History of Western Philosophy - Notes on Machiavelli, Hobbes and Locke

Machiavelli

• Political knowledge is scientific and empirical
• Born in Florence from a family that was neither or poor
• "All armed prophets have conquered and unarmed ones have failed." - Suggesting that to have your ideas recognised as a prophet you must be both strong-minded and strong-willed to see them accepted in society. The ideas must also have some relevant ammunition to back them up. Or armies, an army may push through an idea by imposing it on the people.
• Cesar Borgia - Aimed to conquer territories in the name of the Pope to manipulate the cardinals to ensure that the next pope was his friend. He only failed, in Machiavelli's words, "by the extraordinary malignity of fortune." He was gravely ill when his father died, thus giving his enemies time to organise their forces and his bitterest opponent had been elected pope. Cesar said that he had prepared for everything apart from upon his fathers death, he would be dying himself. Machiavelli believes him and suggests that he should be imitated by those who have fortune and arms to rise to power.
• Chapter in The Prince called 'Of Ecclesiastical Principalities' which conceals some of his previous opinions of the Medici's as one had just become Pope. He says that the problem is that the princes are always kept in power, no matter how they behave, due to defence by ancient religious customs. He suggests that they don't need armies because god will always protect them - "they are exalted and maintained by god." In other words, one would suggest that religion is so powerful that nobody dares to question the judgement of god, so they dare not fight the prince. Religion will do the fighting for him.
• Ethical Hierarchy - 1) founders of religion 2) founders of monarchy and republics 3) literary men. Suggests that religion should have a high place in the State, not because of truth but due to the social cement it holds. Could be said here that he is questioning the truth of religion, but recognises it's importance to society.
• Two criticisms of the church:
• undermines religious belief through evil conduct
• Basically asking how the church can be so evil, whilst at the same time maintaining that people stick to the beliefs that it ignores.
• Double standards
• Temporal power of the Popes prevents the unification of Italy
• Italy could be a lot more powerful if there was just one Pope.
• Says the Prince's must be cunning, strong, seem religious and sometimes be faithless
• They must be cunning and strong to survive
• Seem religious to keep the public onside
• Sometimes be faithless to get what they desire. They can mislead people to reach their ends.
• Most medieval writers put 'legitimate power' on emperors and popes, and those who derive from them. Machiavelli suggests that power is free to those that seize it.
• Similar to the democratic system where people are elected based on their ideas.
• Also similar to Hitler seizing power by knocking down all his opposition, then by attempting to conquer with a large army to gain more power.
• Three important political goods
• National independence
• Security
• Well-ordered constitution
• Best constitution gives legal rights to those high up eg. princes and nobles
• This makes revolution very difficult as they have their power backed by the power of the law and government.
• This makes stability possible, but to help balance this, give more power to the people, so far as it matches the ends the powerful wish to meet.
• Political means
• Choose means adequate to the end you are looking for
• if the end is good, use good means to achieve it
• Success means achieving what you desire, be that good or wicked. Something that both saints and sinners wish to achieve.
• Power is necessary to achieve a political end
• Limitations:
• Use propaganda to make party seem virtuous
• Overlook all the wrongs and present them as rights (like Nazi Germany slaughtering Jews - propaganda suggested they were bad, so the regime must be right)

