HCJ - Notes on Hume

HCJ Test Notes

1) What are the main arguments in the Leviathan? To what extent are they comparable to Machiavelli?


Leviathan is symbolic and in the form of a person. The head represents the head of society, the sovereign. The body is made up of people, representing society. One ruler of the people.


Reason is developed by industry. Government control logic and reasoning through laws and rules.


All men are naturally equal:
Without a government every man wants domination over the other. Motives of self-preservation making life brutal. No features of government - "force and fraud are in war, are the two cardinal values."


Prefers monarchy:
-Less favourites than parliament
-Secretly gain advice
-Can just change rules
-Risk of civil war if parliament is divided


Sovereign has unlimited power:
Right of censorship on all expression but cannot misuse this to cover the truth.


Resistance to laws set by sovereign must be in self-defence. If you have been accused of something you can stand your ground but if you don't pay your taxes you have no ground to do this.


If the sovereign can't protect you you don't have to abide by their laws and stand by them.


Links to Machiavelli:
Machiavelli suggests in 'The Prince' that a Prince/head of state doesn't have to be noble, whereas Hobbes argues that he does. Machiavelli also says that religion should have a place in society, but Hobbes says that the head should be the sovereign, suggesting that people shouldn't listen to the church.


2) Discuss Locke's theories of government. What philosophical trend underlies his political theory?


Views on monarchy:
Doesn't like inherited monarchy because if the monarch is bad the state could fall into disrepute because they impose their own will, eg. Henry VII. Primogeniture (first born) being heir is an injustice. Opposes Robert Falmer's opinion that Kings have a natural right to rule as they are the heir of Adam. Locke questions how you know who the true heir of Adam is and whether monarchs would surrender their power if he were to arrive.


The State of Nature and Natural Law:
The state of nature is where laws are not made by a human being. Locke's state of nature opposes Hobbes' as he sees the world in a more positive light. He says that moral laws can be found in the bible which is ironic because that was written by someone. Locke obsesses with property. In a state of nature, you'd be in your right, according to Locke, to kill someone if they were going to steal your possessions. With a government in place, man would have to surrender this right else they'll be prosecuted themselves. Locke says that governments should stick to natural law as much as possible.


The Social Contract:
Locke says that the social contract is a contract between society and it's government. Society must obey the government even if it isn't in their best interests, and in return the government will look after them. If the government break the contract then society may rebel and cause a revolution, but if a member of society breaks it they face punishment from the government.


Property:
If you build it, you own it, but you should not own more than you can farm as this would cause greed. Label theory of value - ethical and economically right, the value of the labour involved in creating a product must be taken into account when valuing it.


Checks and Balances:
Keeping the monarch, parliament and the law separate so the monarch can't have full power.


3) What evidence is there that the world is actually as it exists? Plato and Descartes


Plato:
Forms and Cave theory


Descartes:
"I think therefore I am," the idea that because I can think I exist, although I am unaware that anyone else I see can think as I cannot prove that. They act like they think but I don't know if these are just programmed actions, so I'm unsure whether they exist. This is countered with "I am therefore I think," which assumes that anyone I see exists and can think and this does not have to be proven. Concludes that 'I' is the mind, not the body, and that mind is a non-extended thing. Descartes suggests that our bodies are not an extension of our mind, so it is our mind that exists attached to our bodies.


Solipsism: Everything existing only in your mind.Don't know that dreams and hallucinations aren't true, so life could be a dream or imagination.


4) Discuss with reference to Hume:

In deduction the conclusion must be true if the premises are true. Mathematical knowledge comes from relations of ideas and is deductive as the conclusions follow from the premises. Hume says these don't tell us anything about the world as we don't know if the premises are true, so we don't know that the conclusions are either. He says that legitimate ideas come from impressions but we don't have impressions of mathematical objects.

Induction is when it is claimed that the conclusion is probable if the premises are true, although it isn't certain that the premises caused it. Hume says that we cannot trust inductive reasoning because it relies on cause and effect, which in turn relies on the future being the same as the past and causes and effects having a definite link. Hume argues that there is no cause and effect in nature and that we should assume that a cause ought to precede an effect because of experience, even though we are uncertain that there was a link between the two events. Hume argues that there are no impressions that link cause and effect, only that we know certain events preceded and follow each other. There are also no impressions that say the future will be the same as the past. This argument is known as hume's problem of induction. 

A priori knowledge is something that can be derived by logic without any experiments to support it, and exists in the mind prior to and independent of experience. They are logical truths. Hume says they are "discoverable by the mere operation of thought," and their denials are unconceivable. Hume says that they don't depend on anything else in the universe being in place, they are relations of ideas. An example would be mathematical knowledge as this is true anywhere in the universe, eg. a triangle will always have three sides.

To be true or false a posteori something must be observed to prove or disprove it. According to Hume these are 'matters of fact.' Hume uses the example that the sun will rise tomorrow to explain this. For the sun to rise the Earth has to be correctly aligned with sun, if it is not then there's a possibility that it will not rise. We only know if it rose by observing it. If it rises the statement is a posteori true, if not it is a posteori false.

5) Rosseau is seen as the founder of the romantic movement. Describe his ideas and their impact on politics and government.


The Social Contract:
"Man is born free, and is everywhere in chains." Suggests that laws placed on people restrict their freedom and stop them from doing things. Suggests that in a world without society people are free.


General Will:
Creates democracy. GW is what the sovereign (society) agrees on. Large contrast to the liberals who say you can do anything you like. Danger of dictatorship.
IMPACT: Allows political groups to create agendas on what they intend to achieve if they get into power. The sovereign can then vote for the group that they feel the most alignment with so they can get into power. Party with the most votes wins.
The general will of society (in this case - the majority vote) is highlighted by the results. The public have 'signed' a social contract with the government that they will agree to the laws that are created as it was the general will of society that they should be the ones to make them. According to Rosseau, this means the public remain as free as before. Except this time, they have voted for it.