french

• Most famous work


  On the Spirit of Laws (1748)
• Montesquieu divided French society


  Into three classes (trias politica): the monarchy, the aristocracy, the commons
• Two types of governmental power

  • The sovereign and the administrative (the executive, the legislative, and the judicial)
  • Separate and independent from each other
  • Balance of power
• Montesquieu influenced the Founding Fathers of US Constitution
• Three types of government

  • Monarchy (ruled by a king or queen)
  • Republic (ruled by an elected leader)
  • Despotism (ruled by a dictator)
• A government that was elected by the people was the best form of government
• Rousseau's main works


  • A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts
  • The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
  • The Social Contract (1762)
  • Emile (1762)
• A Discourse on the Sciences and Arts

  1. The Academy of Dijon posed the question in a contest, "Has the restoration of the sciences and arts tended to purify morals?"

  2. Rousseau's answer: an emphatic "no"

  3. First part: an historical survey of how societies in which the arts and sciences flourished more often than not saw the decline of morality and virtue

  4. Second part: arts and sciences bring dangers; they come from our vices
• Rousseau concluded that sciences fail to contribute anything positive to morality
• The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

  Rousseau's view of the pure state of nature of man: isolated, timid, peaceful, mute, and without the foresight to worry about what the future will bring
• Principles of man


  • Self-interest/preservation, pity
• Human development


  1. State of nature

  2. Temporary groups

  3. Traditional family

  4. Arts of agriculture and metallurgy (division of labor needed)

  5. Social classes, notion of property

  6. Conflict and ultimately a state of war
• Rousseau concluded that by nature, humans are essentially peaceful, content, and equal, and it is the socialization process that has produced inequality, competition, and the egoistic mentality
• Property ownership


  Leads to jealousy, covetousness, hatred, greed
• Rousseau's view on man living close to nature


  Natural/good, only taking what s/he needs
• Rousseau's "Social Contract"


  "Man was/is born free; and everywhere he is in chains."
• Rousseau's "general will"


  Directly tied to Sovereignty, directed always at the public good, speaks always infallibly to the benefit of the people
• Rousseau's "general will" isn't the same with the collection of individual wills
• Rousseau's "Emile"


  Partly novel and partly philosophical treatise, basic tenet: human beings are good by nature (noble savages)
• Rousseau's goal of education


  To cultivate our natural tendencies, enable the pupil to develop a healthy sense of self-worth and morality
• Amour de soi


  Natural form of self-love, does not depend on others
• Amour-propre


  Unnatural self-love, negative product of the socialization process, from comparing oneself with others, breeding contempt, hostility, and frivolous competition
• François-Marie d'Arouet (1694–1778) - Voltaire


  A leading Encyclopedist, wrote poetry, plays, historical works and philosophical works
• Voltaire's major works


  • Philosophical Letters (1733)
  • Treatise on Tolerance (1763)
  • Philosophical Dictionary (1764)
  • The Philosophy of History (1766)
• Voltaire's Deism


  Natural (rational) religion, meets the demands of reason
• Two main things of religious teachings

  • To love God
  • To do justice to other fellows
• Voltaire believed that the moral demands of justice and virtues are not dependent on metaphysics and theology
• Voltaire's view on God's existence

  Can be proven rationally and scientifically, from the arrangement of the universe and natural laws, showing the Highest Worker
• Voltaire believed that human beings can't know the nature and attributes of God fully
• Voltaire: '"It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason".'
• Voltaire's "Candide"


  Attacked the philosophy of Gottfried Leibniz and his religious and philosophical optimism in a masterpiece of satire and irony