THOMAS HOBBES
-Reconstruction of political theory
destroyed by Machiavelli.
-During English Civil war and restoration
period in England.
-Realist writer
- Main question he dealt with is “the basis
of political authority” rather than the good
life like medieval political thinkers
-In Leviathan he advocates an absolute,
self-perpetuating sovereign power.
-Monarchists were critical of him because
Hobbes didn’t put the basis of monarchy
on nobility or divinity.
-King should rule because he could
establish order and peace.
-The sovereign was given unlimited and
undivided authority. Unlimited authority is
necessary to maintain the order.
-The scientific methods should be used to
study human nature.
-Men seek more power because this is the
only way to ensure self-preservation.
-Individuals are naturally unsocial beings.
-Individuals are selfish.
-Individuals seek power to protect
themselves and their goods.
-They also seek glory.
- 3 sources of conflict/disagreement:
competition, diffidence and glory.
-Zero sum definition of power: when
someone has more power, the rest will
have less.
-Kral dini ve siyasi otoriteyi elinde tutar
State of Nature:
-No government and social rules exist in
the state of nature.
-The real nature of human beings can be
understood under the bad conditions. (like
Machiavelli)
-In SoN every man is in conflict with all
other men.
-Continual fear
-Everyone has a right to self-preservation.
Thus they also can kill.
-Everyone is equal. The ability to kill is
always there in all humans.
-No natural growth of government
- Passions and reason helps us to escape
from SoN.
- People gave up their rights to be
governed by someone or assembly.
-The social contract is made between men.
They are not making contracts with the
sovereign.
-The sovereign emerges after the contract
is made.
-People cannot give their natural right,
self-preservation.
-The sovereign can be a parliament or
single ruler.
-The sovereign also has power over
religious manners.
-People obey rules for 2 reasons: desire to
get advantage or fear.
-The right of nature: is freedom to do
anything to stay alive. Absence of moral
constraints.
-The laws of nature: rules that prohibit
self-destructive behavior.
JOHN LOCKE
-Father of liberalism and republicanism
-Influenced today’s US politics
-Lived during English civil war
-Two Treatises of Government in 1689
-King does not have divine right to rule
and everyone was born equally.
-Used experience and observation.
-Tabula Rasa
-Christiany is a rational religion
-No one has the right to dominate the other
-Natural law included commands of god
and dictates of reason
-His view of the state of nature was more
optimistic than Hobbes.
-Hobbes emphasized the right to
self-preservation in the state of nature,
Locked emphasized the right of life,liberty
and property are all protected by the
natural law in the state of nature.
- The right to life and liberty weren’t
transferred to the sovereign when a
government was established with a social
contract.(unlike Hobbes)
- The right to life and liberty is given by
god and couldn’t be transferred.
-The government was established to
protect our rights, not to undermine them.
-Locke’s ideas on natural rights,
constitutionalism and loteratin were very
influential.
-His ideas inspired the American and
French revolutions.
-Politics and religion should be separated
and cannot intervene each other's sphere.
-Separation of powers
-Legislative supremacy is important
State of Nature:
-There is no government in the state of
nature.
-Peace, goodwill, cooperation and
protection is in the state of nature.(Unlike
Hobbes)
- Government cannot be absolute and
arbitrary
- Even when there is no government, a
peaceful life is possible.
-State of nature is not constant. Order and
chaos can occur over time cyclically.
-People have natural rights: life,liberty and
estate.(negative rights because they aim to
limit state’s behavior)
- The legitimacy of the government
depends on the degree of protection.
-Men are equal.
-No one has a natural right to rule.
-The laws of nature are the will of god.
-Adam was not given the right to rule over
men therefore kings cannot claim their
authority descended from Adam.
-Men have a responsibility to help others
as long as this doesn’t put their life in
danger.
-State of nature is where men can enjoy
their rights and don’t necessarily need a
government.
Why do we need a government if the state
of nature is peaceful?
-Because a minority may violate the laws
of nature.
- We need a power that can protect rights
and punish violators.
-Since men have equal rights, they also
have the right to punish others. People can
act unjust while punishing.
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-God has given the world to human beings.
-No one has a primary right to own things.
-When they use their labor, it becomes
their private property.
-Private property should be limited to just
enough to ensure the life and the welfare
of the person.
-Without money,there are natural limits to
collecting agricultural products.
-Without money it is difficult to
accumulate wealth and exchange goods.
