurred through critique, and thus he has been called "the first great user of critical method in social sciences." He criticized speculative philosophy, equating metaphysics with ideology. By adopting this

approach, Marx attempted to separate key findings from ideological biases. This set him apart from many contemporary philosophers. Human nature Fundamentally, Marx assumed that human history involves transforming human nature, which encompasses both human beings and material objects. Humans recognize that they possess both actual and potential selves. For both Marx and Hegel, self-development begins with an experience of internal alienation stemming from this recognition, followed by a realization that the actual self, as a subjective agent, renders its potential counterpart an object to be

apprehended. Marx further argues that, by molding nature in desired ways, the subject takes the object as its own, and thus permits the individual to be actualized as fully human. For Marx, then, human natureGattungswesen, or species-being exists as a function of human labour. Fundamental to Marx's idea of meaningful labour is the proposition that, in order for a subject to come to terms with its alienated object, it must first exert influence upon literal, material objects in the subject's world. Marx acknowledges that Hegel "grasps the nature of work and comprehends objective man, authentic because actual, as the result of his own work", but characterizes Hegelian self-development as unduly "spiritual" and abstract. Marx thus departs from Hegel by insisting that "the fact that man is a corporeal,

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actual, sentient, objective being with natural capacities means that he has actual, sensuous objects for his nature as objects of his life-expression, or that he can only express his life in actual sensuous objects." Consequently, Marx revises Hegelian "work" into material "labour", and in the context of human capacity to transform nature the term "labour power". Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker was a prominent Puritan colonial leader, who founded the Colony of Connecticut after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding speaker and a leader of universal Christiansuffrage. Called today the Father of Connecticut, Thomas Hooker was a towering figure in the early development of colonial New England. He was one of the great preachers of his time, an erudite writer on Christian subjects, the first minister

of Cambridge,Massachusetts, one of the first settlers and founders of both the city of Hartford and the state of Connecticut, and cited by many as the inspiration for the "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut," cited by some as the world's first written democratic constitution that established a representative government. Most likely coming out of the county of Leicestershire, in the East Midlands region, the Hooker family was prominent at least as far back as the reign of Henry VIII. There is known to have been a great Hooker family in Devon (colloquially called Devonshire, in the middle of the southwestern peninsula), well-known throughout Southern England. The Devon branch produced the great theologian and clergyman, the Rev. Richard Hooker who, with Sir Walter Raleigh, was one of the two most influential sons of Exeter, the county town of Devon. Family genealogist Edward Hooker linked the Rev. Thomas to the Rev. Richard and the Devon branch. Other Hooker genealogists, however, have traced the Rev. Thomas back

to Leicestershire where, in fact, he is said to have been born. Positive evidence linking Thomas to Leicestershire is lacking since the Marefield parish records from before 1610 perished. Any link to the Rev. Richard is likewise lacking since the Rev. Thomass personal papers were disposed of and his house destroyed after his death. There remains no evidence giving positive information as to which region Hooker came from, so the issue remains unsettled.

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Plato CONSEQUENCES OF THE THEORY OF THE IDEAS FOR ETICS AND POLITICS a) The virtue. The theory of the Ideas implies the overcoming of the sophistic moral relativism: the Ideas of Justice and Rightness become the perfect criteria for distinguishing right from wrong or fair from unfair. The Ideas are values themselves. Platos ethics tries to find out what is the Highest Rightness for man, Rightness whose attainment implies happiness and which is achieved by the practice of virtue. The Highest Rightness can be understood in two ways: a good life cannot be achieved neither by the only means of moderate pleasures nor by the only means of wisdom, but by a mixture of both, simply because man is a mixture of animal and intelligence. (Of course, the pleasures we can indulge in are the purest ones). According other philosophers, Platos Highest Rightness means contemplating the Ideas, contemplation which is the supreme happiness. In this sense the virtue, as the method for achieving the Highest Rightness, performs an analogous roll as dialectic, the method for achieving the Intelligible World. By means of the practice of virtue we achieve the Highest Rightness and, therefore, the supreme happiness; virtue is the natural disposition for rightness of our souls, and as our souls have three elements, there will be three peculiar virtues, one for each one of them: self-control for the concupiscent element: "certain order and moderation of the pleasures"; strength or braveness for the irascible element: the strength allows man surpasses suffering and sacrifices pleasures if necessary; and wisdom or prudence for the rational element, which rules the whole human behaviour. The virtue of the soul as a whole is justice, which settles order and harmony between those three elements and is, obviously, the most important virtue. b) The king-philosopher. As every Greek, Plato thinks man is naturally a social being; thats why there are States (Polis). The individual can reach his utmost accomplishment in the State, but only in a perfect State. Plato divides the State or society in three classes following the three elements of the soul; the State is a great organism with the same material and immaterial requirements and ethical aims as man. The rational element of the soul is represented by the class of the governors, who are philosophers; the irascible element is represented by the social class of the soldiers; the concupiscent element by the craftsmen. The philosophers, whose

