Summary of philosophy of right (õiguse filosoofia kokkuvõte) (0)

• Hobbes – leviathan
  
• Locke – second treatise of government
  
• Rousseau - social contract
  
• Montesquieu - The Spirit of the Laws
  
• Kant – idea for a universal history from a cosmopolitan point of view
  
• Hegel - philosophy of right
  

Key dates
1603 Shakespear's King Lear , Death of the Queen Elizabeth 1.
1618-48 The Thirty Year's War
1649 Execution of Charels 1 of England, Establishment of Oliver Cromwell 's Prodecorate
1651 Hobbes' Leviathan(1588- 1679 )
1660 The Restoration of Charels 2. as king of England
1688 The Glorious Revolution of Willim and Mary in England
1689 John Locke publishes Two Treatises of Goverment
1707 formation of the British Parliament
Social Contract philosophy: The reasons for entering a social contract and the responsibilities of the goverment
*Hobbes: To preserve one's safety
*Locke: To preserve one's safety and property
*Rosseau: To preserve one's safety, property and freedom , but to guarantee the latter , the goverment also has the responsoility of improving/educating the citizens. Laws are historical conventions, people can be forsed to be free.
State of nature
Hobes: state of nature is a state of conflict, a state of war.
Locke: state of nature is peaceful, all men are equal. They treat others as themselves.
Rousseau - people in the state of nature were neither good or bad. Man was like an animal not posessing any needs besides the primary ones . The bad habits of men are byproducts of ingaging in a civil society. All men are equal
Sovereign
Hobbes: can not be overthrown and can do whatever the fuck it wants. The best one is monarch .
Locke: can be overthrown, if fails to do the job. Criticises monarch for haveing hereditary power . Prefers election for a term . Democracy?
Rousseau: aristocracy, if not hereditary. (monarchy represents particular will)
Authority in the social contract
Hobbes: the sovereign
Locke: The law over the sovereign
Rousseau: The general will over the Law and over the sovereign
Human life
Hobbes: sovereign can take life
Locke: life can only be taken to prevent from being killed and after that who takes the life is subjected to the judge .
property
Hobbes: A person may protect his property by law but not if the soveregin demands it
Locke: Sovereign has to protect property; you make property by adding labour; you can accumulate as much of it as possible
Rousseau: property is the source of all evil
Hegel: basis of individual rights lies in property
Hobbes – leviathan
Part one: of man
XIII
mans natural state is a state of war. Life in a state of nature is brutish and short.
Man’s natural traits are:
-competision which makes him go to war for gain
-Defence wich makes him go to war for safety
-glory wich makes him go to war for reputation.
XIV
Natural law aruges that man has the liberity to preserve himself . Two laws can be derived as precepts for natural law in general
- First to seek Peace
-Second: To Grant as much liberty to others as you should want for for yourself.
XVII -XIX
Of the first and Second Natural Laws and of Contracts
natural Law argues that man has the liberty yo preserve himself....
(1st searche peace and if you cant find it search war)
XV
Those who recive gifts should be grateful
each person should try to accomodae themselves to others(compleasance)
One should pardon others( unless its dangerous to do so)
When taking revenge, one should look to the future, not the past.
None should declare hatred or ontempt for others
Part Two: Of Commonwealth
I authorise and give up my right of governing myself to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition; that thou give up, thy right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner .
Death of the king (charles I)
XVII
Convenant w/o the sword are but words "
A nation will fight with another nation, but once there is peace they will fall back into fighting among themselves
The state is mortal god
*The soveregin can do no injury to the individual because he has delegated authoroty to him
*The sovereign has the right to ban books in the intrest of peace
*The sovereign has the right to make laws regarding property and reward or punish according to the law and act as a final arbiter
*he can make war and raise taxes for it
XIX
The king has the right to kill you but has no right to make you kill yourself
XXI
* Nothing the soveregin can do can be considered injustice.
*Individual freedom, considered as birth right, is a misguided notion of aristotle and Cicero
*A person may protect his property by law but not if the soveregin demands it.
