Chapter 11 Freedom in a Political and Cultural Context

Thomas Hobbes

Hobbes had a very pessimistic view of human beings. He believed every person was self centered and never really cares for anyone else. Everybody seeks to have power over everyone else. “Humans are wolves toward each other”. We all agree to work together so as to keep our own self safe. His two famous works mentioned in the chapter are; 1.Leviathan 2.Decive And, um, he was a terrible speller.

John Locke

Locke is the most quoted philosopher when people seek to articulate the basic principles underlying the liberal democracies. Locke was not the pessimist that Hobbes was. He believed that individuals share in the faculty of reason, and that through reason persons would for the most part act according to the self- evident laws of nature. The earth and its riches belongs to everyone. If a person does the “work” on a piece of land, it is more theirs than anyone else’s. Locke stated we enter into a “social contract” with one another so as to protect the property we own. The reason for government is the protection of private property.

He wrote; Essay Concerning Human Understanding and he wrote Treatises of Government

J.J. Rousseau

Rousseau wrote a book in 1762 called, The Social Contract where he stated, “Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains.” He believed people are good by nature and inclined toward compassion for one another. But even though this is so, people end up becoming too dependent on one another and competition “of wills” between people also takes over. He felt the way around this overpowering of competition and interdependence was a “social contract” that could “both preserve the individual and have people submit to the “general will” of the people. This contract of the general will guarantees individuals against being subordinated to the wills of others and also ensures that they obey themselves because they are, collectively, the authors of the law.”

Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham is most famous for his theory of Utilitarianism. The theory states that an action is good if “it provides the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people.” Problem: Utilitarianism allows for damage to a minority if the greater number of people benefit

John Rawls

He wrote “A Theory of Justice” to counter utilitarianism. He tried to “reconcile individual freedom with the constraint of society. His book sets forth the proposition that “Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. Therefore, in a just society the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests.” The rights and freedoms of the individual are more important than the notion of the common good. The two principles of justice: 1.Everybody has the most extensive system of rights and freedoms which can be accorded equally to everyone.” 2.Economic and social inequalities are justified only if they benefit all of society, especially its most disadvantaged members.

A couple of definitions Liberalism: a philosophy based on the goodness of the human being, autonomy of the individual, and standing for the protection of the economic, political and civil rights and freedoms. Capitalism: an economic system based on private or corporate ownership and control of resources. Goods and services are exchanged in a free market.