HOBBES' LEVIATHAN

• Prospect of Civil War formed his opinions
• Cromwell favoured him and gave him a pension of £100 a year, which he forgot to pay. Lord Chancellor was shocked by this as Hobbes was seen as an Atheist, as the Leviathan largely tore apart the Catholic Church.
• Life is a motion of limbs, nothing more, nothing less.
• The Commonwealth (Leviathan) is art and an artificial man. Sovereignty is the artificial soul and pacts/covenants take the place of God's "Let Us make you man."
• First part deals with man as an individual
• Sensations are caused by the pressure of objects, not in the objects themselves. The qualities in objects that correspond to our sensations are motions.
• Imagination while asleep is dreaming.
• Very logical, no other real explanation of dreams.
• Applies determinism to psychology
• Thoughts are not arbitrary but governed by laws - association & depending on purpose of thinking.
• Says that our thoughts are determined by the government and controlled by them.
• Without language - no true or false
• Truthfulness and falseness are attributes of speech.
• Geometry is the one feasible science.
• Against Plato. He says that reason is developed by industry, not innate.
• Says that government control our reasoning through laws and rules.
• Endeavour - Beginning of motion
• If towards something: Desire
• If away from something: Aversion
• Suggests that every emotion is a motion and that the start of the emotion gets the wheels rolling, similar to accelerating in a car by going through the gears.
• Good - Object of desire
• Bad - Aversion
• Fear of invisible power
• If allowed - Religion
• If not - Superstition
• Saying that people frown on superstition, but remarkably not religion. There's equal amounts of proof for each being true - none.
• All men are naturally equal
• Before government each man wants his own liberty and domination over others.
• Impulse of self-preservation causes this.
• Making life brutal
• No features of government, only war "force and fraud are in war, the two cardinal virtues"
• Says that to escape this men make communities with a central government that exercises control over them to keep them in line.
• Why can't men be like bees and cooperate? No competition, no quest for honour.
• Bees have a natural agreement.
• Man's agreements are artificial through 'covenants'.
• Prefers monarchy, but can tolerate parliament. Does not like it when government and monarchy share power, such as in Britain.
• Says English Civil War started because the King, Lords and Commons had power divided between them. They each wanted power for themselves.
• The sovereign has unlimited power
• Right of censorship on all expression.
• Will not use power of censorship to suppress the truth, wants to keep internal peace.
• Reasons for preferring a Monarch government
• Although they may have favourites, they'll have less favourites than a parliamentary government
• Can secretly gain advice
• Absence in an assembly may cause a majority vote on change on policy. Monarchs can just change it
• Risk of civil war if Parliament is divided.
• Resistance to any laws placed by the Sovereign must be in self-defence, anything else is culpable.
• This means that if the Sovereign is accusing you of something you did not do, you can put up a fight and stand your ground. However, if they are demanding you pay your taxes and you refuse, you're likely to face their wrath.
• One has no duty to a sovereign who can't protect him, hence why Hobbes submitted to Cromwell whilst Charles II was in exile.
• Why should anyone stick by people who are in a weak position and can't protect your rights?
• Of a Christian Commonwealtere can be no universal church as each head of the state would have to be declared head of the church. The pope's rule cannot be admitted.
• Supports the state as the alternative is anarchy, for which he has a fear of
• If the state is bad anarchy may be more preferable.
• Current events that can be observed
• Libya
• Egypt

LOCKE'S THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

• "Revalation must be judged of by reason"
• States that a revolution must only be judged on the ideas spurring it. If they can't hold up then there is no cause for significant change.
• Reason consists of two parts
• inquiry into what we know is certain
• investigation of propositions we can accept in practice but only probable, not certain.
• Degrees of Assent
• degree of assent we give a reason should depend on the probability in it's favour
• Founder of empericism
• All our ideas and knowledge (not logic and maths) come from experience
• Against Plato -> no innate ideas or principles
• Ideas derive from sensation and perception
• Perception -first step towards knowledge
• Three kinds of knowledge
• knowledge of own existence is intuitive
• knowledge of god's existence is demonstrative
• knowledge of things present to sense is sensitive
• "No government allows absolute liberty"
• Government is a society based on law
• Absolute liberty is freedom to do what one pleases

