LEVIATHAN, BY THOMAS HOBBES - CHAPTER XIII OF THE NATURAL CONDITION OF MANKIND AS CONCERNING THEIR FELICITY AND MISERY On the “State of Nature” ‘Nature hath made men so equal in the faculties of body and mind as that, though there be found one man sometimes manifestly stronger in body or of quicker mind than another, yet when all is reckoned together the difference between man and man is not so considerable as that one man can thereupon claim to himself any benefit to which another may not pretend as well as he. For as to the strength of body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machination or by confederacy with others that are in the same danger with himself. ‘And as to the faculties of the mind, setting aside the arts grounded upon words, and especially that skill of proceeding upon general and infallible rules, called science, which very few have and but in few things, as being not a native faculty bom with us, nor attained, as prudence, while we look after somewhat else, I find yet a greater equality amongst men than that of strength. For prudence is but experience, which equal time equally bestows on all men in those things they equally apply themselves unto. That which may perhaps make such equality incredible is but a vain conceit of one's own wisdom, which almost all men think they have in a greater degree than the vulgar; that is, than all men but themselves, and a few others, ‘whom by fame, or for concurring with themselves, they approve. For such is the nature of men that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent or more learned, yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves; for they see their own wit at hand, and other men’s at a distance. But this proveth rather that men are in that point equal, than unequal. For there is not ordinarily a greater sign of the equal distribution of anything than that every man is contented with his share. From this equality of ability ariseth equality of hope in the attaining of our ends. And therefore if any two ‘men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies; and in the ‘way to their end (which is principally their own conservation, and sometimes their delectation only) endeavour to destroy or subdue one another. And from hence it comes to pass that where an invader hath no more to fear than another man's single power, if one plant, sow, build, or possess a convenient seat, others may probably be expected to come prepared with forces united to dispossess and deprive him, not only of the fruit of his labour, but also of his life or liberty. And the invader again is in the like danger of another. ‘And from this diffidence of one another, there is no way for any man to seoure himself so reasonable as anticipation; that is, by force, or wiles, to master the persons of all men he can so long till he see no other power great enough to endanger him: and this is no more than his own conservation requireth, and is generally allowed. Also, because there be some that, taking pleasure in contemplating their own power in the acts of conquest, which they pursue farther than their security requires, if others, that otherwise would be glad to be at ease within modest bounds, should not by invasion increase their power, they would not be able, long time, by standing only on their defence, to subsist. And by consequence, such augmentationSo that in the nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrel. First, competition; secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory. The first maketh men invade for gain; the second, for safety; and the third, for reputation. The first use violence, to make themselves masters of other men's persons, wives, children, and cattle; the second, to defend them; the third, for trfles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other sign of undervalue, either direct in their persons or by reflection in their kindred, their friends, their nation, their profession, or their name. Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man. For war consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting, but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known: and therefore the notion of time is to be considered in the nature of war, as it is in the nature of weather. For as the nature of foul weather lieth not in a shower or two of rain, but in an inclination thereto of many days together: so the nature of war consisteth not in actual fighting, but in the known disposition thereto during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. All other time is peace. Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man, the same consequent to the time wherein men live without other security then what their own strength and their ‘own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; 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 the life of ‘man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. On “Absolutism” ‘The effective government ... whatever its form ... must have absolute authority. Its powers must be neither divided nor limited. The powers of legislation, enforcement, enforcement, and taxation, war- making are connected in such @ way that a loss of one may thwart effective exercise of the rest ... Only a government that possess all of the “essential rights of sovereignty” can be reliably effective, since where partial sets of these rights are held by different bodies that disagree in their judgments is to what is to be done, paralysis of effective government, or degeneration into a civil war to settle their dispute, may occur. ‘Similarly, to impose limitation on the authority of the government is to invite inresoluble disputes over whether it has overstepped those limits. If each person is to decide for himself if government should be obeyed, fractional disagreements... and conflict to settle the issue, or at least paralysis of effective government ... are quite possible To avoid this horrible prospect of governmental collapse and return to the state of nature, people should treat their sovereign as having absolute authority.Extract from John Locke's "Two Treatises on Government", London 1690 To correctly understand political power we must first consider in what condition men