PHIL 1100 Lecture Notes - Montesquieu, Political Freedom, Equal Opportunity
Document Summary
Humans are more similar than different, more equal than unequal physically and intellectually. People consider themselves to be wiser than all others, pleased with their own talents. Equality among people is viewed as a positive and enlightened perspective If we all want same things and have roughly equal abilities, the result is a free-for-all. When we are not engaged in conflict, we are worried about being engaged in conflict. Rational part of our nature enables us to understand that we need to create a political structure that will enable us to live cooperatively. Humans seek peace to remove themselves from cycle of war. Even after agreeing to social contract, people retain the right to defend themselves against any and all attacks from others: social community is a collection of hostile and unworthy individuals, reluctantly drawn together to promote individual interests.
