Political Philosophy
Types of Government
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Democracy- Rule by the people
Monarchy- rule by a king
Oligarchy- rule by a group
Theocracy- rule by religious leaders
Despotism or Dictatorship- rule by
someone who seized the government by
force
Right or Left
Communism
Socialism
Welfare Liberalism
Classical liberalism
Libertarian
What is the role of Government
• What should the balance be between
individual freedom, our individual
autonomy and social control?
• Often we assume we have many rights?
What is the basis for freedom?
• Do all of our rights come from the
Government?
Individualism vs. Collectivism
• Should the individual’s interest be put
ahead of the group?
• Or should the group or (society’s) interest
come first.
Plato’s (Totalitarian) Republic
• In Plato’s Ideal State each person has an
assigned role- given to them by the King.
• Plato believes that society will benefit
because everyone will be working towards
the collective good of the whole society.
Natural Rights Theorist
• Thomas Hobbes
• John Locke
• Jean Jacques Rousseau
Natural or Human Right
• Natural rights are rights we have without a
government.
• They are rights that we have in virtue of
our humanity.
• Natural rights are akin to human rights.
When you hear people discussing human
rights abuses, they mean abuses of
certain basic rights. There is no clear
philosophical basis for these rights.
Natural vs. Positive Rights
• Natural rights are basic, negative rights.
Rights that we have, and other must
simply respect and not violate.
• Positive Rights come from Governmentby legislation. The government passes an
act of positive legislation that extends to
us a certain right- to vote, drink, or drive…
Positive Rights
The government makes a law, and a right
is created. Dogs have positive rights, trees
have positive rights, people have positive
rights too.
Thomas Hobbes- Monarchist
State of Nature
• Mankind was born into the state of nature.
Life in the state of nature is "short nasty
and brutish".
Might = Right
There are no arts or letters only a
war of all against all. In this state
men all have an equal right to
everything.
Right is equal to freedom, the
freedom, to do what he would, and
against whom he thought fit, and to
possess, use and enjoy all that he
would or could get.
1 Natural Right
• Thomas Hobbes
• 1 Natural Right- LIFE!
Two Laws of Nature
• Hobbes says that in the State of Nature
mankind knows by reason two laws of
nature, they are
• 1)"seek peace and follow it" and
• 2), "be willing to lay down his right to all
things; and be contented with so much
liberty against other men, as he would
allow against himself."
• “Golden Rule”
Hobbes’ Egoism
• Hobbes is an Ethical Egoist.
• Hobbes is a Psychological Egoist.
• Our egoism leads us to give up our right to
everything and to form a social contract.
Form a Government
• The best way to protect your RIGHT to life.
• All people give up our rights, to the king.
• King determines morality.
• NO IMMORAL LAWS!
Immoral to Revolt!
• Hobbes- writing in defense of the King,
denies that one can legitimately revolt
against the government.
• Once you leave the state of nature you
have a duty to keep your promise and
obey the king.
Inconsistent
• Hobbes originally claims that Egoism is
what leads us out of the state of nature.
• Once we enter into the government;
morality is determined by the king.
• He is a royal command theorist- the right
action is whatever the king says.
• Egoism is not consistent with out “duty” to
the king.
John Locke- Representative
Democrat
Kinder, Gentler state of Nature
• Locke’s conception of the state of nature
differs from Hobbes. He says that it is ,
"Men living together according to reason,
without a common superior on Earth with
authority to judge between them is
properly the state of nature".
John Locke: 3 Natural Rights
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Natural rights are akin to human rights.
LIFE
LIBERTY
PROPERTY
Labor theory of property:
If you work for something, and it is not
already owned by someone, then you
acquire ownership of it.
Protection
• Locke, like Hobbes, claims that we leave
the state of nature for protection!
• It is the best way to protect our right(s).
Locke the Radical
• Locke, unlike Hobbes, says people have
the right to revolt!
• If the government is not protecting our
natural rights, then the people have a right
to form a new, better government.
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Direct Democrat
True State of Nature
• Rousseau claims that both Hobbes and
Locke mischaracterize the state of nature.
• Natural Man
• Civil Man
Natural Man
• Natural man is motivated by love of self, only
cares about self preservation. Natural man is
not motivated by greed or love of material
goods.
Civil Man
• Mankind moves from the state of nature to
civilization once we move from self
preservation towards the goal of acquiring
property and wealth.
Corrupted!!!
• At this point
mankind
becomes
motivated by
greed and
corrupted by
envy.
Everywhere we are in chains
“Man is born free, but every where we are in
chains….”
He thinks that we can only be truly free
when we are part of a direct democracy.
General Will Vs. Will of All
• General will, is the opinion people will
reach, if they consider a matter objectively
and determine what is best for society as a
whole.
• Will of All, is the will of the majority,
considering only their own self interest.
Adam Smith
• Adam Smith Argued that the government
should not interfere in the market place.
• The idea of a Laissez-faire approach to
regulation has dominated the American
economic landscape for hundreds of
years.
John Stuart Mill
• In his essay "On Liberty"
he argues that the
limiting principle against
positive legislations of
government is Harm.
• Libertarians argue for a
limited government, one
that has as its sole
purpose, protection.
Harriet Taylor
• Was the wife of Mill. She wrote and co
wrote many essays under his name,
including An Essay on Toleration and Nonconformity.
Mill as a Libertarian
• The government must not extent into the
private affairs of its citizens except to stop
harm to others.
• The only legitimate laws according to Mill
are laws that protect you from others, but
not from yourself.
• Limitations: For the HP to apply, the agent
in question must be an adult, fully in
control of his or her faculties.
John Hospers
• Born in a small town
near Des Moines,
Iowa, Hospers grew
up speaking Dutch as
a first language. He
went on to earn a
Master's degree in
literature from the
University of Iowa
and a Ph.D. in
philosophy from
Columbia University.
3 types of laws
that government enacts:
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John Hospers:
1) laws protecting you from yourself,
2) laws protecting you from others and
3) laws making you help others.
Only the second class of laws are
legitimate. The other two are the result of
government superseding its bounds.
Georg Hegel
• Hegel views man as the measure of his
actions.
• We are free when we act from our own
will. Our will expresses itself thru action.
• We express our freedom in relation to
material objects, by acquiring them, using
them and exchanging them for other
goods or services.
Obligations
• When we form a contract we agree to
exchange some good for some other good
or service. If either party engages in fraud
or violence then he is acting wrongly.
• Our individual will must be brought into
allinement with the universal will of all.
This is similar to Rousseau’s general will.
Family and State
• Objective will. When one enters a family
then your own interest is tempered by the
interest of other members of the family.
You may sacrifice what is best for you to
benefit other family members.
• In the same way citizens of a state must
do the same thing, to help others in the
society.
Karl Marx
• Communist• Sometimes
known as a
Marxist.
Communism shall sweep the World
• Karl Marx employs a historical/
hypothetical approach to argue that the
communist revolution is coming. He
employs a dialectical analysis of the
historical rise and transition of the state.
He argues that because of the exploitation
of the workers by the capitalist will lead to
a revolution of the workers and to
eventually communism taking hold.
Karl Marx’s Communism
• Under Marx’s conception of communism, it
is not fair that the owners of business
make all them money and profit, when the
workers are the ones- actually doing the
work!
• He believes in an egalitarian society,
where everyone is equal is social status.
• This type of communism was never
realized in USSR or in China.