are naturally in: that is, a state of perfect freedom to do and say as they wish, limited only by the law of nature, without having to ask permission of anyone. It is also a state of perfect equality in which no one has more power or authority than anyone else. Nothing is more obvious than that creatures of the same species, endowed with the same gifts of nature and the same abilities, should be completely one to another. The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it : this is reason. This teaches anyone who enquires of it that, being equal and independent, no one ought to harm anyone else in his life, !health, liberty or possessions ...... All men are naturally in this state, and remain so, till, by their own consent, they make themselves members of some political society. If man in this state of nature is as free as has been said, if he is absolute lord of himself and his possessions, equal to the greatest and subject to nobody, why would he part with his freedom and place himself under the control of any other power? The answer is that, although in the state of nature he has a right to perfect freedom, the enjoyment of it is very uncertain and is constantly being threatened by >» others, For every man being equally free and not many being concerned with justice, the enjoyment of the property he has in the state of nature is not at all secure, It is quite reasonable, then, that man looks for, and is willing to join in society with others for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberty and property. The main reason, then, for man uniting into political society is the preservation of their property....... When people submit themselves to a legislature of their own making, it is obvious that they cannot let that legislature destroy that which they had hoped to secure in entering into society. Whenever the legislature tries to take away or destroy the property of the people, or reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, it puts itself into a state of war against the people, who are then immediately justified in rejecting it. Whenever, therefore, the legislature, by ambition, fear, folly or corruption tries to grasp for itself, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties and property of the people, by breaking the trust placed in it by the people, it forfeits the power the people had put into its hands. The people then have the right to resume their original liberty and establish a new legislature to provide for their safety and security.The Declaration of Independence IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. ‘The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, ‘When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the politcal bands which have connected them with another, aud to assume among the powers ofthe earth, the separate and ‘equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respeet tothe opinians of ‘mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. [ We hold these traths to be self-evident, that all men are ereated equal, that they are endowed by their Crestor with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the ‘governed, ~That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive ofthese ends, it isthe Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying ts foundation on such principles and “organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seom most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Gavemments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long, train of abuses and usuepations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a desiga to reduce them under absolute Despotism, itis their righ, itis their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide now Guards for their future secutity.--Such bas been the patient sufferance of these Colonies: and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter theit former Systems of Government, The history ofthe present King ‘of Great Britain isa history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having indirect object the establishment { of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to @ eandid world ‘He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary forthe public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Loves of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has uterly neglected to attend to them. re has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people ‘would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, aright inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has eelled together legislative bodies a places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. “He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annibilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within He has endeavored to prevent the population ofthese States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for | Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He bas obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, forthe tenure oftheir offices, and the amount and. payment oftheir salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and cat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Aries without the Consent of our legislatures, He has affected to render the Military independent of ané superior tothe Civil power He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: or Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by & mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts ofthe world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent[ For depriving us in many eases, ofthe benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary govemment, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms ‘of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for usin all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our owns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & periidy scarcely paralleled in the ‘most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of civilized nation, He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, °7] to become the executioners oftheir friends and Brethren, orto fall themselves by their Hands ‘He has excited domestic