...University of Sharjah International Relations Political Theory Ideas on States and Justice in the thought of Augustine and Rousseau Essay Assignment By: May Ramez Mahrat Supervised by: Dr. Jeremy Kleidosty Arguments and philosophical explanations for what justifies power and states, inspired by the European Enlightenment thought, has headed closer toward reasoning and further from faith. The thought of Rousseau and Saint Augustine is a clear representation of the two poles of reason and faith in political thought. Rousseau, outlining the basis of his social contract on the natural goodness of human beings and putting sovereignty in the hand s of people, differs widely from Augustine who addresses the state as an “essential evil” put to discipline men who are sinners by nature. The political arguments of these two philosophers, who lived in two different ages, represent a different kind of Enlightenment for the both ages that they lived in. This essay will discuss Rousseau’s and Augustine’s regards to state, justice and property and will examine the effects of their thoughts on modern politics. Augustine and Rousseau in Comparison Wrapping his political and social beliefs with virtuous, deist and theological Christian discourse, Augustine, the Christian bishop, presents a leap in the Western thought at a time close to the beginning of the middle ages. His political views in his writings are interpreted differently by various scholars as he rarely expresses direct...
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...Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in city of Geneva, on 28th of June 1712. Rousseau`s mother died a week after his was born and his father blamed him for her death. He, then, was orphaned at the age of 10 because his father left Geneva to avoid imprisonment. Rousseau brought up by his devout Christian aunt and uncle, which spurred his hatred of authority and the church. Even though Rousseau had never received formal education, his love of literature and creative imagination were developed at a young age. In the Confessions, Rousseau mentioned that he went to Paris to become a composer and musician in his young adulthood, but he was discouraged and laughed by the other famous musicians at the time. At the same time, Rousseau became a close friend of fellow philosophe Diderot. As he mentioned in his autobiography, the reason why he was so...
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...Terrance Fulton Professor Fleshman Introduction to Philosophy – Autumn Quarter 24 October 2015 Midterm Exam Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals, Second Essay, Aphorism 12, P. 77 Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals sought to locate the origin of human morals and thoughts. However, his text is most effective at criticizing the morals and thoughts of humans. Most important is his criticism towards the human thought of origin and utility. Nietzsche’s work seeks to inform that the utility of an object is a consequence, not a cause, of any origin. What came first, the chicken or the egg? This is a question that is debated by everyone from Harvard scholars to biology experts to children in the school yard. The answer is unclear. Nietzsche asks a question that is quite similar: which came first, the eye or sight? The answer may seem obvious, the eye had to be made before sight could have happened. Nietzsche would agree. However, he would not agree that the eye was made for seeing. Instead he would say that the eye existed and then sight evolved from the already present organ. This statement is the basis of Nietzsche’s argument in the Genealogy: origin is not equal to essence. It Nietzsche’s belief that the origin of something is not related to its purpose/utility or vice-versa. This is the point that he is making in the provided passage. The text states, “…the utility of [anything]…means nothing regarding its origin” (p.77). This statement is put into effect through various ways in...
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...picking out a hair style or an outfit to put on where everything needs to make sense or match, it just needs to appeal to the viewer, and depending on the viewer’s mood at the time, the art pieces can be very different. The first art piece I selected was from the Museum of Modern Art; The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897 by Henri Rousseau. (Rousseau) I liked this oil on canvas painting for its simplicity and calmness. Henri Rousseau, a toll collector by trade, was a French Post-impressionist self-taught painter; even though he was never properly trained his natural born talent was admired by other artist including more famed avant-garde artists like Pablo Picasso and Vasily Kandinsky. His type of art “derived from the style and subject matter of popular print culture”. (Rousseau) Rousseau described the painting of the gypsy as wandering Negress who played the mandolin. She was so tired that she fell into a a deep sleep under the moonlight. The lion was drawn in by her scent but did not attack her probably because of how peaceful she looked sleeping, and not threatening her demeaner. I loved the use of color that Rousseau used in this painting because it represented calmness. Rousseau used simple lines and sharp color distinctions that showed dimension and depth. The night sky is...
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...accessing some sort of outside truth. Newton's calculus and optical theories provided the powerful Enlightenment metaphors for precisely measured change and illumination. Scientific rationalism, exemplified by the scientific method, was the hallmark of everything related to the Enlightenment. Near the end of the Renaissance, thinkers believed that the advances of science and industry foreshowed a new age of egalitarianism and progress for humankind. The intellectuals, also known as the philosophes, hoped they could create a new society in the belief that education could create better human beings and a better human society. Such philosophes as Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Hume, Quesnay, Smith, Beccaria, Condorcet, and Rousseau attacked traditional religion as the enemy, advocated religious toleration and freedom of thought creating a new science of man. In doing so, the philosophes laid the foundation for a modern worldview based on rationalism and secularism. Although, many philosophes continued to hold traditional views about women, the Enlightenment appealed largely to the urban middle classes, and its ideas were discussed in salons, coffeehouses, reading clubs. The idea of a “public,” an informed collection of citizens invested in the common good and preservation...
