POLSCI 3Y03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Montesquieu, Homo Economicus, Scientific Method
21 Apr 2020
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Right/conservative: machiavelli, hobbes, burke, hegel, stuart mill, von hayek. Conservatives believed that man"s identity and destiny are directly tied to the state. Left/liberal/socialist: locke, rousseau, montesquieu, marx, engels, saint simon, comte and/or church, which are superior to society and essential to man"s moral and political survival. They have a pessimistic view of man"s intellectual and social nature and a deep mistrust of the potentialities of human nature. They favour control, a strong state, and concentration of power. Liberals have a more optimistic view of human nature. Humans, they argued, can be trusted to act autonomously, responsibly, and without any over-arching structure of coercion. Liberals emphasize popular sovereignty, people"s power, and a decentralized polity. Philosophers and political scientists wrestle with the question of whether the state exists to be at the service of man, woman, and society, or, rather, man, woman, and society are constructed as servants to the state.
