Email address: gmsmith@shanahan.org
Prayer:
Current events:
Dr. Scheuer reveals that the interrogation programs worked and revealed active plots to attack the U.S. Scheuer's three books have criticized security lapses under Bush as well as Clinton. In short, he states that now the country is defended significantly less than we were two years ago. Seven former CIA chiefs on Friday urged Obama to halt its investigation of the agency's interrogation methods, predicting the latest inquiry would only foster "an atmosphere of continuous jeopardy."
The retired CIA agency heads referred to-—John Deutch, Porter Goss, Michael Hayden, James R. Schlesinger, George Tenet, William Webster and R. James Woolsey-—also warned the investigation could hamper the government's intelligence-gathering abilities and deter other nations from working with the United States. The former CIA heads wrote a joint letter to Obama asking him to continue the earlier interrogation methods. The retired agency heads date back to the Carter administration, it is a bi-partisan effort, including both Democratic and Republican administrations.
For more background on Dr. Scheuer, search for the bibliographic information about his three books on LibraryThing.
I moved the "Blog Archive" to the top right on the blog page so it should be easier to find the daily lesson, HW, and other class material.
According to Hobbes, life in the “state of nature”—without laws or other control—would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Hobbes Writes the Leviathan
The title page from Leviathan (1651) by Hobbes demonstrates his belief in a powerful ruler. The monarch here represents the Leviathan who rises above all of society.
Locke Advocates Natural Rights
John Locke had a more optimistic view of human nature. He thought people were basically reasonable and moral. Further, they had certain natural rights, or rights that belonged to all humans from birth. These included the right to life, liberty, and property.
In Two Treatises of Government, Locke argued that people formed governments to protect their natural rights. The best kind of government, he said, had limited power and was accepted by all citizens. Thus, unlike Hobbes, Locke rejected absolute monarchy.
England during this time experienced a shift in political power known as the Glorious Revolution. James II, an unpopular absolute monarch, left the throne and fled England in 1688. Locke later wrote that he thought James II deserved to be dethroned for violating the rights of the English.
Locke proposed a radical idea about this time. A government, he said, has an obligation to the people it governs. If a government fails its obligations or violates people’s natural rights, the people have the right to overthrow that government.
Locke’s idea would one day influence leaders of the American Revolution, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Locke’s idea of the right of revolution would also echo across Europe and Latin America in the centuries that followed.
The Philosophes
In the 1700s, there was a flowering of Enlightenment thought. This was when a group of Enlightenment thinkers in France applied the methods of science to understand and improve society. They believed that the use of reason could lead to reforms of government, law, and society. These thinkers were called philosophes (fee loh zohfs), which means “philosophers.” Their ideas soon spread beyond France and even beyond Europe.
Biography
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet, most commonly known as Voltaire (1694–1778) was an impassioned poet, historian, essayist, and philosopher who wrote with cutting sarcasm and sharp wit.
Voltaire was sent to the Bastille prison twice due to his criticism of French authorities and was eventually banned from Paris. When he was able to return to France, he wrote about political and religious freedom.
Voltaire spent his life fighting enemies of freedom, such as ignorance, superstition, and intolerance.
Voltaire Defends Freedom of Thought
Probably the most famous of the philosophes was François-Marie Arouet, who took the name Voltaire. “My trade,” said Voltaire, “is to say what I think,” and he did so throughout his long, controversial life.
Voltaire used biting wit as a weapon to expose the abuses of his day. He targeted corrupt officials and idle aristocrats. With his pen, he battled inequality, injustice, and superstition. He detested the slave trade and deplored religious prejudice.
Voltaire’s outspoken attacks offended both the French government and the Catholic Church. He was imprisoned and forced into exile. Even as he saw his books outlawed and even burned, he continued to defend the principle of freedom of speech.
