On the other hand, the nobility had many rights. Today it’s greatly known that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were well influenced from the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment thinkers argued against these traditions, and called for individual freedoms, governments of the people, and religious freedom. They were "enlightened" because they believed that humans could answer questions for them, and sought ways to put this philosophy into practice. John Locke, an Enlightenment thinker, highly influenced the Declaration of Independence.
“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.
Locke Vs. Rousseau When asked to compare and or contrast the political theories of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, one may the thinking that the easier thing to do is to state their differences due to that fact that these two individuals come from two distinctly different eras of political development. Although this is true, both Locke and Rousseau’s fundamental arguments share similar arguments as well as difference ones. Certain themes such as the state of nature, state of war, and the primary intent of government serve as starting ground for some the two party’s most influential and diverse ideologies. Despite many contradictions believed by some, both parties roved to be greatly influential in the course of the United States’ democratic development. In both Locke’s and Rousseau’s state of nature, the only agreement they have is that men are born free and equal, with no higher authority with the exception of divine power.
Why or why not? Machiavellian techniques are admired in today’s politics and corporate structure. In the “Prince”, Machiavelli emphasizes the characteristics of a Prince in an entity and advocates that a prince must exert for the best of the state even if his decisions are unethical and violent. Hence, a Prince must be ready to defend his territory and act not to be virtuous even if it includes destroying the old Prince and manipulating the law and government. Moreover, these arguments are validated for every nation and government since Machiavelli suggests, “the end justifies the means”.
A European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition was known as the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was heavily influenced by thinkers like John Locke, Voltaire, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, where each of their ideas had an impact on Europe. Jean-Jacques Rousseau remains an important figure in the history of philosophy because his contributions to political philosophy and moral psychology, and his influence on later thinkers. His beliefs of philosophy and philosophers were pretty much negative and explored two routes to achieving and protecting freedom: constructing political institutions that allow for the co-existence of free and equal citizens in a community where they are sovereign, and a project for child development and education that fosters autonomy and avoids the development of the most destructive forms of self interest. Rousseau also believed that the coexistence of human beings in relations of equality and freedom was possible.
Their overarching beliefs dealing with human nature and structure of government are relatively similar, with slight variations, while the most distinct differences within their ideologies appear when analyzing the purpose of government. Machiavelli and Hobbes’ portrayals of human nature are both quite pessimistic, their main observation being that men are self-interested. This is understandable considering they both wrote at times of turmoil: The Prince was written for the Medici family during the upheaval of the Italian Wars and Hobbs wrote Leviathan in the wake of the Civil War in England. Machiavelli argued that humans were good only when it served their self-interest, claiming that men are “are ungrateful, fickle, pretenders, and dissemblers, evaders of danger, eager for gain (Machiavelli p. 66)” Machiavelli explains that “it is a very natural and ordinary thing to desire to acquire (Machiavelli p.14)” thus, maximizing power is part of human nature and self-gain often outweighs morality. Hobbes shares this stance but portrays human nature as more inherently brutal.
HUM 2249-46B Successes of the Enlightenment The Enlightenment was the time period in which the many cultural and social changes occurred due to the many thoughtful processes of reason and analysis. Not only that, but it promoted the scientific method, challenged ideas grounded in tradition, faith or superstition, and advocated the restructuring of governments and social institutions based on reason. Enlightenment philosophy also stressed that liberty and equality were natural human rights. Along with this, a unique twist of individualism rather than the traditional ways of thinking could be well-associated with the Age of Enlightenment. As a result, Jefferson, Montesquieu, Locke, and other members of the founding generation were deeply influenced by this 18th-century European intellectual movement.
Confucius preached to act with virtue, while Lao Tzu wanted people to have virtue without necessarily presenting it. He believed it should be a state of mind and a natural occurrence in the mind. Because of these two clashing view points, it is apparent that Lao Tzu would respond negatively towards
Comparison of Thoreau and Nietzsche’s differences of philosophies regarding nonviolence In King’s lecture, Thoreau and Nietzsche were regarded as representatives from different positions. King considered Thoreau as a supporter of the standpoint that the internal value should have transcended the external, or the technological improvements of human would benefit nothing. On the other hand, he took Nietzsche as an opponent to “all-embracing and unconditional love for all men”. More than King’s evaluation to them, their philosophies with regard to nonviolence also differ a lot. Their basic altitudes towards the democracy and nonviolence conflict with each other.
Assess Kant's ethics of duty and freedom as a response to all previous ethical theories. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), one of the most influential philosophers in the history of Western philosophy, has been celebrated for his great contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics. Kant especially celebrates the originality and uniqueness of his ethical theory through his general criticism of previous ethical theories and has always been regarded as a profound impact on more or less all the philosophical movements that went behind him. Significantly, Kant’s philosophy is anchored in his conviction that the value of man is inbuilt in his ability to reason and his criticisms of utilitarianism have become well-known in the history of philosophy. An analysis of Kant’s ethics of duty and freedom as a response to all previous ethical theories proves the characteristics of the Kantian ethics and the most significant contrast to utilitarianism, according to Kant, is the ethics of duty in which normative judgments are made on the basis of the character of the action rather than its consequences.