Unit 1 Political and Economic Philosophy

Political philosophy - relationship between people and the government

Tomas Hobbes

• Believed in an unaccountable sovereign or monarchy

• People agree to give away every right to ensure their right to live

• Humans are naturally vicious and power hungry

• People need the government

• First to explore the social contract theory

• Lived through the english civil war

John Locke

• Wrote Leviathan

• Humans are self interested, rational and have the ability to reason

• Anti- divine right

• The government should only exist to protect the people’s natural rights

• Humans are naturally blank and can be good or bad

• Natural rights, Limited government, Consent of the governed, Separation of power

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Democracy is the best form of government

• People are naturally good but were corrupted by society

• Rule of law, Majority rule, Consent of the governed

• Individuals give up self interest in favor of the common good

Baron de Montesquieu

• Best form of government is when it’s separated among branches

• Main idea is the separation of power

• Safety can only exist if everyone follows the law

• 3 branches to prevent tyranny

• Checks and balances

Vocabulary

Rule of Law - Everyone is equal under the law

Consent of the governed- The government gets its power from the people

Limited government - Government has limited power

Social contract - Agreement between people and government

Majority rule - Good of the community is more important than individual interests

Natural rights - Rights people are born with ie life, liberty and property

Due process - A persons rights are protected by the government

State of Nature - State without the government

Separation of powers - Different branches with different powers than can check each other

Divine right - Right to rule is given by God

Tabla Rasa- Born blank

Economic philosophers

Adam Smith

• Capitalism- Call for less government and more free market entrepreneurship

• Self interest has positive benefits

• Division of labor

• Theory of compensating wage differences

• Free market

• Wrote The wealth of Nations

Karl Marx

• Communism- Wealth should be shared equally among the people

• Economy drives all human activities

• All history is a class struggle

• Power comes from owning the means of production

• The evolutionary nature of history leads to a revolution for communism

• The government will not exist in true communism

• wrote The communist manifesto

• Usually confused with Totalitarianism (forced communism)

Vocabulary

Laissez Faire- The government not interfering in the free market

Invisible hand- The people decide in which direction the economy goes. the government only provides the basis

Proletariat- The working class (The oppressed)

Bourgeoisie- The wealthy class (The oppressors)

General information

• Adam Smith wrote the wealth of nations to call for less government involvement in the economy and introduce the concept of capitalism

• Productivity, division of labor and specialization is the concept that people because they are self interested will work more and do a job that they’re good at to make more money

• Division of labor is people doing what they like and what they can do best

• Self interest is the selfishness of people. it is vital to the economy

• Allowing people to freely pursue their self interest of gaining wealth provides different services to the society. it also increases inventions and creativity

• The invisible hand describes the concept of how the people decide where the economy is headed. the people are like an invisible hand pulling and pushing the economy

• Free market is the government being less involved in the economy

• Under laissez faire economics the government’s responsibilities are:

1. The protection of private property and contracts

2. The enforcement of laws

3. The provision of a stable currency

• Marxist ideology emerged during the Industrial Revolution because he was factory owners getting richer and richer while the workers worked as slave and could barely survive

• According to Karl Marx the working class would eventually overthrow the capitalist system

• Karl Marx’s goal in writing when writing for the communist manifesto is to call for workers to unite and overthrow the wealthy people and to redistribute the wealth they worked for