-Use of money is a consent of
accumulation of wealth. This leads to
inequality that stems from some people
working harder than others do.
-Transition to an economy based on money
requires the social contract.
-Before the invention of the money, people
were living in a peaceful and cooperative
way.
-A government becomes necessary to
protect private property.
-Government is based on a unanimous
consent of the people.
-Only private property owners can vote.
-Limited Government
-Women,children are excluded from
citizenship.
-No political authority can have arbitrary
and absolute power over human
beings.Because:
1.even men themselves don’t have an
absolute and arbitrary power over others.
Men cannot violate the natural law.
2. having absolute power is against the
formation of civil society. It would be a
contradiction if the government that is
created to protect their rights actually
violates them.
-Toleration was necessary and limited in
the private realm.
-Governments don’t have an authority on
the internal moral lives of individuals.
-Atheists cannot be tolerated as they
themselves don’t tolerate other religions.
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU
-Reason and consciousness(vicdan) is
important. (differs from other previous
philosophers)
-Both St.Augustine and Rousseau
questioned reason and put importance on
feelings.
-Politics and morality shouldn’t be
seperated
-Enlightenment thinker
-His ideas inspired French revolution
thinkers like Robespierre
-Government is an artificial entity created
by human beings
-Science and arts didn’t bring progress.
State of Nature:
-Rousseau saw the state of nature as a
relatively positive condition.
-State of nature is a non-political
condition.
-State of nature and civil society are
opposed to each other.
-He saw civilization as a negative thing.
How did Rousseau differ from other
thinkers in terms of state of nature?
- state of nature was a peaceful condition
- Human history cannot be divided into
two general categories: the state of nature
and civil society.
-It needs to be divided into 3: state of
nature, transitional period and civilization
or civil society.
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-State of nature was not a constant
condition.
- In the first state of nature men are born
free and free to do what they like.
-There is no institution or government in
the first state of nature.(Unlike Hobbes and
Locke, this was not a bad condition)
-Similar to Locke and Hobbes the first
instinct that leads humans was the concern
for life and urge for self-preservation, the
second instinct was compassion(like
empathy)
- In the first state of nature people are
equal, and don't have the desire to
dominate the others.
- In the second state of nature, people are
slowly moving towards civilization. Due
to population increase and need to be more
efficient in using resources. Formation of
families and simple languages. Family is
the earliest form of society. Division of
labor is there as men hunt and women care
for the children.
-Society promotes competition and
inequality.
-As civilization develops, liberties of men
are taken from him.
-The government was formed to protect
the interests of those who had property.
- Everyone is equal before the law but
laws don’t apply to everyone equally.
Why did Rousseau argue that the arts and
the sciences led to the decline of society?
-The problem with scientists and
philosophers is that they question moral
opinions,habits; thus, they undermine the
basis of the community.
-The second problem is that they lure
citizens away from public activity into
private pursuits of intellectual life.
-Arts and philosophy softens the war-like
spirit that is necessary for national defense.
-The competition stems from arts and
philosophy undermines the respect for
equality among citizens.
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-Being a soldier and military service is the
perfect model for public service.
-The military services transform men into
citizens.
-He didn’t approve of territorial
expansion,conquest and imperialism.
-Civilization has led to the decline of
human relationships. Competition has
increased.
-Two problems of civilization:
estrangement and domination.
Estrangement can be overcome by
recovery of our natural virtue of
compassion. Dominance can be overcome
by accepting interdependence.
Social Contract
-Firstly,people with their free will create a
new community.They unanimously give
up all their rights they had. They don’t
give their rights to the government but to
the community. Sovereignty rests with the
people.
-Community has a will of its own called
“General Will”. Expresses the true
interests of the community.
-With the second social contract,people
create the government. The task of the
government is to execute the will of the
people, to protect liberty and political
equality.
-Government action can be based on
general will.
- “Man is born free and everywhere he is
in chains”
-As people become social beings,they rely
on other individuals.
- Unlike Aristo, society is artificial
according to Rousseau.
-Rousseau can be considered as one of the
leading figures of socialism and
communism.
IMMANUEL KANT
-The first professional
philosopher(academician)
-Synthesis between rationalism and
empiricism
-Accepted the social contract
theory(Hobbes,Locke,Rousseau)
-Social contract is not something real.
-His idea of a league of nations inspired
the UN.
