PLSC Test 2 Vocab

Leviathan

The first general theory of politics in the English language.

Hobbes State of Nature

A time of war where every man is enemy to every man and where men live without security.

Sovereignty

Perpetual, inalienable, undivided, and absolute.

Liberty

The absence of external impediments; acting to one’s will without being prevented from performing that act

Natural Law

Qualities that dispose men to peace and obedience, not a law itself.

Solipsism

The philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist.

Justice

An artificial virtue that exists as a convention in civil society.

The legislature

“The supreme power” to which all other powers must be subordinate.

The Right of Nature

The liberty each man has to use his own power for the preservation of his own life.

Law (Locke)

Something that guides a free man to his best interests, does not restrict him more than what is good for mankind in general

Commonwealth

The power to devise punishments for law transgressions and preserve property.

Paternal power

The power that parents have over their children until they reach the age of reason.

Political power

power that everyone in society consents to submit to the commonwealth for the protection of their property

Despotic power

The absolute arbitrary power of one person to take life and property against will.

Usurpation

Domestic conquest; a change of leadership not right unless sanctioned by the people.

Tyranny

The exercise of power beyond right; ruler breaks the laws and acts on his own behalf

Political Equality

All power and jurisdiction are reciprocal; no one has more power than another.

Social order

A sacred right based on conventions, forming the foundation of all other rights.

Rousseau State of nature

Man seek to take care of himself 1st then others. Man is compassionate by nature.

The social pact

The agreement for self-preservation by coming together with others.

The general will

Only considers the common interest. it comes from and applies to all, adopted by the majority.

Factionalism

When people promote shared private interests by voting as a block, not for the common good.

Law (Rousseau)

expression of the general will, universally applicable. made by people as a whole and applies to people as a whole.

Civil Laws

Laws that deal with individuals in relation to each other or the body politic.

Criminal Laws

Laws that address cases where the law is broken.

Fortuna

The fickleness of the goddess is never good and it is the enemy of political order

State

A political entity with dominion and absolute power over men, either republic or principate.

The Prince

A political treatise by Machiavelli on acquiring power, creating a state, and retaining it.