insurvections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redres inthe most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by sepeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act ‘which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a feee people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of | attempls by their legislature to extend an unvarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and setlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and ‘magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, ‘hich, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deat tothe voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our | Separation, and hold them, as We hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends, [ We, therefore, the Representatives ofthe united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge ofthe world forthe rectitude of our intentions, do, inthe Name, and by ‘Authority of the good People ofthese Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, ‘and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved trom all Allegiance tothe | British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Froe and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support ofthis Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, | we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. id Sin i ont, ie ai fash Bak ie SORE tp Ge Baise ean i ft fave i Ma ihm vantotlers Goettatiow. fhe 4p, vibe feton sw PO ah Poipu ust faite Hee Spina Milton iting < peel: Ieee yrce: The National Archives Records Administration at pd archives govienhibiech hiSetections From Tue Spirtr oF TH Laws (1749) Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) (Primary Source) Of the Laws in General Laws, in their most general meaning, are the necessary relations arising from the nature of things.In this sense, all beings have their laws, theDeity hislaws, thematerial worlditslaws, the intelligences superior to man their laws, the beasts their laws, man his laws. ... Since we observe that the world, though formed by the motion of matter, and void of understanding, subsists through so longa succession of ages, its motions must certainly be directed by invariable laws. ... Law in general is human reason, inasmuch ast governs all the inhabitants of the earth; the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied. ‘They should be adaptedin this mannerto the people for whom they are framed, because it is most unlikely that the laws of one nation will suit another. They should be relative to the nature and principle ofeach government... They should be relative to the climate of each country, to the quality of its soil, to its situation and extent, to the principal occupation of the inhabitants, whether farmers, huntsmen, or shepherds: they should have a relation to the degree of liberty which the constitution will bear, tothe religion of the inhabitants, to their manners, and customs. ..inall which different respects they ought to be considered.Setecrions FROM THe Spurr oF tHe Laws (1749) Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) (Primary Source) Of Political Liberty and the Constitution of England Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments; and even in these itis not always found. Itis there only when there is no abuse of power: but constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go. To prevent this abuse, itis necessary, from the very nature of things, that power should bea check to power. The political liberty of the subjectis a tranquility of mind arising from the opinion each person has of his safety. In order to have this liberty, it is requisite the government be so constituted as one man need not be afraid of another. When thelegislativeand executive powersare united in the same person, orinthesamebody ‘of magistrates, there can be no liberty. Again, there isno liberty ifthe judiciary powerbe not separated from the legislative and executive. In perusing the admirable treatise of Tacitus on. themanners of theancient German tribes, we find it is from that nation the English have borrowed # . ff the idea of their political government. This beau- ES tiful system was invented first in the woods. ... enone sate : Neither do I pretend by this to undervalue other governments, nor to say that this extreme politi- cal liberty ought to give uneasiness to those who | Pkg die Ecacenee have only a moderate share of it. How should I fesse yes eae have any such design; I who think that even the highest refinement of reason isnot always desir- Berth Lene able, and that mankind generally find their ac- eae count better in mediums than in extremes? » Qe, _ Source: Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, baron de Image of the 1752 edition title page. The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Reprinted online: Evans and W. Davis, 1777). ‘itp, www constitution ong/em/ sol frontjpe Gebruary 1999)Deism; The Religion of Natural Law 'A. Hobbes and Locke were the two most influential of the English philosophers of the Enlightenment. Hobbes supported absolutism and Locke claim people retain their natural rights. The French were more socially active in their writings than the English and intended to bring about social change. ‘They called themselves philosophes. For the ‘most part, the French philosophes, as well as others, were greaily influenced by the “religion of the Enlightenment” - Deism. The implications of Isaac Newton's physical theories of mechanics, which treated the universe as if it were a machine (hence the term "mechanics") built by a creating god yet running on its own principles independent of the interference of the creating god (though Newton never denied that God couldn’ interfere, just that he didn't), encompassed much more than physical change and movement. Soon other areas of experience came to be regarded as mechanistic and independent of divine interference: social structures, ‘economics, politics, and so forth. Each of these areas could be understood and manipulated solely through rational methods, since they operated through consistent and orderly laws and principles ‘The philosophes of mid-eighteenth century France