- Critique of Pure Reason 1781
-Critique of Practical Reason(ethics)
-Critique of Judgement(aesthetics)
-Religion Within the limits of Reason
Alone 1793 (he was critical about catholic
church)
-Perpetual Peace 1795 was an expression
of enlightenment spirit.
-Ethics and politics are separate domains
of morality
-Humans when they come to the world
they have a certain amount of
knowledge(apriori) and they use reason to
create their worldview.
-Our best qualities only develop with
competition. (humans are social animals)
-States cannot isolate themselves from
each other.
-Wars can be useful in the ways that they
regulate relations among states.
-Three types of law:domestic law (jus
civitatis), international law (jus gentium),
and the law of the human race (jus
cosmopoliticum).
- Three main articles of perpetual peace:
The civil constitution of every state shall
be republican.The right of nations shall be
based on a federation of free
states.Cosmopolitan right shall be limited
to a condition of universal hospitality.
-Separation of powers
-All treaties should be designed with good
faith.
-No states should become under the
dominion of another state.
-Standing armies should be abolished. It is
an extra cost.
-The financial problems should be avoided
as they create problems for other states as
well.
- No state should interfere with others by
force or constitution.Ülkenin iç işlerine
karışmamak.
- In the long term perpetual peace will be
achieved.
-Because today globalisation is increasing,
states are less inclined to go to war with
each other as they are more
interdependent.
-we need the social contract theory as a
regulative idea in our society.
-the reason to have civil society is right to
freedom not self-preservation
HEGEL
-Last representative of German idealism
-German idealists thought that moral and
political principles cannot be based on
empirical observation, they are based on
reason.
-Dialectic:thesis,antithesis and synthesis.
-His theory is seen as a justification of the
subordination of the interest of the
individual to the interests of the state.
- Religion is no longer able to accomplish
meaningful life.
- Meaningful life is possible through the
reconceptualization of the state.
-Hegel’s political theory is very different
from liberal political theory.
-Liberals see the state as an artificial entity
composed of individuals.
-Hegel sees the state as a moral
association.(like the Ancient Greeks)
- State refers to political institutions and
moral,religious and cultural life.
-Main concern;: how to create a
meaningful life
Civil Society
-is comprised mainly of economic
activities
- people only interact because of their
economic interests.
- we see other humans as means to satisfy
our needs.
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- He contributed to nationalism.
-The construction of the state is based on
individuals’ self interests to realize their
self-preservation.
-Creation of the state is not a moral action,
it is a result of our natural impulse.
-The state is instrumental.
-Critical of liberal theory like Rousseau.
-The essence of freedom is
self-determination and absence of
dependence on other people.
- Our actions need 2 criteria to be
self-determined: 1)rational and 2)Content
of moral actions.(Sittlichkeit)
-True freedom can only be possible
through the agency of the state.
- German idealism
- Elements of the Philosophy of Right
(distinction between civil society and the
state)
-Phenomenology of the Spirit
-Encyclopedia of the Philosophical
Sciences
-Science of Logic
-Philosophy of Nature
- Elements of the Philosophy of Right
-Encyclopedia philosophy of Spirit
-zaman ve insan bilinci hakkında
çalışmalar yaptı.
-Geist(spirit)= human+social+divine
-World is the product of the spirit
-World history is the product of world
spirit
-Civil society is something between
individuals and state. Middle way.
- Family,individuality and property don’t
belong to civil society.
-Essence of the realty is thought(like
Plato)
-War is not evil. Can be good for two
reasons: tests for courage and helps rising
states which represent the world spirit.
KARL MARX
-his ideas affected communism
-effected from Hegel
-The Communist Manifesto
-Das Kapital
-During industrial revolution
-Capitalism should be replaced by
communism
-Das Kapital: if we look into history, there
is always a class struggle between different
classes.
-Religion: he was secular. Religion is one
of the main features that is stopping
different classes from struggling.
-Religion is a response to human
alienation in material life.
-Religion will disappear over time.
-Humans exist as a community.
-Division of world history is based on 4
different periods of production:
Asiatic,Slave,Feudal and Capitalist.
-Historical materialism:historical change
comes from the economic basis of the
society.
-Economic supremacy will affect political
power.
-In order to create harmony between
states,they had to make sure that there was
an economic relationship.
- According to Marx and Engels class
struggle is the main reason for conflict in
history.
-Capitalism creates international politics
-The role of the working class is to form
both nationally and internationally a new
form of society.
-Periods of history: primitive communist
societies,pre-capitalist societies and
capitalist societies.