Paine used Common Sense as a great tool to let the commoners and less educated to gain some insight on the role and purpose of government. Firstly, Paine makes a distinction between government and society. Paine states: “Society is everything constructive and good that people join together to accomplish. Government, on the other hand, is an institution whose sole purpose is to protect us from our own vices. Government has its origins in the evil of man and is therefore a necessary evil at best.” He goes on to say that “government's sole purpose is to protect life, liberty and property, and that a government should be judged solely on the basis of the extent to which it accomplishes this goal.” Basically, Paine is stating to the common people that they have the opportunity to form their own representation of government and do it in a way that truly represents their wants and needs.
He believes that it was the role of the government that would keep these instincts in line. If these instincts were not controlled it would lead to war. Hobbes views were shaped by his life experiences during the English Civil War. He believed people were evil and selfish. Hobbes idea that “people orbiting their ruler” leads me to the idea of socialism/communism (Sayre, 2012).
George Washington expressed a good point when he said “This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its roots in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed.” Washington is saying that as a human being in any government or in any argument, there are going to be several different good ideas, however there not all going to work. He believed that the division of the American people and government would cause foreign influence and corruption.
“Analyze Beccaria’s argument against the judicial torture within the framework of Enlightnment values, and explain if you find his position still relevant today.” Cesare Beccaria, an enlightenment era philosopher that argued against the many problems that were wrong with the judicial system. He argued against the judicial torture by using the enlightenment ideas, since torture it was a big concern in his time and that it was lacking fairness and usefulness. Beccaria’s fundamental faith that he truly believed in was that all human beings are rational creatures that can join each other in peace and harmony in order to achieve a mutual benefit. Since the enlightenment ideals consisted of a social contract that all made political authority a legitimate authority because of the individuals within the society who joined together for a mutual benefit. Meaning that the authority that was elected by the society had to be beneficial to the society; as well as the right and wrong actions depended on the effect that these actions had on the unhappiness and happiness of an individual.
In this paper I will analytically examine Thrasymachus’ stance and use critical thought to support his valid claims while rejecting those which lack validity within Thrasymachus’ own definition of justice. Thrasymachus opens with the fairly pessimistic claim that justice or “what is right” is the advantage of the stronger. (Plato, 18) Governments use their power solely to enact laws that benefit themselves and those whom are under their direct influence – a tyrannical government puts into place authoritarian and brutal laws, a democratic government abides by libertarian and just laws, and et cetera. Failing to follow these rules laid out by the domineering government will label you as a wrongdoer and traitor to the state. This is because the ruling class only want to benefit their own selfish causes.
Each country, especially the United States, had an almost isolationistic view of their role in the world. Today, however, we face the challenge of enemies who do not think rationally and will die for what they think is the greater good, so the view of seclusion is not longer valid. The suicidal attitude of these new adversaries makes these types of people’s actions very hard to predict and track which leads to a danger that is unpredictable and around which we cannot devise a defensive plan. Another idea is that the civilized world believes that the economically developed countries take care of the less developed countries. In an article written by James G. Pradke called “Idealism vs. Realism: a Modern Approach to Capitalism Vs. Socialism,” dated April 16, 2010, he quoted Merriam-Webster’s dictionary (2010) which “claims that realism dismisses idealization and presents a theory which focuses on concern for fact or reality while rejecting
Thoreau wrote the Essay on Civil Disobedience, in which he addressed the question, “when do larger moral imperatives justify violating a law supported by the majority”. His response was that when a law “… is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law’’. This follows from basic English Common Law, in which you can do something as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else. Thoreau’s philosophy is that you disobey a command (law) when it is hurting someone else. Another area of his thinking is that government is symbolic of a ‘machine’, and man should commit non-violent disobedience to ‘gain access to the machine’.
Secondly, it makes social inequality seem fair and just, justifying social hierarchy. For example, the monarchy used the notion of “divine right”. To challenge the monarch was seen as an act of treason but also as a blasphemous rejection of God. Furthermore, religion prevents social change and maintains capitalism. Therefore, religion is a conservative force.
Machiavelli's view on Government Machiavelli was a great thinker of his time and almost all of his views can be related to current situations. In his essay, The Moral of the Prince, he writes about the real truth of principles a prince ought to adopt opposed to those that are imagined by the people that a prince or head of state ought to possess. The government is a twisted system and in order to do the right thing, we should try not to do the right thing but to persuade people that it was the right thing to do. There is no perfect leader, what we portray as a perfect leader is nothing but our minds going wild wanting to do good all the time. Immigration is a huge issue in America.
Is the 2nd Amendment Worth Saving? Is the 2nd Amendment Worth Saving? “Good people don’t need laws to tell them to act responsibly… and bad people will find a way around the laws.” – Plato “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants” - Thomas Jefferson “The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed, which Americans possess over the people of almost every nation… (Where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” - James Madison -The Federalist Sandy Hook: Littleton, Colorado (Columbine): Newtown, Connecticut. These names strike fear in to anyone who was alive to hear about them as they happened. These were mass shootings in very public places, schools.