PHIL 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Totalitarianism, Positive Liberty, Body Politic

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 1010
• Professor: Victoria Burke

Document Summary

Rights are not pre-political (they do not exist prior to the social contract) Different view of the state of nature than either locke or hobbes. Different reasons for the necessity of a social contract than either locke or hobbes, because of social ills resulting from private property. Different view of human nature: as empathetic , fundamentally sympathetic to others. Freedom is only possible within a social contract (different than seeing freedom as private or pre-political) Freedom as positive liberty , made possibly by the public institution of right. Suggestion that outside of the social contract you do not have rights. Note that defenders of the idea of human rights or natural rights would probably reject the idea that rights have their origin in the social contract. Rousseau thought society has evolved into conflict and shit so he wanted to go back to the state of natural sympathy that is present in our original state of nature.