4. Three Themes in the Political
Realm
1. Property
o Central feature
o Gives an individual a stake in society
2. Rights
o Every individual is entitled to basic rights simply
because they exist
3. Law
o That which makes 1 & 2 work
o Guarantees property & rights
7. Locke’s Philosophy
• The individual must become a “rational
creature”
• Virtue can be learned & practiced
• Human beings possess free will
o They should be prepared for freedom
o Obedience should be out of conviction, not
fear
8. Locke’s Philosophy (cont.)
• Legislators owe their power to a
contract with the people
• Neither kings nor wealth are divinely
ordained
• There are certain natural rights that are
endowed by God to all human beings
o Life, liberty, & property
• Favored a republic
9. Baron de Montesquieu
(1689-1755)
Most influential writing
was “Spirit of the
Laws” written in 1748
“Countries are well-
cultivated, not as they are
fertile, but as they are free.”
10. Montesquieu’s Philosophy
• Used England’s government as a
model for:
• The separation of powers
• Executive Power = King
• Legislative Power = Parliament
• Judicial Power = Courts
• Checks & balances
• Monarchs should be subject to
constitutional limits on their power
12. Rousseau’s Philosophy
• Tabula Rasa (blank slate)
• Best traits of human character are
products of nature
• Society corrupts people, therefore, we
must fix society
13. Rousseau (cont.)
• In The Social Contract:
o The right kind of political order could make
people truly moral & free
o Individual moral freedom could be
achieved only by learning to subject one’s
individual interests to the “General Will”
14. Rousseau - Social Contract
(cont.)
o Individuals could do this by entering into a
social contract - not with their rulers, but
with each other
o This social contract was derived from human
nature -NOT from history, tradition, or the Bible
o People = most free & moral under a
republican form of government with a direct
democracy
17. Condorcet’s Philosophy
• Expectation of universal happiness
• Every individual guided by reason could
enjoy true independence
• Advocated:
o Free & equal education
o Constitutionalism
o Equal rights for women
19. Kant’s Philosophy
• Investigated the structure & limitations
of reason
• Believed he created a compromise
between the empiricists and the
rationalists (experience + reason =
Enlightenment)
21. Diderot’s Encyclopédie
• Complete cycle of
knowledge that changed
the general way of
thinking
• 28 volumes
• Alphabetical, cross-
referenced, illustrated
25. Voltaire (cont.)
• Wrote plays, novels,
poetry, essays, &
letters
• Fierce defender of
civil liberties,
especially:
o Religious freedom
o Free trade
o Freedom of speech
• Spent time
imprisoned in the
The empiricists believed that knowledge is acquired through experience alone, but the rationalists maintained that such knowledge is open to Cartesian doubt and that reason alone provides us with knowledge.
Using reason without applying it to experience will only lead to illusions, while experience will be purely subjective without first being included under pure reason
Last words…surrounded by priests an others, he was asked to renounce the devil, to which Voltaire replied “Now is not the time to be making new enemies.” His last words were, “For God’s sake, let me die in peace!”
