"The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason."
- G.K. Chesterton
Ever abounding in humility, philosophers of this time called their age "The Enlightenment."
Many philosophers of this time period imagined the "state of nature," or what mankind would be like left on his own, free from the expectations and constraints of society, law, or morality. This led to different theories about how government and society developed, which led to different ideas about what a government should do.
Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679) was an English philosopher who believed that the state of nature was a lawless "war of all against all." Free from all moral and legal constraints, people would just do whatever they could get away with to serve their own interests. Government, therefore, is formed to establish laws granting certain rights and taking away the corresponding freedoms in order to protect people from each other.
John Locke (1632 - 1704) was another English philosopher who believed that in the state of nature, people would still have natural rights to "life, health, liberty, and possessions." However, even though these rights are part of human nature, people sometimes don't respect them. When this happens, governments are formed, not to grant these rights, but to secure them.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778), whose real name was Francois-Marie Arouet, was a French satirist who did not so much have a political philosophy of his own as relentlessly critiqued and lampooned the political and social order of his day. He hated the French monarchy, society, and especially Christianity. His political thought was largely shaped by an exile in England, and he became an advocate of the freedom of speech and constitutional government he encountered there.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778) was a Genevan/French philosopher who believed that in the state of nature, mankind was naturally virtuous until corrupted by illusions like property and individual rights. People, he thought, should therefore give up any claims to natural rights, which would then leave only the common good to consider.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826) was an American statesman who authored the Declaration of Independence, where he basically reiterated John Locke's views that man is endowed, not by the government, but by the Creator, with "certain inalienable rights... among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Which political philosophy seems most correct to you? Why? In what ways could this philosophy be abused?
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