Montesquieu
Montesquieu Advances the Idea of Separation of Powers
Another early and influential thinker was Baron de Montesquieu (mahn tus kyoo). Montesquieu studied the governments of Europe, from Italy to England. He read about ancient and medieval Europe, and learned about Chinese and Native American cultures. His sharp criticism of absolute monarchy would open doors for later debate.
Born to wealth, Charles Louis de Secondat (1689–1755) inherited the title Baron de Montesquieu from his uncle. Like many other reformers, he did not let his privileged status keep him from becoming a voice for democracy.
His first book titled Persian Letters ridiculed the French government and social classes. In his work published in 1748, The Spirit of the Laws, he advanced the idea of separation of powers—a foundation of modern democracy.
In 1748, Montesquieu published The Spirit of the Laws, in which he discussed governments throughout history. Montesquieu felt that the best way to protect liberty was to divide the various functions and powers of government among three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial.
He also felt that each branch of government should be able to serve as a check on the other two, an idea that we call checks and balances. Montesquieu’s beliefs would soon profoundly affect the Framers of the United States Constitution.
Diderot Edits the Encyclopedia
Denis Diderot (dee duh roh) worked for years to produce a 28-volume set of books called the Encyclopedia. As the editor, Diderot did more than just compile articles.
His purpose was “to change the general way of thinking” by explaining ideas on topics such as government, philosophy, and religion. Diderot’s Encyclopedia included articles by leading thinkers of the day, including Montesquieu and Voltaire.
In these articles, the philosophes denounced slavery, praised freedom of expression, and urged education for all. They attacked divine-right theory and traditional religions. Critics raised an outcry.
The French government argued that the Encyclopedia was an attack on public morals, and the pope threatened to excommunicate Roman Catholics who bought or read the volumes.
Despite these and other efforts to ban the Encyclopedia, more than 4,000 copies were printed between 1751 and 1789. When translated into other languages, the Encyclopedia helped spread Enlightenment ideas throughout Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.
Rousseau Promotes The Social Contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (roo soh), believed that people in their natural state were basically good. This natural innocence, he felt, was corrupted by the evils of society, especially the unequal distribution of property.
Many reformers and revolutionaries later adopted this view. Among them were Thomas Paine and Marquis de Lafayette, who were leading figures of the American and French Revolutions.
In 1762, Rousseau set forth his ideas about government and society in The Social Contract. Rousseau felt that society placed too many limitations on people’s behavior.
He believed that some controls were necessary, but that they should be minimal. Additionally, only governments that had been freely elected should impose these controls.
Rousseau put his faith in the “general will,” or the best conscience of the people. The good of the community as a whole, he said, should be placed above individual interests.
Rousseau has influenced political and social thinkers for more than 200 years. Woven through his work is a hatred of all forms of political and economic oppression. His bold ideas would help fan the flames of revolt in years to come.
Women Challenge the Philosophes
The Enlightenment slogan “free and equal” did not apply to women. Though the philosophes said women had natural rights, their rights were limited to the areas of home and family.
By the mid- to late-1700s, a small but growing number of women protested this view. Germaine de Staël in France and Catharine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft in Britain argued that women were being excluded from the social contract itself. Their arguments, however, were ridiculed and often sharply condemned.
Wollstonecraft was a well-known British social critic. She accepted that a woman’s first duty was to be a good mother but felt that a woman should be able to decide what was in her own interest without depending on her husband.
In 1792, Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In it, she called for equal education for girls and boys. Only education, she argued, could give women the tools they needed to participate equally with men in public life.
HW, if and when you have written work, you can email the answers to me gmsmith@shanahan.org.
1. Review material, daily posts, and Shanawiki, for Quiz
2. What did Rousseau mean when he stated that if any individual wants to pursue his own self-interests at the expense of the common good, "He will be forced to be free?" Do you agree or disagree with Rousseau? Why? (Cf. p. 304)
3. Mary Wollstonecraft (pp. 304, 305) argued that women are entitled to the same rights as men. Do you believe this premise to be true? Do you believe women are accorded equal rights today? Present your argument in an essay supported with evidence and logic.