developed this mechanistic view of the universe into a radically revised version of Christianity they called deism. Drawing on Newton's description of the universe as a great clock built by the Creator and then set in motion, the deists among the philosophes argued that everything—physical motion, human physiology, politics, society, economics—had its own set of rational principles ‘established by God which could be understood by human beings solely by means of their reason. This meant that the workings of the human and physical worlds could be understood without having to bring religion, mysticism, or divinity into the explanation. ‘The Deists were not atheists; they simply asserted that everything that concerned the physical and human universes could be comprehended independently of religious ‘concerns or explanations. However, Deism encompassed far more than this. For the Deists believed that if God created a rational universe, a universe that could be understood by human reason alone, ‘that must mean that God was rational as well. If God is rational, then God can be understood through the use of reason without recourse to mysticism, superstition, prayer, or even the divinity of Christ. Arguments of Deism: © Deis rejects supernatural aspects of religion. The religious duties of deist included such characteristics as to be virtuous and ethical © Organized church, whether Islamic, Jewish, Christian, or other, were man-made creations, not that of God. © Deist profoundly question, “Why would God put all the natural laws in place, only to violate them billions of times at the request of human prayer?” Know the above information.Candide by Voltaire CANDIDE IS THE ILLEGITIMATE NEPHEW of a German baron. He grows up in the baron's castle under the tutelage of the scholar Pangloss, who teaches him that this world is “the best of all possible worlds.” Candide falls in love with the baron's young daughter, Cunégonde. The baron catches the two kissing and expels Candide from his home. On his own for the first time, Candide is soon conscripted into the army of the Bulgars. He wanders away from camp for a brief walk, and is brutally flogged as a deserter. After witnessing a horrific battle, he manages to escape and travels to Holland. In Holland, a kindly Anabaptist named Jacques takes Candide in. Candide runs into a deformed beggar and discovers that it is Pangloss. Pangloss explains that he has contracted syphilis and that Cunégonde and her family have all been brutally murdered by the Bulgar army. Nonetheless, he maintains his optimistic outlook. Jacques takes Pangloss in as well. The three travel to Lisbon together, but before they arrive their ship runs into a storm and Jacques is drowned. Candide and Pangloss arrive in Lisbon to find it destroyed by an earthquake and under the control of the Inquisition. Pangloss is soon hanged as a heretic, and Candide is flogged for listening with approval to Pangloss's philosophy. After his beating, an old woman dresses Candide’s wounds and then, to his astonishment, takes him to Cunégonde. Cunégonde explains that though the Bulgars killed the rest of her family, she was merely raped and then captured by a captain, who sold her to a Jew named Don Isaachar. At present, she is a sex slave jointly ‘owned by Don Isaachar and the Grand Inquisitor of Lisbon. Each of Cunégonde's two owners arrive in tum as she and Candide are talking, and Candide kills them both. ‘Terrified, Candide, the old woman, and Cunégonde flee and board a ship bound for South America. During their journey, the old woman relates her own story. She was born the Pope's daughter but has suffered a litany of misfortunes that include rape, enslavement, and cannibalism. Candide and Cunégonde plan to marry, but as soon as they arrive in Buenos Aires, the governor, Don Fernando, proposes to Cunégonde. Thinking of her own financial welfare, she accepts. Authorities looking for the murderer of the Grand Inquisitor arrive from Portugal in pursuit of Candide. Along with a newly acquired valet named Cacambo, Candide flees to territory controlled by Jesuits who are revolting against the Spanish government. After demanding an audience with a Jesuit commander, Candide discovers that the commander is Cunégonde's brother, the baron, who also managed to escape from the Bulgars. Candide announces that he plans to marry Cunégonde, but the baron insists that his sister will never marry a commoner. Enraged, Candide runs the baron through with his sword. He and Cacambo escape into the wilderness, where they narrowly avoid being eaten by a native tribe called the Biglugs.After traveling for days, Candide and Cacambo find themselves in the land of Eldorado, where gold and jewels litter the streets. This utopian country has advanced scientific knowledge, no religious conflict, no court system, and places no value on its plentiful gold and jewels. But Candide longs to return to Cunégonde, and after a month in Eldorado he and Cacambo depart with countless invaluable jewels loaded onto swift pack sheep. When they reach the territory of ‘Surinam, Candide sends Cacambo to Buenos Aires with instructions to use part of the fortune to purchase Cunégonde from ‘Don Fernando and then to meet him in Venice. An unscrupulous merchant named Vanderdendur steals much of Candide's fortune, dampening his optimism somewhat. Frustrated, Candide sails off to France with a specially chosen companion, an unrepentantly pessimistic scholar named Martin. On the way there, he recovers part of his fortune when a Spanish captain sinks Vanderdendur’s ship. Candide takes this as proof that there is justice in the world, but Martin staunchly disagrees. In Paris, Candide and Martin mingle with the social elite. Candide's fortune attracts a number of hangers-on, several of whom succeed in filching jewels from him. Candide and Martin proceed to Venice, where, to Candide's dismay, Cunégonde and Cacambo are nowhere to be found. However, they do encounter other colorful individuals there, including Paquette, the chambermaid-turned-prostitute who gave Pangloss syphilis, and Count Pococurante, a wealthy Venetian who is ‘hopelessly bored with the cultural treasures that surround him, Eventually, Cacambo, now a slave of