Introduction to the Age of the Enlightenment

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continued The Philosophes Advocate Reason
Montesquieu and the Separation of
Powers MontesquieuFrench writer who admires
Britains government system Favors separation
of powers to keep one body from running
government
Rousseau Champion of Freedom Rousseauphilosoph
e who favors individual freedom, direct
democracy Views social contract as agreement by
free people to form government
Beccaria Promotes Criminal Justice Italian
philosopher Cesare Beccaria works to reform
justice system Calls for speedy trials,
greater rights for criminal defendants
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Baron de Montesquieu
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Montesquieu

• (MAHN-tuh-SKYOO)
• The Spirit of the Laws (1748
• Devoted himself to the study of political liberty
• Studied Ancient Rome
• Felt that England was the best government of his
  time
• Power should be a check to power
• Separation of powers

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Montesquieu

• Believed in 3 types of governments
• ? Monarchies ruled by a king/queen guided by
  honor
• ? Republics ruled by elected officials guided by
  virtue
• ? Despotisms ruled by absolute dictators guided
  by fear

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Baron de Montesquieu

• Separation of powers
• Best form of government divided power among
  branches of government
• Separation of powers kept individual or group
  from abusing power

• The Spirit of the Laws
• Published 1748, showed admiration of Great
  Britains government
• Powers divided into branches legislative,
  executive, judicial
• Parliament made laws, king carried out laws,
  courts interpreted laws

• Checks and balances
• Misunderstood structure of British government,
  rational conclusion anyway
• Separation of powers allowed each branch to check
  against power of others
• Concept later important structure of democratic
  governments

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Montesquieu

• The Spirit of the Laws, 1748.
• Applied the scientific method to government.
• Three basic forms of government
• republics for small states based on citizen
  involvement
• monarchies, suitable for medium large states, and
  based on the nobilities adherence to the law.
• despotism, best for large empires and based on
  fear
• Most lasting contribution Best government
  separated the legislative, judicial and executive
  functions.
• Served to limit and control power and give the
  greatest freedom and security for a state.
• These ideas are read by American enlightenment
  thinkers and dramatically shaped both state and
  US Constitution.

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Montesquieu
? Believed strongly in personal
liberties. ? Developed the idea of
separation of power between 3 branches of
government. ? The early version of Checks
and Balances.
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Montesquieu

• Saw man as a product of his history, and their
  constitutions needed to meet the conditions and
  traditions of society to be effective.
• Developed a theory of the separation of powers
  among legislative, judicial, and executive
  agenciessystem of checks and balances

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Montesquieus 3 branches in Action
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• Montesquieu (1689-1755)
• Believed a republic was the best form of
  government
• "In republican governments, men are all equal
  equal they are also in despotic governments in
  the former, because they are everything in the
  latter, because they are nothing." (On the Spirit
  of Laws (1748))
• Success depended on a balance of power within
  government
• Prototype for checks and balances
• He acknowledged the British Constitution as the
  best
• example of government
• king (enforced laws), Parliament (elected, made
  laws), and
• the judges of the English courts (interpreted
  laws)

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Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

• French political philosopher
• Wrote Spirit of the Laws in 1748
• Saw Britain as an example
• Believed in a limited government
• Argued for a separation of powers between
  executive, legislative, and judicial branches

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Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)http//www.rjgeib
.com/thoughts/montesquieu/montesquieu-bio.html

• Montesquieu believed that a government that was
  elected by the people was the best form of
  government.
• His ideas about separation of powers became the
  basis for the United States Constitution.
• Commerce, according to Montesquieu, is an
  activity that cannot be confined or controlled by
  any individual government or monarch.

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Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)http//plato.stan
ford.edu/entries/montesquieu/

• According to Montesquieu, the civil laws are not
  an appropriate tool for enforcing religious norms
  of conduct God has His own laws, and He is quite
  capable of enforcing them without our assistance.
  When we attempt to enforce God's laws for Him, or
  to cast ourselves as His protectors, we make our
  religion an instrument of fanaticism and
  oppression this is a service neither to God nor
  to our country.