LOCKE'S TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT

• The Hereditary Principle
• Criticises Kinghood being hereditary
• King himself makes laws that coincide with his will
• Against Filmer's Patriarcha which states that the power of the King is unlimited. He can't be bound by his own laws as a man can't give law to himself. It also says that a King is free from all human control.
• Uses adult/child analogy: Natural rights of a king are the same as those of a father, a child must listen and so must the public. Sons are never free of parental power. The King will always rule supreme over his people
• Although a similar theory was adopted in Japan, Russell states that the theory of divine right was defeated in England due to a 'multiplicity of religions' and the struggle for power between the monarchy, aristocracy and the higher bourgeoisie.
• One of the main reasons for Locke's opposel to Filmer's ideas was that the King in England needed support to be powerful. If he had either the Bourgeoisie or the Aristocracy on his side he would hold power, but if they teamed up against him he would be weak and vulnerable.
• Locke says that if parental reasoning is involved, the mother has equal rights to the father. Primogeniture (state of being first born child) is injustice and unavoidable if monarchy is dependant on inheritance. Maybe the second born is a far more worthy monarch?
• The true heir of Adam is not the Kings, like Filmer suggests, but is in fact unknown. Locke directly questions Filmer and asks that if the heir of Adam became known, would the Kings lay down their power to him?
• Parental power is temporary and does not extend to life or property.
• The above argument, in Locke's view, defines why hereditary is not a basis for legitimate power.
• The State of Nature, and Natural Law
• Locke's idea on the true origin of government
• The State of Nature
• has the Law of Nature which is not enforced by any human.
• Hobbes' state of nature was very brutal and every man for himself. Everyone against everyone. All vs all. Locke's is happier, but derives from biblical tales and partly from the myth of the golden age. Russell states that the idea of badness in the state of nature comes from doctrines about evolution. This is where the strongest species adapt and kill to survive, so naturally these ideas can be applied to the supposed state.
• Locke says "Men living together according to reason, without a common superior on earth, with authority to judge between them, is properly the state of nature." So basically, Locke's state of nature suggests that men were equal and respected each other, and shared everything. This isn't too dissimilar to communism and can be linked to Karl Marx's idea of the stages of development: This is an example of primitive communism.
• Russell says that this means that man in this period obeyed the laws of 'reason' which are the same as the laws of nature. These have divine origin, such as 'thou shalt not kill'. They come from religious and spiritual beliefs.
• In the state of nature man can defend what is his. Law of nature says that a man could kill a thief for breaking in, as he would be protecting his possessions. If there is a government, the victim must give up their right to vengeance and hope the law deals with it.
• Objection to state of nature is that every man is the judge of his own cause, and that's apparently bad. Government is the remedy for this. Governments are now in a state of nature with each other. They have to judge each other and work together to reach a means.
• Locke argues that the state of nature is the opposite of a state of war. State of nature is: peaceful, full of good will, mutual assistance, and preservation. State of war: malicious, violent, and mutual destruction.
• Locke considers when war is necessary. Unless there is a government the answer is ethical, not legal.
• The base of legal theory is that the rights of individuals are protected by the state. If a man feels he should retaliate against an action, as natural law dictates, the state should take this right from him and deal with the situation.
• Locke says that in a state of nature if a man kills your brother you can kill him. If there's a state you lose this right and must prove that you killed in self-defence of in defence of another to a law court.
• Locke says moral laws are laid down by god and are found in the bible. Natural law decides what is ethically right and wrong in communities that have no government. When there is a government it's laws should stick as close to natural law as possible.
• The Social Contract
• Locke supports the theory that government is the result of a contract and there's no influence of divine authority.
• Citizens must obey governments for a reason, although it isn't always in their interests. Some say that the social contract is a historical fact, others just a legal fiction.
• Popular theory with those who oppose the divine right of Kings. First big development came from Grotius.
• Linked to tyranny. Hobbes says that all power is handed over to a sovereign who, in turn, has no limits to their own power and gained total authority. Can be used to justify Cromwell's totalitarian state.
• Locke adds to the theory that the government must live up to their end of the contract, else they'll get booted out and resisted against.
