EM Political Thought Flashcards
Tacit consent
John Locke - Two Treaties of Government
Enjoying the resources of a community gives consent to the government e.g. using the roads
This makes citizens bound to the law despite not offering express consent
Response to Filmer’s criticism that social contract theorists cannot explain how those who have NOT consented to the law are bound by it
Amour Propre
Jean Jacques Rousseau - Discourses on Inequality
Literally means self-love
A self-interested drive, concerned with comparative success or failure as a social being
The need to be recognised by others as having value and to be treated with respect
Rousseau thinks this is the source of all evil and thirst for amour propre can never be quenched
War of every man against every man
Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan
State of nature would make impossible all of the basic security upon which civilised life depends
There is no sovereign or higher authority to enforce rules and boundaries, so people decide themselves what amount of goods and respect they deserve
As everybody has a right to everything for survival, including each other’s bodies, a state of war prevails
Inter-generational Contract
Edmund Burke - Reflections on the Revolution in France
Principle of respecting previous generations through following their laws and ideas
Society is a contract “not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.”
Institutionalisation of publicly held norms and ideals allows for greater capacity to provide for peoples’ wants
Virtu
Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince
The range of personal qualities that the prince will find it necessary to acquire in order to “maintain his state” and to “achieve great things”
Not virtue in a philosophical sense. Part of Virtu is knowing how and when to deploy evil acts as well as kind ones
Responsible for half of a leader’s success/failure (other is Fortuna). Thinks Cesare Borgia had virtu
Fortuna
Machiavelli - The Prince
Literally means “fortune” or “luck”. Ultimate enemy of political order and biggest threat to a Prince
Compares to a river flooding, very destructive but can be stopped if prepared for through wisdom (virtu)
Unpredictable behaviour of Fortuna demands an aggressive, violent response, or ‘she’ will dominate the Prince
Divine right of husbands
Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Idea that husbands, or men, are afforded natural authority over their wives
Women are not subservient to men in a state of nature, they are educated into dependence by society
In law, women had no civil existence except for criminal cases; wives relinquished wages to their husbands; married women could not own property
Perfectibility
Jean Jacques Rousseau - Discourses on Inequality
Capacity to learn and find better means to satisfy needs. Leads to development of rationality and self-consciousness
Factor that distinguishes humans from other beings in the state of nature
However, says that this capacity is more likely to lead to a path of deception, vanity and destruction as society develops
General Will
Jean Jacques Rousseau - The Social Contract
A state can be legitimate only if it is guided by the “general will” of its members. Must come from all and apply to all
Unclear if this will is democratically agreed or a common law that exists in abstraction of what people want
For example, legislators can make laws without Athenian-style input from citizens and remain legitimate, as long as laws are in everyone’s interests
Co-exists with private will. Citizens must accept some freedom restrictors to allow the general will
Prerogative
John Locke - Two Treatises of Government
The right of the executive to act outside the law in order to preserve mankind’s survival
A king might order that a house be torn down in order to stop a fire from spreading throughout a city
Acceptable as long as it is used transparently and the executive is judged by the people afterwards, who declare whether it was used justly or not
Idea suggested by Jack Goldsmith (Bush’s legal team) following 9/11 to act extralegally
Locke prerogative quote
“the power to act according to discretion, for the publick good, without the prescription of the law, and sometimes even against it.”
Freedom as absence of opposition
Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan
Physical interpretation of freedom. The more we can move without physical barriers, the freer we are
A prisoner in a larger cell than another prisoner is “more free”. Non-binary view of freedom
Removing freedom and power from one another, sometimes called negative freedom
Power comes from internal forces, freedom is about external barriers
Express consent
John Locke - Two Treatises of Government
Active approval of a regime, which makes one a fully-integrated member of a political society
Voluntary undertaking of special obligations decided by the state
Locke’s ideal society would involve an explicit mechanism whereby adults express consent in order to possess property
Jean-Jacques Rousseau context
Born in Geneva
Discourse on Inequality (1755) and The Social Contract (1762)
Popular amongst Jacobin Club
Believed our sociable selves made us worry about issues of pride and vanity
Rousseau’s state of nature
Man is naturally good. Agile, quick and “ferocious” and lived a solitary life
Not susceptible to diseases caused by modern life (gout, obesity)
No fear of death, no language
No conflict due to absence of possessions or self-evaluation
Rousseau’s revolutions
Believed in three developments, or revolutions, that transformed state of nature into society
Cooperation and cohabitation; division of labour and dependence; law
Rousseau’s revolutions: cooperation and cohabitation
Natural difficulties lead humans to band together to survive
Can hunt larger game together, leads to permanent cohabitation and emergence of family structure
Optimal stage of happiness in development
