SOC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Tabula Rasa, Montesquieu, Age Of Enlightenment

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1101
• Professor: Carolyn Gordon

Document Summary

Explanations can be described as the stories we tell each other in attempts to produce some order in our lives. Theories outline paths that lead to particular outcomes. They allow us to feel that we know why something happened, and whether, or not under what conditions, it is likely to occur again. Scope: the range of phenomena that a theory can explain. Accuracy: does the theory match empirical reality. Classical sociological theory (1600-1750: thomas hobbes (1588-1679) People are responsible for creating their social worlds. Natural state: how humans existed prior to the emergence of social structures. People are motivated by self-interest and the pursuit of power: john locke (1632-1704) Tabula rasa: people are born as blank slates. God was responsible for the emergence of society and government. Right to self-preservation and to private property. Individual autonomy and freedom: charles montesquieu (1689-1755) Humans created and defined by the society.