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Montesquieus Famous Works

• The Spirit of Laws- 1748
• In this political treatise Montesquieu advocates
• constitutionalism and the separation of powers,
• the abolition of slavery,
• the preservation of civil liberties and the rule
  of law,
• and the idea that political and legal
  institutions ought to reflect the social and
  geographical character of each particular
  community

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Montesquieus Views on Religion

• He was very concerned about the relationship
  between religion and violence I can assure you
  that no kingdom has ever had as many evil wars as
  the kingdom of Christ.
• In order to love and conform to ones religion it
  is not necessary to hate and persecute those who
  do not conform to it.
• He believed in Deism and a secular morality that
  is tolerant of many different religions
• Attacked religious fanaticism and extremism

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Montesquieus Views on Man

• Montesquieu criticized the life-style and
  liberties of the French nobility and Catholic
  Church.
• He condemned slavery felt all MEN were equal.
• Women were weaker than men and that they had to
  obey the commands of their husband.
• He felt that the gentler nature of women could
  make them valuable decision-makers in government
  and balance out the aggressive nature of men.

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Jean Jacques Rousseau
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• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• French philosopher, believed people basically
  good
• Believed society corrupted people
• Wrote The Social Contract, contract between all
  members of society
• Man is born free but everywhere is in chains.

• View of Government, Society
• Believed government should work for common good,
  not wealthy few
• Individuals should give up some freedoms for
  benefit of community
• Despised inequality in society
• Views inspired revolutionaries in years to come

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Paradoxical figure that links the Enlightenment
  and the Romantic Age.
• Born in Geneva, Switzerland and came to Paris at
  30 years old.
• Wrote essays on society and felt that society
  was corrupt.
• Thought that by nature men are loving, kind, and
  sympathetic, but society removes men from their
  true state.

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Rousseau

• Most popular of the Enlightenment
• Natural goodness of humans value of freedom and
  equality
• Respect for humans in nature Native Am.
• Concept of general will
• Flaws in society and institution cause social
  injustice

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Philosophes, cont.

• Rousseau Wrote the Social Contract. Believed
  that people were born good, but corrupted by the
  environment, bad government, and laws. He
  believed the best government used POPULAR
  SOVEREIGNTY or a vote by all of the people.

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Jean Jacques Rousseau 1712-1788

• Not wealthy by birth or classically trained he is
  the peoples philosopher arguing the need for a
  social contract to control the government

• Noble Savage
• It is a corrupt society which corrupts the
  people.
• A social contract stressing equality of all is
  essential.

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Rousseau

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
• Believed in human independence and political
  liberty
• Impacted both thought and social behavior
• Concerned himself w/ nature of morality and
  definition and need for liberty
• Argued that real source of power came from
  legitimate authority
• Legitimate meant an agreement between government
  and those being governed
• Believed in an education system that would
  produce citizens, capable of partaking in society

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• By the late Enlightenment a new group of
  Philosophes emerged.
• Rousseau the most famous of these.
• Discourse of the Origins of the Inequality of
  Mankind
• Government was formed to preserve private
  property. In the process people had become
  enslaved by government.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Each person should be educated for citizenship
• Education determined the individual and their
  relationship to society
• Nature (not tradition) determines education
• Individuals were essentially good
• Mind and body work in harmony, but mind directs
• Developing the body is necessary before
  developing the mind

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Jean Jacques Rousseau

• ? Committed to individual freedom.
• ? Also believed in a Social Contract
  between citizens and the government, in
  which a govt. chosen by the people is
  guided by the will of the people.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

• Wrote The Social Contract (1762)
• Believed in a Social Contract between the state
  and the people
• Society is held together by the general will
• Argued for participation of all people in society

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Rousseau The Social Contract

• He sees the importance of government as a way for
  individuals to protect themselves.
• His ideal state is a democracy, where people can
  exchange their freedom for the benefits of social
  life.
• His statement that sometimes the will of the
  majority does not reflect the will of the people,
  opened the door for a despot to seize power.

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Rousseau

• Social Contract
• Agreement by society to be governed by its
  general will.
• Anybody who defied the general will should be
  compelled to abide by the general will.
• Liberty is achieved by being forced to follow
  what is best for the group as a whole.
• Because everyone is responsible for framing the
  general will, the creation of laws could never be
  delegated to a parliament.
• Emilediscourse on education

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• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
• The Social Contract (1762)
• Humans are good, but the society in which they
  live is corrupt and bad
• Society will eventually deteriorate into chaos
  unless humans come together and adopt government
• Submission to the authority of the will of the
  people as a whole guarantees individuals against
  being subordinated to the wills of others
  ---became basis for 20th century dictatorships

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Rousseau

• Believed humans were naturally good and corrupted
  by society, not the other way around (as Hobbes
  believed)
• Believed society forces people to compete brining
  out the worst in people
• Believed government forces people to distrust
  each other and takes freedoms away
• Believed modern technology made people too
  dependent on one another
• Believed dependency created inequality, social
  classes, division