a deposed Turkish monarch, surfaces. He explains that Cunégonde is in Constantinople, having herself een enslaved along with the old woman. Martin, Cacambo, and Candide depart for Turkey, where Candide purchases Cacambo's freedom. Candide discovers Pangloss and the baron in a Turkish chain gang. Both have actually survived their apparent deaths and, after suffering various misfortunes, arrived in Turkey. Despite everything, Pangloss remains an optimist. An overjoyed Candide purchases their freedom, and he and his growing retinue go on to find Cunégonde and the old woman. Cunégonde has grown ugly since Candide last saw her, but he purchases her freedom anyway. He also buys the old woman's freedom and purchases a farm outside of Constantinople. He keeps his longstanding promise to marry Cunégonde, but only after being forced to send the baron, who still cannot abide his sister marrying a commoner, back to the chain gang. Candide, Cunégonde, Cacambo, Pangloss, and the old woman settle into a comfortable life on the farm but soon find themselves growing bored and quarrelsome. Finally, Candide encounters a farmer who lives a simple life, works hard, and avoids vice and leisure. Inspired, Candide and his friends proclaim “we must cultivate our own garden” in earnest. All their time and energy goes into the work, and none is left over for philosophical speculation. At last everyone is, fulfilled and happy.Consider these extracts as the characteristics of Rousseau’s “noble savage™state of nature: ‘Men in a state of nature do not know good and evil, but their independence, along with “the peacefulness of their passions, and their ignorance of vice”, keep them from doing ill. Savage man begins with simple mental operations: he can will or not will to do something; he can desire or fear something. Reason develops and perfects itself through the passions. We seek to know only because we desire or fear something. These passions result from our needs. ‘Savage man has no needs, and his only passions come from nature. Food, sex and rest are the only good things for him: the only evils are pain and hunger. There is no reason for savage man to cease being savage. His needs are close at hand, and he has no idea of the wonder of nature, or any conception of the future, The Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1763 MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they. How did this change come about? I do not know. What can make it legitimate? That question I think I can answer. If took into account only force, and the effects derived from it, I should say: "As long as a people is compelled to obey, and obeys, it does well; as soon as it can shake off the yoke, and shakes it off, it does still better; for, regaining its liberty by the same right as took it away, either itis justified in resuming it, or there was no justification for those who took it away.” But the social order is a sacred right which is the basis of all other rights. Nevertheless, this right does not come from. nature, and must therefore be founded on conventions. Before coming to that, I have to prove whiat [ have just asserted. ‘THE most ancient of all societies, and the only one that is natural, is the family: and even so the children remain attached to the father only so long as they need him for their preservation. As soon as this need ceases, the natural bond is dissolved. ‘The children, released from the obedience they owed to the father, and the father, released from the care he owed his children, return equally to independence. If they remain united, they continue $0 no longer naturally, but voluntarily; and the family itself is then maintained only by convention, ‘This sum of forces can arise only where several persons come together: but, as the force and liberty of each man are the chief instruments of his self-preservation, how can he pledge them without harming his own interests, and neglecting the care he owes to himself? This difficulty, in its bearing on my present subject, may be stated in the following terms: "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, "Bach of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole." At once, in place of the individual personality of each contracting party, this act of association creates a moral and collective body, composed of as many members as the assembly contains votes, and receiving from this act its unity, its common identity, its life and its will. This public person, so formed by the union of all other persons formerly took the name of city, and now takes that of Republic or body politic; itis called by its members State when passive. Sovereign when active, and Power when compared with others like itself, Those who are associated in it take collectively the name of people, and severally are called citizens, as sharing in the sovereign power, and subjects, as being under the laws of the State, But these terms are often confused and taken one for another: itis enough to know how to distinguish them when they are being used with precision, in order then that the social compact may not be an empty formula, it tacitly includes the undertaking, which alone can give force to the rest, that whoever refuses to obéy the general will shall be compelled to do so by the whole body. This, means nothing less than that he will be forced to be free; for this is the condition which, by giving each citizen to his country, secures him against all personal dependence. >Witches (1400 — 1700) Witeh-Hunts and Panie Nowhere is the dark side of early modern thought and culture more strikingly visible than in the witch hunts and panics that erupted in almost every Western land. Between 1400 and 1700, courts sentenced an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 people to death for harmful magic (maleficium) and diabolical witchcraft. In addition to inflicting harm on their neighbors, witches were said to attend mass meetings known as sabbats, to which they were believed to fly, They were also accused of indulging in sexual orgies with the devil, which appeared in animal form, most often as a he-goat. Still other charges against them were cannibalism - particularly the devouring of small Christian children —and a variety