Chapter 1: Introduction

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, philosophies, and historical figures from the lecture on liberalism and Aristotelianism in American political thought, including their definitions of freedom, the role of government, and their influence on founding documents.

Rand Paul's View of Freedom

An individual's right to do whatever he wants, so long as it doesn't infringe upon someone else.

Bernie Sanders' View of Freedom

The ability to exist as a communal and political animal, which implies a responsibility to help each other out as members of families and communities.

Liberalism (Political Philosophy)

A philosophy, represented by thinkers like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, that emphasizes natural equality, individual rights, and a limited government. (Distinct from modern American 'left-wing' liberalism).

Thomas Hobbes

One of the two 'fathers of liberalism,' author of 'Leviathan,' who famously stated that life in the state of nature is 'solitary, nasty, poor, brutish, and short.'

John Locke

One of the two 'fathers of liberalism,' author of 'Two Treatises of Government,' known for his ideas on natural equality, natural rights (life, liberty, and property), and government by consent.

State of Nature (Liberalism)

A hypothetical pre-societal and pre-governmental condition where human beings exist as isolated individuals without family, society, or community.

Natural Equality (Liberal Concept)

The idea that all human beings, as part of the natural species of man, are equal enough that no one has an innate right to govern another.

Natural Rights (Liberal Concept)

Political equality made manifest; inherent rights belonging to individuals (e.g., freedom of thought, religion, property, self-ownership) as a condition of their natural equality, which cannot be alienated.

Hyper-Individualism

A core tenet of liberal philosophy that starts its reasoning with human beings as individuals, even imagining them in a 'state of nature' without social ties.

Pre-political Right to Property

A liberal belief that individuals have a right to property before government or society exists, stemming from their individual will mixing with unowned natural resources.

Social Contract (Liberalism)

An agreement formed by human beings in the state of nature, based on their consent, to create a government solely for the purpose of protecting their property and natural rights.

Night Watchman State

A term describing the liberal view of government, which is very limited in scope, existing primarily to prevent and punish acts like killing and stealing, thus protecting individual rights without infringing upon them further.

Private Sphere (Liberalism)

The significant portion of one's life and choices that, according to liberalism, should be left primarily to the individual's control, with the state having a very small 'public sphere' mainly concerning property and defense.

Unalienable Rights

Rights that human beings possess naturally and cannot justly be taken from them, such as self-ownership, which are central to liberal philosophy.

Declaration of Independence

The foundational American document, considered 'self-evident' and 'the first act' of the United States, that fully embraces liberal philosophy, particularly the principle that 'all men are created equal' and endowed with 'certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness' (originally 'Property').

Life, Liberty, and Property

John Locke's original articulation of natural rights, which directly influenced the Declaration of Independence's phrase 'Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness' as the purpose of government.

Abraham Lincoln's Interpretation of America

For Lincoln, particularly in the Gettysburg Address, America is a 'liberal country' defined by the Declaration of Independence's principle that 'all men are created equal,' making the Civil War fundamentally a conflict over liberalism versus slavery.

John C. Calhoun

A prominent South Carolina senator and vice president, regarded as the intellectual godfather of the Confederacy, who developed doctrines like nullification and secession and was a vocal critic of the liberal axiom 'all men are born free and equal.'

Nullification

A doctrine advocated by John C. Calhoun, proposing that states could declare federal laws they deemed unconstitutional void within their borders.

Secession

A doctrine advanced by John C. Calhoun, claiming states have the right to withdraw from the Union if they disagree with federal laws or policies.

Aristotle's Philosophy (Contrast to Liberalism)

A political philosophy, derived from Aristotle and influential through the Puritans, that begins with the natural existence of the family, progressing to clans, communities, and the city, which he considers natural and essential for human fulfillment.

Political Animal (Aristotelian Concept)

Aristotle's assertion that a human being is by nature a 'political animal' and can only be fully human, achieving their potential, when existing as a citizen within a city-state.

Primacy of the City / Common Good (Aristotelian)

Aristotle's belief that the city, representing an organic whole and common conception of the good, is primary and more important than individuals, as individual human beings can only exist fully within the city's nature.

Aristotelianism in American Law

Philosophical influence evident in early American documents, such as the Articles of Confederation, Article V of the Constitution (state ratification of amendments), and historical state constitutions (e.g., formal establishment of religion), which emphasized community sovereignty and a common understanding of the good.

Articles of Confederation (Aristotelian Aspect)

This early American national constitution reflects Aristotelian influence by stating that 'each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence,' allowing individual states (communities) to maintain their own conception of the common good.