*A soveregin is obligated to protect the people from disorder and can be removed only if he does not.
political sience is based on logical observation (empirical knowledge )
Part IV: Of the kingdom of darkness
Churches are misinterpreting the bible to make profit of it. Church condemned Galileo for no good reason and is not a institution what helps to create an ideal society.
Locke – second treatise on government
I
Locke defines political power as the right to make laws for the protection and regulation of property. In his view, these laws only work because the people accept them and because they are for the public good.
Monarchy is not derived from god or a direct decender of leaders described in the Old testament .
Sovereign protects people and their property.
Sovereginity not analouges to a father 's relation to his children husband, wife etc
II
People have an obligation to punish those who go against God’s will and attempt to harm another by compromising his life, liberty, or possessions.
In the state of nature man is equal to his fellows
Man has the obligation of treating others as he would want to be treated
Man has neither right to destroy himself or waste his property (unless in pursuit of a nobler aim)
III; IV
Locke outlines the differences between the state of nature and the state of war. The state of nature involves people living together, governed by reason, without need of a common superior. The state of war occurs when people exert unwelcome force on other people, interfering with their own natural rights and freedom, without common authority. The difference between war in society and war in nature depends on when they end. In society, war ends when the act of force, such as fighting, is over. But in nature, war does not end until the aggressive party offers peace and offers to repair the damage done. Locke claims that one of the major reasons people enter into society is to avoid the state of war.
One has the right to kill a thief who is trying to rob one
one has right to kill someone who is trying to make one his slave
While one may kill a thief who is tring to rob one, after the robbery is over, one must submit one's case to judge who must decide between the two parties
One is obligated to preserve ones life
V
Locke explains that the best theory of right to ownership is rooted in the fact that each person owns his or her own body and all the labor that he or she performs with that body. So, when an individual adds his own physical labor, which is his own property, to a foreign object or material , that object and any resulting products become his property as well.
One converts a ting into one's property by adding labor to it (e.g. If there is a publick forst and one collects wood from it, the wood becomes your property)
One has no right to waste(If you pick apple from a tree it becomes yours, but you cannot pick more apples than you can use)
Since one can covert property into gold , hovever, one can accumulate an unlimited amount of wealth (since the gold, unlike the apples, cannot spoil )
(VI-XIIX); XIX
Locke identifies three elements necessary for a civil society: a common established law, a known and impartial body to give judgment, and the power to support such judgments. He calls for a government with different branches, including a strong legislature , and an active executive who does not outstrip the lawmakers in power.
Once the poeple hase given sovereginty to a monarc or elected body they have no right to take it away again or go against its legislation
but they may set limits to the duration of a legislator's term in office
And they may overthrow a goverment which has acted unjustly or failed to respect the laws of people (locke clearly has in mind here the illegal taking away property especially)
Peple have a right to form a new government instead of an unfunctional one. The new government which will serve their best interests.
Rousseau – social contrackt
A man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains
Rousseau theorized about the best way in which to set up a political community in the face of the problems of commercial society which he had already identified in his Discourse on Inequality (ownership/property is the source of all evil)
Every law the people have not ratified in person is null and void — is, in fact, not a law. The legislative power belongs to the people, and can belong to it alone
The natural man was free, the modern man is in chains ever since he came to be a society and started a social contract.
