18th Century Enlightenment, Chapter 10

Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Spinoza, and Leibniz

Who were some of the major philosophers of the 18th century Enlightenment?

Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Kant

What is social contract theory?

The idea that justice is secured, and the state is made legitimate, through an agreement among citizens of the state or between the citizens and the rulers of the state

How did Hobbes conceive of social contract theory?

He posited that the only escape from ‘the war of all against all’ would be the reasonable surrender of individual sovereignty to an absolute state, the Leviathan, that would establish and protect rights and justice but could do as it pleased after the initial agreement

What is the ‘war of all against all’?

The natural state of society according to Hobbes where the people, naturally violent, selfish, and self-interested, would be in conflict with each other without the Leviathan

What is justice?

The idea that people get what is fair or what is due

What is distributive justice/social justice?

The fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of society, such as jobs, income, property, rights, liberties, welfare aid, taxes, and public services proposed by Hobbes

How did Locke view rationalism and innate ideas?

He argued against them, saying the mind begins as a ‘white paper’ that is then marked by sense experience

How did Locke conceive of the world?

He believed that the internal world would be revealed through sense experience and the experience of external objects

How did Locke argue that we experience external objects?

We are only directly aware of the sensations caused by external objects, we can never experience them directly

How does Locke justify the existence of external objects?

External objects exist as they are the best and only theory to explain the sensations that we experience

How did Locke’s social contract theory differ from that of Hobbes?

Locke believed in inherent, natural rights for each human with or without a government to enforce them (those of life, liberty, and property)

How did Berkeley conceive of objects?

He believed that no material objects in the external world existed, only existing as sensations

How did Locke distinguish between the properties of external objects?

• Primary qualities → objective properties such as size, solidity, etc. that are in material objects and exist even if no one is around to sense them

• Secondary qualities → subjective properties such as colour, smell, etc. that depend on the operation of sense and exist only when someone experiences them

How did Berkeley contrast with Locke in his conception of material objects?

He did not believe in primary or secondary qualities, saying that all qualities of an object are mind-dependent

How did Berkeley argue against the existence of material objects in the external world?

If objects are to continue to exist while they are not being perceived, they can be conceived of existing unconceived → he argues this is a logical contradiction

How is Berkeley’s theory about material objects criticised?

• They argue that there is no contradiction in an object existing unconceived

• They ask why sensations present seemingly independently of our minds like material objects unperceived and beyond our control → Berkeley argues that things are always perceived by God and he creates the experiences

• They argue that the God theory leaves much unexplained

What are the two types of knowledge according to Hume?

1. Relations of ideas → truths of logical derived from reason that can be certain, but don’t serve to explain the world

2. Matters of fact → information of world coming from sense experience that can’t be certain

How does Hume disagree with rationalists, theologists, and metaphysicists?

He believed that all knowledge must be traced back to sense perceptions or else they are meaningless, calling theology and metaphysics worthless

What did Hume argue about the principle of induction?

He believed that causal relationships are unfounded, we only observe one event associated with another that repeats and out of habit jump to the conclusion that they are connected, saying that neither reason nor experience provide evidence for causality and therefore that induction is unfounded

What is the principle of induction?

The presumption that events that follow one another will do the same in the future, and that the future will be like the past

How did Spinoza view substance?

He saw it as having one kind that is God, with all entities being features of one eternal, divine substance, following the theory of pantheism

What is pantheism?

The notion that God is identical with everything

How did Spinoza argue for the existence of God?

He said that God exists necessarily, since he could not have failed to exist and could not have existed with different attributes, also meaning that the nature existing from God also exists necessarily

How did Spinoza see free-will?

• God has complete free-will due to his actions being determined by his own nature

• Humans are ultimately determined as aspects of God but can act freely rather than having individual actions controlled

What are monads?

Infinite kinds of substances that are mind-less, immaterial and at the centre of rudimentary processes of perceptions and changes, each monad mirroring the cosmos in a distinct way → are ‘windowless’ meaning nothing can enter or leave them and they cannot be influenced by outside factors

How does Leibniz conceive of the world?

He argues for an infinite variety of substances called monads that are guided by God

How does God influence reality?

He supplies the perceptions of monads, arranging them into intelligible reality through a pre-established harmony laid down by God from eternity

How did Leibniz conceive of free-will?

• God has free-will and freedom to create and select this world among others, acting from his goodness and reason to choose this one as the best of all possible worlds

• Human will is not necessitated by God, but can be inclined if wanted