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particular virtue is wisdom or prudence, are the only ones capable for government; the soldiers, whose virtue is the strength, must defend and keep safe the polis; the craftsmen, whose virtue is self-control, provide the commodities needed in the State. Thus, a total parallelism between anthropology, ethics and policy is settled down. The three social classes are needed, but each one enjoys different rank and dignity. c) The "Platonic Communism". Philosophers must seek the general welfare and so, trying to avoid temptations and useless distractions, they neither have private property nor family; their main purpose is wisdom which enables them to carry out their mission of government. Soldiers also sacrifice family and private property, only the craftsmen are allowed to them (though limited and controlled by the State). Craftsmen do not need education, except the professional for their own tasks, and they must obey political powers. In this ideal State only a very best selected minority have power. Platos ideal State is clearly aristocratic. Finally, along with this description of the ideal society, Plato describes and assesses the actual forms of government: there are five, but they all come from the monarchy or aristocracy by progressive decay: military dictatorship, oligarchy, democracy and, the worse of all, tyranny. Monarchy or aristocracy is the most perfect form of government: is the government of the best individuals. Aristotle Aristotle's View of Politics Political science studies the tasks of the politician or statesman (politikos), in much the way that medical science concerns the work of the physician. It is, in fact, the body of knowledge that such practitioners, if truly expert, will also wield in pursuing their tasks. The most important task for the politician is, in the role of lawgiver, to frame the appropriate constitution for the city-state. This involves enduring laws, customs, and institutions (including a system of moral education) for the citizens. Once the constitution is in place, the politician needs to take the appropriate measures to maintain it, to introduce reforms when he finds them necessary, and to prevent developments which might subvert the political system. This is the province of legislative science, which Aristotle regards as more important than politics as exercised in everyday political activity such as the passing of decrees.

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Aristotle frequently compares the politician to a craftsman. The analogy is imprecise because politics, in the strict sense of legislative science, is a form of practical knowledge, while a craft like architecture or medicine is a form of productive knowledge. However, the comparison is valid to the extent that the politician produces, operates, and maintains a legal system according to universal principles. In order to appreciate this analogy it is helpful to observe that Aristotle explains the production of an artifact in terms of four causes: the material, formal, efficient, and final causes. Socrates Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes. Politics It is often argued that Socrates believed "ideals belong in a world only the wise man can understand", making the philosopher the only type of person suitable to govern others. In Plato's dialogue the Republic, Socrates was in no way subtle about his particular beliefs on government. He openly objected to the democracy that ran Athens during his adult life. It was not only Athenian democracy: Socrates objected to any form of government that did not conform to his ideal of a perfect republic led by philosophers, and Athenian government was far from that. It is, however, possible that the Socrates of Plato's Republic is colored by Plato's own views. During the last years of Socrates' life, Athens was in continual flux due to political upheaval. Democracy was at last overthrown by a junta known as the Thirty Tyrants, led by Plato's relative, Critias, who had been a student of Socrates. The Tyrants ruled for about a year before the Athenian democracy was reinstated, at which point it declared an amnesty for all recent events. Socrates' opposition to democracy is often denied, and the question is one of the biggest philosophical debates when trying to determine exactly what Socrates believed. The strongest argument of those who claim Socrates did not actually believe in the idea of philosopher kings is that the view is expressed no earlier than Plato's Republic, which is widely considered one of Plato's "Middle" dialogues and