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The Social Contract, 1762
How could this fraudulent contract of government
be made legitimate? Man is born free and
everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself
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.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778
The General Will
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778
The Nature of the Social Compact
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. (Kramnick, p,
432) Each 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. (Kramnick, p, 433)
The General Will
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Contest "Does progress in the arts and sciences
  correspond with progress in morality?"
• No!
• As civilizations progress, they move away from
  morality
• Examples Romans, Greeks, Egyptians
• Civilization itself leads away from true
  fundamentals
• Technology and art give false desires
• Social Contract
• Noble Savage

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Influence on French and American Revolutions
• "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
• Invest all rights and liberties into a society
• Compare to a corporation

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Rousseau Contradictions

• Rousseau idealized the lower classes, depicting
  the beauty of a pastoral life.
• Rousseau saw people as being a bundle of
  feelings and instincts.
• Then, in his work Social Contract, he states that
  by nature man is brutish, contradicting his
  earlier work that man is basically good.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau1712-1778
Discourse on the Origins of Inequality,
1755 Second Discourse (Prize Essay for the
Academy of Dijon) What is the origin of
inequality among men, and is it authorized by
natural law? All ran headlong to their chains,
in hopes of securing their liberty for they had
just wit enough to perceive the advantages of
political institutions, without experience enough
to enable them to foresee the dangers. Man is
naturally goodin the state of nature. Property
and greed create distinctions and create the need
for the state and law
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau(June 28, 1712 July 2,
1778)

• All wickedness comes from weakness. . . . Make
  the child strong and he will be good.
• The training of the body, though much neglected,
  is the most important part of education.
• Childhood has its ways of seeing, thinking, and
  feeling that are proper to it.
• There is no original perversity in the human
  heart.
• Put questions within the child's reach and let
  him solve them himself. Let him know nothing
  because you have told him, but because he has
  learned it for himself .
• It is in doing good that we become good.

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• Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in
  chains.
• Rousseau

What are examples of things that are enslaving
uswhat aspects of society according to
Rousseau? Give historical and current examples!
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Summary of Rousseau's Teachings
Old System (Powerful Ruler or Chaos) New System (Social Contract Concepts)
Instinct Justice
Strength and intelligence People equal on moral rights
Might Right
Natural inclinations Reason
Personal liberty Civil liberty
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Rousseau v. Voltaire

• Voltaires chief adversary was Jean-Jacques
  Rousseau.
• Rousseau opposed the theater which was Voltaire's
  lifeblood, shunned the aristocracy which Voltaire
  courted, and argued for something dangerously
  like democratic revolution.

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Rousseau v. Voltaire (2)

• Whereas Voltaire argued that equality was
  impossible, Rousseau argued that inequality was
  unnatural.
• Whereas Voltaire charmed with his wit, Rousseau
  always claimed to be right.
• Whereas Voltaire insisted on the supremacy of the
  intellect, Rousseau emphasized the emotions.
• And whereas Voltaire repeated the same handful of
  core Enlightenment ideas, Rousseau sparked off
  original thoughts in all directions ideas about
  education, the family, government, the arts, and
  whatever else attracted his attention

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Rousseau v. Voltaire (3)

• For all their personal differences, Rousseau and
  Voltaire shared more values than they liked to
  acknowledge.
• They viewed absolute monarchy as dangerous and
  evil and rejected orthodox Christianity.
• Rousseau was almost as much a skeptic as
  Voltaire the minimalist faith both shared was
  called "deism" and it was eventually to transform
  European religion and have powerful influences on
  other aspects of society as well.

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Type of Government Voltaire Constitutional
monarchy Distrusted democracy Propagated the
idiocy of the masses He would rather obey
1 lion then 200 rats of his own
species Rousseau (Direct) Democracy Grew
up in Switzerland where adult males had direct
vote in a small government Distrusted
representative democracy any law which the
people has not ratified in person, is void

• Religion
• Voltaire
• Thought the Church
• controlled too much
• Wanted religious
• tolerance for all
• Rousseau
• God is found in nature
• Deism

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Perfect Society Voltaire People must work
to make society better Everything happens for
the better is not true People must work
to perfect society Rousseau If people lived
alone on island, society would be perfect
Government makes a society less perfect
Outlook on Life Voltaire People too
optimistic People intolerant of other ideas
People foolish Rousseau People want power
People born good and free People who are
strong imprison weaker people
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Hobbes versus Rousseaus Social Contract

• Hobbes
• People are naturally wicked
• People need to surrender their independence to an
  absolute leader in exchange for law and order
• People do not have the right to rebel

• Rousseau
• People start out good and become corrupted by
  society
• People are the source of governments power
• Government needs to help people
• People can rebel if leaders fail to do their job