History of political thought

November 26th
The Great Discoveries – landmark – 1492 – the discovery of America
The discovery of America poses a major problem for Western political thought, because
unlike other areas, like Asia, the newly discovered populations of America are different.
Most of them were perceived as not possessing government, institutions etc, and that
was a problem because most populations in the Old World had states, even powerful
ones (e.g. China, Persia). In America we witness the contact between the Spanish and the
primitive tribes, which seemingly did not possess laws, sciences, arts, writing, money;
they also do not seem to practice the usual trades of the Europeans, for instance they do
not know the use of iron. One striking aspect of their existence is egalitarianism. They
are perceived to have been extremely egalitarian – there is hardly any social hierarchy.
One more interesting characteristic that the Spanish discovered is that they did not seem
to have any religion worth mentioning – they seem to be atheists. According to Aristotle,
the state was a natural entity, so the absence of the state poses a major problem.

The discovery and colonization to the Canary Islands led to the extermination of the
locals in the end. Some of the ideas were in fact known from the previous century from
debates regarding the natives of the Canary Islands.

In the 16th century, a very interesting phenomenon happens, when the Europeans start
to build colonial empires (new phenomenon). There were other states that did the same
thing (e.g. China), but in Europe it was a new and rather late phenomenon. Even the
discoveries in Africa in the 15th century do not lead to the establishment of a Portuguese
colonial empire, but in the 16th century we have from an administrative and a political
point of view, the expansion and colonization. The Spanish and the Portuguese ask the
Pope to mediate their differences regarding control of the newly discovered world. The
first narratives regarding the natives of America steer different sentiments: excitement in
order to find gold vs. intense unease regarding the treatment of the American natives. A
huge debate, started in Spain (and later expanded).
Francisco de Vit(t)oria was a late scholastic – Spanish Dominican. His important work was
De Indiis (On the American Indians) – 1532.
People gradually discover that some precautions have to be adopted. What F. de V.
discovers in De Indiis is the legitimacy of the Spanish conquest. He discusses if the
Spanish have a legal title to occupy the lands of the Indians. Many people believed they
had two alternative valid titles: the authorization of the Pope (through Papal Bulls,
granting the Spanish Crown the permission to expand) or the theory of natural slavery.

The theory of natural slavery

It is legitimate for the Spanish to snatch the lands of the Indians, to destroy everything
that they might have built; it is even legitimate to enslave them, because they are
supposedly slaves by nature (not humans, without a soul).

The kind of arguments that Francisco de Vitoria advances does not really settle the
matter. He does deny that some of the titles were actually legitimate, thus being of a
moderate opinion. He rejects the theory of natural slavery and comes up with an
alternative theory – the theory of just war (sometimes, in well-defined circumstances, the
Europeans have a true right to wage war against the Indians, provided certain conditions
are met). Reasons for waging a just war against Indians:
- The hypothesis of a universal fellowship of mankind (proposed by the Stoics) –
Indians do possess a soul and are part of the general society of mankind. This
fellowship leads de Vitoria to believe that there is an obligation from the part of
everyone to grant free access to those that are needed to keep it up (e.g.
travelers, merchants), but if Indians refuse to allow that, then the Spanish Crown
may re-establish the free circulation of men and goods. This doctrine will be
preached in the next century, in the context of the debates of sea ownership.
- “crimes against nature” (= unnatural crimes); There are two types of offences:
o Offences against the law (stealing, skipping mass on Sunday) – mala
prohibita
 o Offences against the nature itself, the word of God itself – extremely
serious: unnatural cruelty, ethics, unnatural sin of sodomy, cannibalism,
human sacrifice
The Indians who commit the latter offences can be enslaved, killed etc.
- many Indians would in fact desire and claim protection from the Christian
sovereigns of Europe
Francisco de Vitoria’s conclusion is in fact that there are legitimate titles for the
occupying of America, but on the other hand he also discovers that there are limits to
what the European sovereigns can do in America, for instance while some Indians may
commit crimes against nature, de Vitoria claims that war is not always the solution
because it does more wrongs to those that are supposed to be eliminated => humane
policies in the later years. One spectacular aspect of the consequences of this theory
regarding the status of the Indians is the existence of the Jesuit colonies, especially in the
present state of Paraguay, which ended when the Jesuit order was forbidden. (THE
MISSION)

Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan 1651
Elements of law 1640
De Cive 1642
Theory of the state of nature
Hobbes’ starting point was in the question about the goal, the purpose of the state: what
is the state supposed to accomplish? Why do we live in a state? What are the nature and
the goal of the state?
The native societies of America are an illustration of what the state of nature is supposed
to do.
The best definition was given by Hobbes himself: life in the state of nature is “nasty,
miserable, brutish and short” – primitivism, poverty, ignorance and conflict. There is no
common authority to check the natural impulses of mankind, so there is degeneration
into anarchy, generalized war. One additional element is that it is nevertheless a state of
practical equality. The condition of people is so deplorable that they felt compelled to do
something about it – to reach a sort of agreement (covenant – implies a solemn oath,
religious overtones). There can be a contract in order to elect someone to rule the others
as a supreme arbiter. There is no private property due to the absence of laws.
Hobbes extends the theory of the state of nature from the level of relationship of isolated
individuals to relationships between states themselves, because in fact the expression
homo homini lupus occurs in a discussion about states.
The reasons for which natural order degenerates into anarchy: the desire of self-
preservation, the right of self defense, the fear of death.

The utopian writers:

Thomas Morus – Utopia (u-topos = no place = the country from nowhere) – 1516.
The utopia is the description of an imaginary country where, unlike the state of nature of
the kind Hobbes is talking about, there is order, religion, prosperity; the island of Utopia
is a well-ordered society but it is similar to the state of nature in that there is no private
property. A utopia is an imaginary country that is destined to remain imaginary. There is
something in the description that makes it an almost impossibility.
[The system of enclosures – lands that were previously common and they were enclosed
by landlords who were trying to use them for the raising of the sheep.]
The utopian works are sometimes written as blueprints for reforms.

Campanella – The city of the sun

There is practically no privacy and everything is common; e.g. it is up to the state to
decide the circulation of women. The reason for choosing the sun as a symbol comes
from travel literature. Campanella was struck by narratives of the Inca Empire.
Travel narratives became a part of the education of every thinking, educated person (the
emergence of book clubs due to the high price of books).

The theory of civilization / philosophy of history – Ferguson and Raynal

Ferguson - Essay on the history of civil society
Raynal (1770) – History of the two Indies – the establishment of colonies was a
groundbreaking event.
Key concept: progress.
Europeans are guilty of atrocities in the New World (favourite of the Protestants).
Raynal and Ferguson are the practitioners of the variant of the theory of development of
civilization whereby this development is described to have taken place in three stages:
1. the primitive stage
2. the pre-modern stage (barbaric) – feudalism, warlords etc
3. the modern stage – well-ordered state, commerce, prosperity, private property.