of ritual acts and practices, often sexual in nature that denied or perverted Christian beliefs, Why did witch panics occur in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries? The disruptions created by religious division and warfare were major factors. (The peak years of the religious wars were also those of the witch hunts). Some argue that the Reformation spurred the panics by taking away the traditional defenses against the devil and demons, thus compelling societies to protect themselves preemptively by searching out and executing witches. Political consolidation by secular governments and the papacy played an even greater role, as both aggressively conformed their respective realms in an attempt to eliminate competition for the loyalty of their subjects. Village Origins The roots of belief in witches are found in both popular and elite culture. In village societies, feared and respected “cunning folk” helped people cope with natural disasters and disabilities by magical means. For local people, these were important services that kept the village life moving forward in times of calamity, The possession of magical powers, for good or ill, made one an important person within village society. Those who were particularly old, impoverished single or widowed women often made claims to such authority. In village society witch beliefs may also have been a way to defy urban Christian society’s attempts to impose its orthodox beliefs, laws, and institutions on the countryside. ‘Under church persecution local fertility cults, whose semi-pagan practices were intended to ensure good harvests, acquired the features of diabolical witcheraft. Influence of the Clergy Popular belief in magical power was the essential foundation of the witch-hunts. Had ordinary people not believed that “gifted persons” could help or harm by magical means, and had they not been willing to accuse them, the hunts would never have occurred. However, the contribution of Christian theologians was equally great. When the church expanded into areas where its power and influence were small, it encountered semi-pagan cultures rich in folkloric beliefs and practices that predated Christianity, There, it clashed with the cunning men and women who were respected spiritual authorities in their local communities, the folk equivalents of Christian priests. The Christian clergy also practiced high magic. They could transform bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ (the sacrament of the Eucharist) and eternal penalties for sin into temporal ones (the sacrament of Penance of Confession). They also claimed the power to cast out demons who possessed the faithful. In the late thirteenth century, the church declared its magic to be the only true magic. Since such powers ‘were not innate to humans, the theologians reasoned, they must come either from God of from the devil, ‘Those from God were properly exercised within and by the church. Any who practiced magic outside and against the church did so on behalf of the devil. From such reasoning grew allegations of “pacts” between non-priestly magicians and Satan, Attacking accused witches became a way for the church to extend its spiritual hegemony.Tn working its will, the church had an important say in the princes of the age, who were also attempting to extend and consolidate their authority over villages and towns within their lands. As the church sought to supplant folk magic with church magic, the princes sought to supplant customary laws with Roman law. Here the stage was set for a one-sided conflict. Witch trials became one of the ways church and state realized their overlapping goals. To identify, try, and execute witched was a demonstration of absolute spiritual and political authority over a village or town. Who Were the Witches Roughly eighty percent of the victims of witch-hunts were women, most single and aged over forty This has suggested to some that misogyny fueled the witch-hunts. Inspired by male hatred and sexual fear of strong women, and occurring at a time when women were breaking out from under male control, witch-hunts were a conspiracy of males against females. ‘A perhaps better argument holds that women were targeted in higher numbers for more common- sensical reasons. (See “Why More Women than Men Are Witches,” page 476.) Three groups of women appear especially to have drawn the witch-hunter’s attention. The first was widows, who, living alone in the world after the deaths of their husbands, were often dependent on help from others, unhappy, and known to strike out. A second group was midwives, whose work made them unpopular when mothers and newboms died during childbirth. (See “Encountering the Past: Midwives,” page 477.) Surviving family members remembered those deaths. Finally, there were women healers and herbalists, who were targeted because their work gave them a moral and spiritual authority over people that the church wished to reserve for its priests. These women found themselves on the front lines in disproportionate numbers ‘when the church declared war on those who practiced magic without its special blessing. Social position, vocation, and influence, not gender per se, put old, single women in harm’s way. Nowhere do wwe find women being randomly rounded up for burning. The witch-hunts targeted specific women. End of the Witch Hunts Several factors helped end the witch-hunts. One was the emergence of a more scientific point of view. In the seventeenth century, mind and matter came to be viewed as two independent realities, making it harder to believe that thoughts in the mind or words on the lips could alter physical things. A witch's ‘curse was mere words. With advances I medicine, the rise of insurance companies, and the availability of lawyers, people gained grater physical security against the physical afflictions and natural calamities that drove the witch panics, Finally, the witch-hunts began to get out of hand. Tortured witches, when asked whom they saw at witches” sabbaths sometimes alleged having seen townspeople there, even the judges themselves! At this point the trials ceased to serve the interests of those conducting them, becoming dysfunctional and threatening anarchy as well.