The social contract:
In society you lose some freedoms, but gain others. If you dont like it, you may get out.
Laws are based on social and historical conventions (also montesque)
Social contrackt represents the general will and is in the public interest.
Because everyone give away the same amount of freedom to the sovereign, everyone is therefore equal in their freeedom.
The best way to govern big territories is not a direct democracy, because it loses too much of its power on it’s burocracy. Small citys like hes Geneva, are efficient. Monarchy and aristocracy are a good thing , if not hereditary and democratic .
Rousseaus dialectics.
Natural man is: in sympathy with others; free from restrictions. Present man is: in conflict with fellow man; in a state of inequality; has a developing reason.
To develop , it is necessary to move bact to the previous state, while keeping the virtues of the present. The man of the future will be: reasonable ; equal; free; in sympathy with others.
Montesquieu - The Spirit of the Laws
In this political treatise Montesquieu advocates constitutionalism and the separation of powers, the abolition of slavery, the preservation of civil liberties and the rule of law, and the idea that political and legal institutions ought to reflect the social and geographical character of each particular community.
Kant – Idea for a universal History with a cosmopolitan purpose
Kant was a Calvinist. Natural law preditermines every natural event. But history can not be predicted because men act chaotically.
Kant seeks to prove his claim that rational and moral autonomy will inevitably defeat the compulsions of self-interested individualism . Kant seeks to achieve this by advancing a hierarchical account of development of world history.In writing from the perspective of a universal future history, Kant valorizes an unrealized future state (though he is aware , however , of the problem of theorizing without empirical basis, recognizing the appearance of irrationality that such an enterprise exhibits and criticizing Herder for extracting conclusions from speculative pyschologizing).
9 thesises are posted to prove that rational and moral autonomy will defeat the compulsions of self-interested individualism. In a future state there will be a lot of freedom.
I thesis
Unnecessary parts of the society will naturaly dissapear.
II thesis
Man (one) can not learn to use hes reason. Society can.
III thesis
Nature has not made our society to grow more complex thanks to the previous generations, who have built our society. But nature gave us our minds, that we were able to use to work out this complex society and happiness .
IV thesis
The same force, that drives us to progress, has also arranged us in the order within a society. Nature urges us to rise above other men. Also to remove us from lifestile of sloth and laziness.
V thesis
Nature made us seek a best civic society to administer law upon ourselves. Nature demands we leave peacefully together.
VI thesis
Man is an animal, who needs a master, if that man lives among other men. Man needs to limit hes freedom, because his nature wants to seperate himself from others. But highest master must still be just a man and obey the laws. „Such crooked wood as man is made of, no straight thing can be built.
VII thesis
Nations want to compete and make war. Societys are in conflict with each others and many wars are fought just to establish new contacts. A league of nations is needed to solve that problem. In a league of nations eathen the smallest state is safe .
VIII thesis
The nature is driving us to establish a perfect state in which a man can develop fully
Ultimate goal is to achieve perfect constitution.
A society as awhole can develop enlightement, individual not.
State is an engine of human progress.
Kant – faith over reason. Yes i can not prove gods existance, but if i would then we would be obligated to belive me. But that would not be a trrue belief
Hegel - philosophy of right
Hegel: Free man can reflect on his situation to improve it. Purpouse of the law is to educate the citizens. History is freedom actualizing itself.
Abstract right – do not fuck with the others lives
Morality – treat others like you want to be treated
Ethical life – the universal notion of good (good is what is best for the most)
Propert identifies and personalizes. It is expression of a persons right wenever he can say, this is mine. Person has to own property.
The system of mutual recognition and abstrackt right is the basis of morality. Morale obligates to obey the universal rights.

