ADVANCED PLACEMENT
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
POLITICAL PHILOSPHERS
Thomas Hobbes(English)
 First Scholar of political ideas or political philosopher. Came from a
poor family.
 Analyzed human nature as basically selfish(as opposed to Confucius)
 Theorized that the state of nature was brutal. “Might makes right.”
 Ultimately people agreed to trade some individual freedom for
order and protection.
Thomas Hobbes(English)
 This implied agreement is called a Social Contract, but Hobbes did
not name it.
 Hobbes believed a monarchy was the best government (big
surprise, it’s all he knew).
 Caught in the instability of The English Civil War he had to flee for
his life.
 Argued that a revolt against government risks a return to the brutal
state of nature.
...in the first place, I put for a general inclination of all mankind,
a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that
ceaseth only in death. (Hobbes, Leviathan
John Locke
 Believed that all people were subject to the natural law
given by God.
 Believed that all rational minds would come to understand
natural law
 Natural law encouraged the forming of the social contract.
 The purpose of the state was to preserve life, liberty and
property.
John Locke
 Elections replay the social contract
 Government power should always be seen as limited
 Government abuse of power justifies revolution.
 Best known work is Two Treatises on Government (1689) after the
Glorious Revolution.
 To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of
human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all
other virtues.”
― John Locke
Montesquieu
 State needed a constitutional system to limit government
power and protect individual rights.
 Believed that only a strong class of nobility could check the
power of the king and mob.
 Argued that government power could be checked by
dividing it among three branches: Executive, Legislative and
Judicial.
 “ In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its
institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of
state.”
Voltaire (French)
 Wrote novel, Candide, that challenged the notion that
everything happens is for the best.
 His satirical works, like Candide, mocked the church
and royal court.
 His name meant “Lightning”
Voltaire
 Exiled from France
 Admired English ideal of religious liberty and relative
freedom of the press.
 Advocate of Free speech. “I disapprove of what you say,
but will defend to the death your right to say it.”
 An excellent example of a philosophe, or thinker of the
Enlightenment.
Rousseau (French)
 Wrote ideas in a book titled Social Contract, but did not




invent the concept.
Sovereign power, the power of the state, is the general
will of the people and is unlimited.
Trusted that the general will of the people would never
move to harm individual citizens.
Critics think he lacked a feel for protecting minority
rights.
Also had ideas on many other subjects, including
children’s education. (Emile)
Rousseau
 Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jefferson (American)
 Close follower of Locke.
 Probably learned Locke’s ideas from neighbor George
Mason who was the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights.
 Declaration of Independence contains essential Jefferson
beliefs.
 All people have God given rights.
 People have a duty to revolt when government abuse is
intolerable.
Jefferson
 “A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to
against every government, and what no just government
should refuse, or rest on inference.”