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...believes people can govern themselves if given the freedom they are not born with. François-Marie Arouet, known by Voltaire, What's a French historian, Philosopher, and Enlightenment writer. Voltaire believed that it was good that there was a multitude of religions And is historically acclaimed for being a supporter of Tolerance. Voltaire composed poems, novels, plays, essays, And Over 20000 personal letters. And in one of these letters, he wrote of his concerns for the English Nation and stated “If One religion only were allowed in England, the government would be very possibly become arbitrary; if they were but two, the people would cut one another's throats; but as there are such a multitude, they all live happy and in peace.” (Document B). Voltaire explains that at the Royal Exchange in London, he examined people of multiple religions coming together in a transaction at a time when religion was a major source of conflict in society; And instead of going at each other's throats, they met for the benefit of their nations and Mankind. Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher who was a key figure in the age of enlightenment. Adam was influenced by other major philosophers such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Adam Smith believed that an economic system should be based on an individual's decision-making of the people who make the system instead of being under government control. Adam Smith published a book called “The Wealth of Nations” which is an Inquiry into...
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...laid basis for social order and individual happiness Power must remain with ruled Humans are natualy equal, free, and capable through reason of defining the common good Humans are born without pre-existing qualities, natural state one of perfect freedom People have, by their nature of humans, the right to life, liberty & property Believed if a ruler is oppressive, people have right & obligation to rebel. Served justification for “Glorious Revolution 1688” & revolutions in American and France toward the end of the 18th century Believed in the notion of government as product of social contract between ruler & ruled. Idea has become dominantly of modern western, Eastern European & Asian political life Jean-Jacques Rousseau Believed humans may be good by nature but corrupted by society & institution, "God makes all things good, man meddles with them & they become evil" Safeguard individual liberty from a contract among yourself, "man is born free & everywhere he is in chains" General will done can direct the state according to the object for which it was instituted that is the common good. Whoever refused to obey the general will should be contained to do so by whole society; that is all humans should be forced to be free As nature gives each man absolute power over all members the social contract give the body politic absolute power over all members also --- Might have contributed to newly developed theories of democracy Propose changes in...
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...Austin Perilstein Monday, November 23, 2015 An Earth Shattering Crisis of Faith Fire has the power to consume, burn and destroy anything in its path, yet it can also be an agent of rebirth and growth, clearing a path for the new while destroying the old. The earthquake that struck Lisbon Portugal on November 1, All Saints Day, 1755 left 15,000 dead, the city destroyed and the faith of thousands of Christians in jeopardy. The resulting blaze that torched the city for a week afterwards acts as a symbol for the catalyst of the intellectual crisis that resulted. More than a thousand years of faith was called into question as intellectuals searched for a superior explanation for the disaster other than it playing a small role in Gods plan. The disaster opened the door for openly questioning God’s role in the natural world allowing for the growth of new ideas and the rejection of old and antiquated ones. In the end the earthquake in Lisbon presented such an intellectual crisis because it forced Philosophes and Theologians alike to question their own faith as well as the core beliefs that society was built upon. The sheer destruction of the event placed Theologians on the defensive as they attempted to rationalize the event while pushing Philosophes ever further from the core views of the church. While every disaster is a tragedy, the Lisbon earthquake sparked an intellectual crisis because of the disturbing nature of its destruction and the time period in which it happened. Occurring...
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...INTRODUCTION On November 21st, 1694, François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire was born in Paris. He became famous later on in life as an Enlightened thinker and made many contributions towards works and ideas of the many important thinkers of American and French Revolutions. He later became known by his pen name: Voltaire; and proceeded to do what he seemed to well, write. He created works in almost every literary form, including plays, poetry, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works, producing 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books. In these works, he was known to be trenchant towards intolerance, religious doctrine and the French institutions of his day. LIFE The youngest of five, in which only 3 survived, François Arouet became a notary who was a minor treasury official, his wife, Marie Marguerite d’Aumart, came from a noble family in the province of Poitou. Voltaire received his education at the Collège Louis-le-Grand in 1704-1711 where he learned Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and English—becoming fluent in all five languages. In the time Voltaire left school, he came to the conclusion that becoming a writer is what he wanted, which was against the wishes of his father who wanted him to become a notary. Despite his father’s will, he spent most of his time writing poetry—when his father discovered this, he sent Voltaire to school to study law in Caen, or Normandy. Regardless, he continued with his passion of writing: constructing essays and historical studies. Voltaire...
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...smooth manner. This essentially would be a “Utopia”, which is a community or society that possesses near perfect qualities. Plato, Niccolo Machiavelli, Karl Marx, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbs, and John Locke are just some of the few who have taken up views on this topic. There have been many disputes on what specific characteristics would produce a “just” society. What is justice? The dictionary defines justice as being righteous, equitable, or moral. Plato portrays it as “the...