Philosophy of Right, I–II: Abstract Right and Morality

The Philosophy of Right begins with a discussion of the concept of the free will and argues that the free will can only realize itself in the complicated social context of property rights and relations , contracts, moral commitments, family life, the economy , the legal system, and the polity . A person is not truly free, in other words, unless he is a participant in all of these different aspects of the life of the state.
The basis of individual rights lies in property. Property is not merely material acquisition—it is central to an individual’s assertion of identity and personality. Property is an expression of self and the locus of an individual’s claim to rights, since it is through property that one can say “this is mine,” a claim that others respect.
In the first section, Abstract Right, Hegel returns to a theme of earlier writings in which he wrestles with the fairly common belief in “natural rights” that are present in the various “social contract” theories of, for example, John Locke, where social or political order is said to derive its legitimacy from its ability to uphold and protect the rights of autonomous, sovereign individuals.
For Locke and others, the social is merely the outcome of a contract between autonomous individuals to respect each other’s rights. In this view, the extent of one person’s relationship to another can be summed up in the slogan , “Be a person and respect others as a person.” Hegel believes this view of social life to be generally accurate, but he rejects the belief that contractual mutual recognition and the ideal of the universal-rights-bearing individual it supports is a basis of all societies throughout history. The worldview implied in contract theory and in the moral obligation to respect individual rights is not the foundation of social life but rather a reflection of the spirit of the modern age. This spirit resides in modern legal and economic institutions, which foster an idea of abstract rights and universal personhood. Hegel therefore applies his theory of history and culture to an analysis of the modern world. He also criticizes both contemporary political theory and idealist moral philosophy for not recognizing that the phenomena they recognize as universal laws are actually particular expressions of modern culture.

Philosophy of Right, III: Ethical Life

Individual states arise , they are in conflict with one another and fall. History =pursuit for freedom
Pursuit for economic gain could destibilize the society
The state is the medium througth wittch we realize our location in the ethical life of society. The spirit of state is unfolding througth the history. In German world all are free.
Collective belongings have some benefits.
The morality that we see expressed in contracts and exchanges, which reflect a reciprocal respect between individuals for one another’s rights, is only a particular expression of a wider and deeper dimension of moral life that Hegel calls ethical life. Ethical life is a system of norms and mores belonging to a social body, made up of spheres of social interaction and interdependence in which all individuals are embedded. Ethical life is present in the three important levels of social life. In its most elementary form, it is present in the family and finds expression in basic emotions such as love and altruism . In civil society, a sphere of social interaction corresponds to economic life or the “system of needs.” Civil society engages individuals as bearers of Abstract Rights, as owners of property and bearers of legal rights. In civil society, individuals relate to one another in universal terms .
While private property as the basis of abstract right and morality is a positive force in promoting individual freedom, individualistic material interests, such as the pursuit of economic gain, could potentially destabilize society. When left unchecked, these destabilizing forces tend to polarize humanity into rich and poor . The individualism of private material acquisition also weakens the expression of the basic social bonds and common culture that hold society together. Certain institutions must be in place to prevent the system of private property and the individualist worldview it sustains from undermining society itself. Government authority, in addition to providing basic infrastructure and protection from crime , must both promote and protect society from economic individualism, ensuring that those without property or work are provided for. Corporate institutions, such as guilds or labor unions, must be in place not just to look after the economic needs of workers and tradesmen but to give them a sense of belonging and connection to the social whole of which they are a part.
The state is the medium through which individuals come to realize their location in the ethical life of society, as parts of a greater whole. The state is an expression of spirit unfolding in history through dialectical development. Whereas earlier forms of the state were imperfect expressions of collective spirit, the modern state has evolved as a rational adaptation to structures of modern life.
modern individuality and freedom with the need for collective belonging. For Hegel, the state is not just a political and authoritarian entity but the broadest arena of social relations corresponding to common culture, or ethical life. It is in the institution of the state, therefore, that the contradictions of ethical life will reveal and fix themselves.
Hegel largely adopts Kant’s description of the moral, rational individual but believes that Kant’s understanding of individuality is an expression of a particular historical epoch, namely of the modern world. Hegel is thus regarded as one of the first philosophers of modernity and of a particularly modern understanding of history. If there is a unifying ambition throughout his vast writings, this ambition lies in his attempt to describe the origins and implications of this image of the individual and how it relates to the religious , economic, and political aspects of modern life. Here he shows how this notion of individuality is rooted in practical life but also that it has a fundamental tension with the expression of ethical life.