POL200Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Collective Punishment, Thomas Hobbes, Political Freedom
Document Summary
Classical philosophers saw their world (and the world beyond) as the universe"s natural order. The philosophical life was the highest telos humanity could pursue. Tyranny was a product of vice (lust); such a prospect led to the destruction of one"s own soul. Renaissance and enlightenment-era philosophers philosophized for the sake of overthrowing biblical (and other traditional) understandings. The systems they envisioned was simply matter in motion". Virtue was simply humanity"s most ideal instrument for satisfying desire. Through philosophizing, one can readily make available an ideology. Tyrants are actually very calculated, disciplined leaders. Institutional power was proposed to be extremely concentrated in the form of a single sovereign. Citizens were mere subjects in this ideal of a modern state. John locke was an oxfordian intellectual from 1632-1704. He published his two treatises of government in 1690. At times, the second treatise of government criticizes hobbes.
