Midterm SOS - Speakers

Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan; social contract to avoid chaos

Humans are naturally selfish and fearful

State needed to prevent war; strong authority

Ethics derive from law; fear drives compliance

Foundation for modern political realism; emphasized security over freedom

Aristotle

Politics as the study of the good life; virtue ethics

Humans are rational and social by nature

Polity as a community aiming for the “good life”; democracy, monarchy, oligarchy

Virtue is cultivated through habit; moral excellence = happiness

Basis of classical political theory; virtue ethics; emphasis on civic responsibility

Montesquieu

Separation of powers; climate theory; political liberty

Humans are shaped by laws, customs, and climate

Best government has checks and balances; executive, legislative, judicial

Justice is tied to law; liberty preserved by institutional design

Influenced US Constitution; modern liberal democracy; institutionalism

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Social contract; Noble Savage; general will

Humans are naturally compassionate, free, and innocent

Society corrupts natural goodness; need for collective sovereignty

Morality arises from compassion and general will

Critique of inequality; influence on revolutionary thought and democracy

John Locke

Natural rights (life, liberty, property); social contract

Humans are rational, cooperative, and capable of reason

Government exists to protect natural rights; consent of the governed

Ethics based on natural law; rights are inalienable

Foundation of liberal democracy; influenced American and French revolutions

Charles Darwin

Natural selection; survival of the fittest; evolution

Humans are biological beings; subject to natural laws

Society evolves like species; groups with advantageous traits survive

Morality emerges from social instincts (e.g., cooperation within groups)

Influenced social sciences, evolutionary psychology, and social Darwinism debates