• Locke defines political power as 'the right of making laws, with the penalty of death, and consequently all less penalties for the regulating and preserving of property, and of employing the force of the community in the execution of such laws, and in defence of the commonwealth from foreign injury, and all this only for the public good.' In other words, Locke is saying that political power must have the public interest at heart when considering passing laws.
• There are only political powers when man has submitted his right to defend himself to the community or the law.
• Civil society works by majority (or greater) votes. This sounds democratic but Locke didn't include woman or the poor from the rights of citizenship.
• The power of the government contract never extends beyond what is seen as the common good. Locke would argue that some sort of public opinion would have to be used to judge a case as the government would always rule the common good to be in their favour. This is a hint towards jury trials, where members of the public are called into court to pass judgement on a defendant.
• Locke: 'The supreme power cannot take from any man any part of his property without his own consent.' So here Locke is suggesting that the limit of the government only extends to someone's possessions. They cannot touch these without consent of the owner, maybe Locke would have a tough time standing up to the balifs.
• He also suggests that soldiers should be punished by injury or death, not by fines. This is a ridiculous notion as a soldier who is injured or dead is worthless in battle. They can survive to serve if they're only fined.
• Property
• Locke appears to be a capitalist being, he seems to like property and values money. However, Russell suggests that this is not entirely the case, as he shows some Socialist opinions.
• Idea 1: Every man has property in produce of his own labour - If you grow it, it's yours, etc. A man may own as much land as he can till, but not more. So if you own loads of acres you have an unfair distribution and will thus gain an unfair financial advantage over others. With this in mind, the Soviet government of Russia said that all farming was to be done for the state so that nobody was more powerful and wealthy than anyone else, and so that the serfs were always under state control. The state limited their wealth and did not let them sell their own products for a number of years.
• Idea 2: Locke suggested in the Labour Theory of Value that the value of a product should take into account the amount of labour and materials involved. This idea was stubbornly overlooked by Soviet Russia who, although they could mass produce goods, weren't making a profit from industry because they were selling the products for less than their laboural and material worth.
• The ethical argument to this theory states that the product's value ought to represent the amount of labour involved in it's production, whereas the economical side says that labour regulates the price so that good money can be earned for the amount of work.
• Russell offers criticisms of Locke's idea that Indian American land has no value:
• Overlooks that land can gain value should people be willing to work it
• Also overlooks that people can sell land that oil has been discovered under
• Russell also argues that the right to the theory is useless in industry. He says that you cannot determine how much Ford make thanks to your labour if you work for them.
• Russell can't make sense of Locke's idea that a man can only have the amount of plumbs that he and his family needs or they'll go bad, but a man can have as much gold and diamonds as he likes as they do not go bad. Russell says that a man can sell the extra plumbs. However, I do see sense in this as the plumbs may not sell and the cost of growing them is thus lost. Diamonds and gold have a very high value and people are more likely to pay for them than a few dodgy fruits.
• Checks and Balances
• Legislate, executive, and judicial functions of government should be kept secret.
• Executive: Monarch/PM/Leading Party
• Legislate: Parliament
• Judicial: Judges and law
• Locke says this especially of legislate and executive so as to control the power and prevent abuse of it. Locke feels that if the executive fails to call in the legislate when necessary they are at war with the people and can be removed by force: civil war.
• Force must only be used against unjust and unlawful happenings, but not when it itself is unjust and unlawful.
• In a dispute between executive and legislate, Locke states that there is no judge under heaven, so the only option is war.
• Doctrine of checks and balances intended to limit the power of the Monarch in England as, until the civil war, they had control over the executive. Eventually they became dependant on Parliament as it's impossible to pass ideas without the majority approval.
• The government is now both legislative and executive, and can only be controlled by general elections. This goes against Locke.
• Locke's idea only really took off in the States as the president, congress and supreme court are all independent of one another.
• Russell argues that Locke's ideas were useful up until the industrial revolution, but now time has taken it's toll on them and it's harder to use them since the power of property has grown beyond anything Locke could imagine. He says that an international social contract and government is needed before his ideas become applicable again, except those on private property.

LOCKE'S INFLUENCE

• Heirs
• Berkley
• Hume
• Bentham
• Marx
• German universities