Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke and the social contract

Machiavelli, Hobbes and Locke: This lecture really takes me back to my politics days, which I still have nightmares about... Hobbes and Locke were two key thinkers that we covered in our Politics A level so the lecture was helpful as it consolidated my knowledge of them and brought in Machiavelli whom I had not studied previously unless you count the reading from good old Bertrand that we did. So it was all good times in this lecture, despite how hung-over / tired / ill I was. Anyway, let’s get down with the trumpets... I mean notes!

The ideas put forward by these thinkers that I’m going to cover are collectively known as "Social Contract Theorist". By that they mean that when we're born into society we instantly "sign" this social contract which is an agreement between you and the state, by surrendering some of your freedom the state promises to take care of you and you must obey the laws placed by the state and respect democracy. 

Thomas Hobbes and his Social Contract Theory: Hobbes first mentioned the social contract theory in this world famous book entitled "The Leviathan" as I mentioned up there, *points to the above paragraph* this is a contract between citizens and the state. The Social Contract Theory in its earliest form was in fact touched upon by Socrates (top lad). 

The whole idea was that when Socrates was sentenced to death by a court he was offered many ways to escape by his pupil Plato and other students but Socrates refused to run away from his fate on the grounds that he had respect for the laws of Athens and Democracy - the city of Athens provided for him and therefore he could not undermine the city of Athens that has brought him up. 

The idea is that by breaking from jail and running away he would be "destroying Athens", what he means essentially, is that "what if everyone did it" the city would be undermined and there would be no law. Wow, I digress! This is supposed to be about Hobbes.

So yeah, Hobbes believed that before the social contract theory came into play societies lived in a "state of nature" remember this because it’s kind of a big deal. The State of Nature depends on the thinkers view of Human Nature, so therefore in Hobbes view, as he believed that humans were naturally aggressive and were constantly looking for power and so on that during this state of nature it would be, what he referred to in "The Leviathan" as:

"Bellum omnium in omnes" The original Latin quote which translates into "A war of all against all" - Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan.

This is a widely known and famous quote from Hobbes and explains his bleak views on human nature, someone sounds Conservative... Another famous quote from the Leviathan is that life in general (according to Hobbes) is...

"Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" - Thomas Hobbes

 My old politics teacher constantly drilled this into our heads, im' sure he'd be proud of me for bringing it up in my blog, totes for you Mr. McMahon. So yeah, from this idea put forward by Hobbes he then obviously believes that to stop this war of all against all you must bring in a sovereign state. This is idea of bringing peace by force, to an extent; citizens must willingly surrender some liberty to this sovereign power so that the power (state) can look after citizens - this is the social contract! Cool stuff...

The main things to note here is that:

• This is not the same as a dictatorship!
• You may depose of this power if they have failed to successfully and efficiently provide security to citizens, the people can revolt and bring in a new power - somewhat condoning revolution - this is where it differs from a dictatorship
• Hobbes states that there are limits in place on the ruler - as explained above you can depose and you are allowed to defend yourself

 John Locke - Treatises of Government and the Social Contract Theory

John Locke is widely known as the Father of Liberalism (left wing ideology), He was an English philosopher regarded as one of the most influential of "Enlightenment" thinkers.

First Treatise:

• We are born knowing nothing, there is no such thing as 'innate knowledge' and therefore believed that we gain knowledge through experience
• He despised the idea of the 'Divine Right of Kings' (known as his First Treatise from "Two Treatises of Government") he believed that the so-called Divine Right of Kings would eventually be the downfall of all governments

Second Treatise:

• This is Locke's views on the State of Nature - again it depends on the thinkers views on human nature; as Locke is a Liberal he would have a very optimistic view on human nature and therefore believes that the state of nature would be a peaceful time of everyone living together naturally co-operating - but there is still need for a state
• Laws of Nature = moral laws which every man knew through intuition, people always know the difference between right and wrong
• He claims that there is a need for a state and a stable government - which he calls a government by consent. the government will have limited powers, limited by the law specifically, for example the protection of property from the government
• People are born with natural rights - most important would be the right to revolution if the state no longer follows the law and turns into a tyranny

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Social Contract: Rousseau is another key thinker when it comes to the social contract and more importantly the state of nature. Rousseau goes one massive step further than Locke in his view of human nature - he believed that the state of nature would be a period of pure bliss and that any way of intervening would upset this peace, for example issuing laws and so on. He believed basically that it would be a Utopian society, living and co-operating together as he thought people were naturally co-operative. This links into the idea of the "General Will"

The General Will: For you sociologists out there it’s basically a general consensus of all the people. The General Will means all the people agree on something, is it therefore the general will - this means that what the people agree on is now the law and by following the law you will become free (so deep, just got chills)

Now the lecture goes onto the back-story on Plato and all about his forms and the idea of the Cave. I've covered this in my reading and I'm fairly confident that I get the gist of it and I believe that I can sum it up through the amazing lyrics from, wait for it, are you ready? Almost there! That’s a right a Pokemon intro song. Kapow and such. Bear in mind I'm going by the link that when you step out of the cave you then become enlightened and therefore:

"It's a whole new world we live in

It's a whole new way to see
It's a whole new place
with a brand new attitude" - Some dude with a heavenly voice.

Niccolo Machiavelli: Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher and humanist whose writing was done during the Renaissance. He is seen as one of the main thinkers of modern political science - he was also a diplomat and a political philosophy. He is most famous for writing the book on basically how to be the most bad-ass Prince in the world, called "The Prince". It was all about being tactful, it teaches maxims concerning politics, and it tends to concentrate on a "new prince". This then goes on to tell the new prince that in order to keep power he must stabilize his new-found power in order to build a stable political structure without changing the original order of things too much!

Well! That’s certainly a lot to think about - so pleased I managed to get this blogged up before its past 12:00 and that would mean its Sunday. Keep reading folks and perhaps offer some feedback? Kthnxbai.

Bye and stuff x