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not representative of the historical Socrates' views. Furthermore, according to Plato's Apology of Socrates, an "early" dialogue, Socrates refused to pursue conventional politics; he often stated he could not look into other's matters or tell people how to live their lives when he did not yet understand how to live his own. He believed he was a philosopher engaged in the pursuit of Truth, and did not claim to know it fully. Socrates' acceptance of his death sentence, after his conviction by the Boule (Senate), can also be seen to support this view. It is often claimed much of the anti-democratic leanings are from Plato, who was never able to overcome his disgust at what was done to his teacher. In any case, it is clear Socrates thought the rule of the Thirty Tyrants was at least as objectionable as Democracy; when called before them to assist in the arrest of a fellow Athenian, Socrates refused and narrowly escaped death before the Tyrants were overthrown. Jeremy Bentham Political Philosophy Bentham was regarded as the central figure of a group of intellectuals called, by Elie Halvy (1904), the philosophic radicals, of which both Mill and Herbert Spencer can be counted among the spiritual descendants. While it would be too strong to claim that the ideas of the philosophic radicals reflected a common political theory, it is nevertheless correct to say that they agreed that many of the social problems of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century England were due to an antiquated legal system and to the control of the economy by a hereditary landed gentry opposed to modern capitalist institutions. As discussed in the preceding section, for Bentham, the principles that govern morals also govern politics and law, and political reform requires a clear understanding of human nature. While he develops a number of principles already present in Anglo-Saxon political philosophy, he breaks with that tradition in significant ways. In his earliest work, A Fragment on Government (1776), which is an excerpt from a longer work published only in 1928 as Comment on Blackstones Commentaries, Bentham attacked the legal theory of Sir William Blackstone. Benthams target was, primarily, Blackstones defense of tradition in law. Bentham advocated the rational revision of the legal system, a restructuring of the process of determining

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responsibility and of punishment, and a more extensive freedom of contract. This, he believed, would favor not only the development of the community, but the personal development of the individual. Benthams attack on Blackstone targeted more than the latters use of tradition however. Against Blackstone and a number of earlier thinkers (including Locke), Bentham repudiated many of the concepts underlying their political philosophies, such as natural right, state of nature, and social contract. Bentham then attempted to outline positive alternatives to the preceding traditionalisms. Not only did he work to reform and restructure existing institutions, but he promoted broader suffrage and self (that is, representative) government. Edmund Burke

Philosophical and Historical Writings

Burke seems to have worked on the imaginationthe faculty of devising and combining ideas as an undergraduate, and continued to do so into the 1750s. The result, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) emphasized, unsurprisingly, the activity of mind in making ideas and the influence of these upon conduct. It was in the first place an exercise in clarifying ideas, with an eye to refining the ways in which the arts affect the passions: in other words, a refinement of complex ideas was taken to be the precondition of a refinement of practice. The roots of human activity, Burke thought, were the passions of curiosity, pleasure and pain. Curiosity stimulated the activity of mind on all matters. Ideas of pain and of pleasure corresponded respectively to self-preservation and society, and society involved the passions of sympathy, imitation and ambition. Imitation tended to establish habit, and ambition to produce change. Sympathy did neither, but it did establish an interest in other people's welfare that extended to mental identification with them. The scope of sympathy could embrace anyone, unlike compassion, which applied only to those in a worse situation than oneself. Such width of concern had an obvious reference to the social order (and may express also Burke's thinking about the theatre). The passions, understood in Burke's way, suggested at once that

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society as such answered to natural instincts, and that it comprised elements of continuity and improvement alike. Burke then proceeded to show that selfpreservation and its cognates suggested the complex idea of the sublime, and not least the idea of a God who was both active and terrible. Beauty, on the other hand, comprised a very different set of simple ideas, which originated in pleasure. Sublime and beautiful therefore sprang from very different origins. Niccolo Machiavelli Morality, Religion, and Politics These basic building blocks of Machiavelli's thought have induced considerable controversy among his readers going back to the sixteenth century, when he was denounced as an apostle of the Devil, but also was read and applied sympathetically by authors (and politicians) enunciating the doctrine of reason of state. The main source of dispute concerned Machiavelli's attitude toward conventional moral and religious standards of human conduct, mainly in connection withThe Prince. For many, his teaching adopts the stance of immoralism or, at least, amoralism. The most extreme versions of this reading find Machiavelli to be a teacher of evil, in the famous words of Leo Strauss, on the grounds that he counsels leaders to avoid the common values of justice, mercy, temperance, wisdom, and love of their people in preference to the use of cruelty, violence, fear, and deception. A more moderate school of thought, associated with the name of Benedetto Croce, views Machiavelli as simply a realist or a pragmatist advocating the suspension of commonplace ethics in matters of politics. Moral values have no place in the sorts of decisions that political leaders must make, and it is a category error of the gravest sort to think otherwise. Weaker still is the claim pioneered by Ernst Cassirer that Machiavelli simply adopts the stance of a scientista kind of Galileo of politicsin distinguishing between the facts of political life and the values of moral judgment. Thus, Machiavelli lays claim to the mantle of the founder of modern political science, in contrast with Aristotle's classical norm-laden vision of a political science of virtue. Perhaps the mildest version of the amoral hypothesis has been proposed by Quentin Skinner, who claims that the ruler's commission of acts deemed vicious by convention is a last best option. Concentrating on the claim in The Prince that a head of state ought to do good if he can, but must be prepared to commit evil if he

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must, Skinner argues that Machiavelli prefers conformity to moral virtue ceteris paribus.