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...Jews on the 19th of February 1950.] The French writer Léon Bloy, who called himself the Pilgrim of the Absolute, and who was a dear friend of mine, took pleasure in telling the following story: Once, in his youth, he was sitting at the table of a café with another poet, Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. A passer-by, who was a practical man, accosted the poet: "Hello, my dear fellow," he said to him with a patronizing smile, "always a poet, a beauty lover, always climbing in the clouds?" "And you." answered Villiers with a malicious smile, "you, my dear fellow, always going your way downwards?" Léon Bloy liked also to comment on the sententious sayings used in the common language. Many people who are good heathens but want to be assisted by religion on their deathbed, are apt to say: "Je ne veux pas mourir comme un chien; I don't want to die like a dog." Léon Bloy commented: "I have never understood why a man who lives like a pig does not want to die like a dog." These stories have no connection with the purpose of our meeting except as concerns the fact that any discussions dealing with religious matters must be tactful, polite and harmless. Before embarking on my subject, I should like to make two preliminary remarks. The first relates to the ways in which Christianity acts on terrestrial history. Christianity is at work in the social life of people according to two very distinct modes of action, which could be called the movement from...
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...philosophical thinking of that time, time came where physical exercises were approved (Christensen & Levinson, 2003). Gymnastics and Palestra were fully welcomed by Clemens of Alexandria. Men were permitted to wrestle with naked bodies and play with the ball. The principle of cultural continuity – people are willing to adopt a new religion to the extent that it retains cultural continuity with conventional religions that they are already in. For instance, as Christianity...
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...The History of Children’s Literature EDP1: Task 1 Janet Blake Western Governors University Children’s literature is defined many different ways. It can be simply defined as a book that a child reads, or as Kiefer defined it “as the imaginative shaping of life and thought into the forms and structures of language.” (Kiefer, 2010, p.5) Literature has been around for hundreds of years, although not in the form that we are used to seeing now. There have always been stories to be told for as long as one can remember. Before the days of bound books and magazines, there were stories that were told by people in the village around the campfires, or the bards and traveling entertainers telling stories to the court in the castles. This form of literature is labeled as oral literature. Oral literature has been around as long as there has been a language to speak. It is the stories that have been passed on from generation to generation. These stories included folklore, fables, stories about animals, or stories about brave heroes who performed a majestic deed to win the hand of his true love. They were told to both children and adults alike, because children and adults were all treated similarly during this time. In the early years of the fifth century through the fifteenth century this was the avenue for entertainment and to teach many of the lessons that they needed. Children would listen to the stories that the adults would listen to. These stories were often kept or preserved...
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...II. UNA CLAVE DE LA NATURALEZA DEL HOMBRE: EL SÍMBOLO EL BIÓLOGO Johannes von Uexküll ha escrito un libro en el que emprende una revisión crítica de los principios de la biología. Según él es una ciencia natural que tiene que ser desarrollada con los métodos empíricos usuales, los de observación y experimentación; pero el pensa- miento biológico no pertenece al mismo tipo que el pensamiento físico o químico. Uexküll es un resuelto campeón del vitalismo y defiende el principio de la autonomía de la vida. La vida es una realidad última y que depende de sí misma; no puede ser descrita o explicada en términos de física o de química. Partiendo de este punto de vista Uexküll desarrolla un nuevo esquema general de investigación biológica. Como filósofo es un idealista o fenomenista, pero su fenomenismo no se basa en consideraciones metafísicas o epistemológicas sino que se funda, más bien, en principios empíricos. Como él mismo señala, representaría una especie verdaderamente ingenua de dogmatismo suponer que existe una realidad absoluta de cosas que fuera la misma para todos los seres vivientes. La realidad no es una cosa única y homogénea; se halla inmensamente diversificada, poseyendo tantos esquemas y patrones diferentes cuantos diferentes organismos hay. Cada organismo es, por decirlo así, un ser monádico. Posee un mundo propio, por lo mismo que posee una experiencia peculiar. Los fenómenos que encontramos en la vida de una determinada...
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...Questions Plato and Aristotle 1. Characterize the Athenian democracy! Which were its main traits? 2. What are Plato’s main objections to democracy? 3. Discuss Plato’s idea that the most talented and educated should rule the state. What are his arguments? Do you have any objections to this? If so, which? 4. How does Plato argue around questions of family and private property? 5. What does Aristotle mean by Zoon Politicon? How does it affect his political ideas? 6. In what main ways does Aristotle’s view of democracy differ from Plato’s? 7. How does Aristotle justify slavery? 1. Mill is one of the main figures of the liberal tradition. Why? Characterize the main ideas of this ideology and discuss how they are represented in Mill’s philosophy. 2. Define and discuss the dangers of democracy according to Mill. What are his solutions? 3. Describe utilitarianism. In what ways can Mill be understood as an utilitarian and in which ways not? 4. Describe Marx’ historical materialism, including what role history plays in his philosophy. What relation does ‘revolution’ have to historical laws and human activity, respectively? 5. Describe Marx’ theory of alienation. Discuss its political implications. 6. What are the main arguments of Michael Hardt’s text? Discuss them in relation to Marx. 7. Compare and discuss the different understandings of ”freedom” in liberal and socialist ideology. 1. Characterize the main ideas...
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