Philosopher of the Future

Finding the Ideal Government

Plato

•His book, The Republic, discusses the ideal form of government in which a society is constructed to bring out the best behavior of its citizens.

•Education is central for good government since it teaches people how to be good citizens.

•Criticized democracy as “mob rule”

Mary Wollstonecraft

•In her time, women could not receive an education, vote, or run for public office. This inequality, she believed, was at the core of society’s ills.

•Believed all people possess natural right to determine her own destiny.

•Thought that human nature and behavior was a result of environments

•Human nature could be improved through education, ending all forms of oppression.

Aristotle

•The polis (political community, or society), is the highest stage of development. People realize their full potential when organized into society.

•In his ideal society, everyone is educated to be virtuous, and all citizens participate in political society.

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King Louis XIV

•Believed in Absolute Monarchy: The king should have sole power over France’s foreign policy.

•The Estates General, composed of nobles, was an advisory political body. To control them, Louis built the Palace of Versailles (huge, constant party)

John Locke

•He believed people could develop their reason and rationality to settle their differences.

•He believed people have the natural ability to govern themselves and to look after the well-being of society.

•Argued that governments should only operate with the consent, or approval, of the people being governed.

•If a government abuses the rights of people instead of protecting them, then the people have the right to rebel and form a new government.

Thomas Hobbes

•In his book Leviathan, he argued people are naturally wiicked and cannot be trusted to govern. Because of this, he felt that an absolute monarchy is best.

•Believed people were selfish creatures, driven by a desire for power. Applied this belief to nations as well.

•Believe governments were created to protect people from their own selfishness and evil. He did not believe that both freedom and peace could coexist.

•Favored an absolute monarch but rejected the idea of “divine right” (“I rule because God said so”), instead believing that the king’s power comes from people deciding rationally that is in their interest to have this king.

•Suggested appointing a diverse group of representatives present problems of the common people to the king.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

•Believed that all people are born good, independent, and compassionate. Left alone (deserted island) people would live happily and peacefully.

•Luxury, greed, and corruption harm the individual. Social institutions, like government, schools, the arts, and the media corrupt naturally good individuals.

•Modern civilization, for all its progress, made People and governments should have a “Social Contract”, where people had direct say over how they are governed.

•Direct Democracy, in which all people vote for all laws, was the ideal way to make decisions.

Queen Elizabeth I

•Elizabeth did not think that a ruler should have absolute control over her subjects.

•Believed in “Divine Right”

•Thought that society needed to be structured into hierarchy (ordered social rankings).

•Saw her role as maternalistic (motherly), because of this, her subjects obeyed her out of voluntary love not enforced tyranny.