Political Philosophy Leading to the U.S. Constitution

1. Political Philosophy Leading to the U.S. Constitution Ancient Greek Philosophy through Social Contract Theory

2. Ancient Greek Origins Plato’s Republic • Examines justice (for both the individual and for the city) • People are NOT all equal • Three levels of individuals: • Philosophers (Gold) • Guardians (Silver) • Masses (Bronze)

3. Ancient Greek Origins Aristotle - The Politics • "From these things it is evident, that the city belongs among the things that exist by nature, and that man is by nature a political animal” • The formation of cities is natural • Man is by his own nature a political being

4. Political Philosophy Leading to the U.S. Constitution • Social Contract Theorists: • Thomas Hobbes: The Leviathan (1651) • John Locke: 2nd Treatise on Gov’t (1681) • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Social Contract (1763) • Three fundamental ideals: • Natural rights • Classical Republicanism • Constitutionalism

5. Social Contract Theory • A social contract is an act by which individuals agree to form a government • According to social contract theory, governments are established by the people who combine to achieve some goal • Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were social contract theorists • They hypothesized the existence of a state of nature prior to any government

6. Hobbes’ Leviathan • Life is nasty, brutish, and short • State of nature is war • For Hobbes, civil war was the ultimate terror, the definition of fear itself. He thus wanted to reform philosophy in order to reform the nation and thereby vanquish fear. • Security is most important

7. Hobbes’ Leviathan • Civil peace and social unity are best achieved by the establishment of a commonwealth through social contract • Ideal commonwealth is ruled by a sovereign power responsible for protecting the security of the commonwealth and granted absolute authority to ensure the common defense.

8. Hobbes’ Leviathan • Describes commonwealth as an "artificial person" and as a body politic that mimics the human body • The frontispiece to the first edition of Leviathan, which Hobbes helped design, portrays the commonwealth as a gigantic human form built out of the bodies of its citizens, the sovereign as its head • The image constitutes the definitive metaphor for Hobbes's perfect government • His text attempts to prove the necessity of the Leviathan for preserving peace and preventing civil war

9. Locke: Second Treatise on Gov’t • Governing principle: liberty • Places sovereignty in hands of the people • People are equal and invested with natural rights in a state of nature in which they live free from outside rule • Natural law governs behavior, and each person has license to execute that law against someone who wrongs them by infringing on their rights • This person puts himself in state of war with you

10. Locke: Second Treatise on Gov’t • People take what they need from the earth, but hoard just enough to cover their needs • Eventually, people begin to trade their excess goods with each other, until they develop a common currency for barter, or money • Money eliminates limits on the amount of property they can obtain (unlike food, money does not spoil), and they begin to gather estates around themselves and their families.

11. Locke: Second Treatise on Gov’t • People exchange some of their natural rights to enter into society with other people, and be protected by common laws and a common executive power to enforce the laws • People need executive power to protect their property and defend their liberty • The civil state has power over the people only insofar as it exists to protect and preserve their welfare

12. Locke: Second Treatise on Gov’t • Locke describes a state with a separate judicial, legislative, and executive branch--the legislative branch being the most important of the three, since it determines the laws that govern civil society • People have the right to dissolve their government, if that government ceases to work solely in their best interest. The government has no sovereignty of its own--it exists to serve the people

13. Locke - Why enter social contract? • "If man in the state of nature be so free as has been said, if he be absolute lord of his own person and possessions, equal to the greatest and subject to nobody, why will he part with his freedom, this empire, and subject himself to the dominion and control of any other power? To which it is obvious to answer, that though in the state of nature he hath such a right, yet the enjoyment of it is very uncertain and constantly exposed to the invasion of others; for all being kings as much as he, every man his equal, and the greater part no strict observers of equity and justice, the enjoyment of the property he has in this state is very unsafe, very insecure."

14. Locke: Summary • Locke's model consists of a civil state • Built upon the natural rights common to a people who need and welcome an executive power to protect their property and liberties • Government exists for the people's benefit and can be replaced or overthrown if it ceases to function toward that primary end • Consent of the governed – enter into social contract to protect property and ensure liberty

15. Ancient Greece vs. Locke • ***Athenian notion of citizen participant in lawmaking • ***Lockean notion of citizen bearer of rights • American notion of citizen?? • This question is at the center of the debate over political participation in this country

16. Rousseau: Social Contract • “Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains” • “Will of all” vs. “General will” • The general will can never err, as it is always aimed at the public good • The will of all is an aggregate of individual self-interest (tyranny is possible) • Purpose of political community = create a society where everyone chooses the laws that govern them • “Men must be forced to be free” • By nature, men are unequal • Making everyone a citizen in society makes them equal under the law

17. Conclusions: • People cannot survive on their own without the presence of government • Man truly is a political animal • To get what is most important (security, liberty, property), people must give their consent to be governed and enter into a social contract

18. What Kind of Government is Best? • We need government (through social contract) to protect liberty, property, and to provide security • Democracy is the best form of government: • Direct democracy (Ancient Greece) • Representative democracy (United States)

19. Representative Democracy • In the United States, we do NOT participate directly in government (with a few exceptions: initiatives, referendum) • Instead, we elect representatives who will act on our behalf • Two kinds of representative: • Delegate • Trustee

20. What Kind of Representative Democracy is Best? • Geographic representation • Descriptive representation • Substantive representation

21. Descriptive Representation:How Representative is Congress? 106th Congress Nationally: Male: 49.1% Female: 50.9% Senate House