CC290 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Political Philosophy, Mercantilism, Social Conditioning
Document Summary
Religious and political elites blamed the devil and other spirits on social problems to stop rebellious people in times of social upheaval. Industrial revolution: diminished power of the aristocracy & church, rising middle class, mercantilism, urbanization, rise of the protestant ethic, exploration of humanity, capricious and cruel criminal justice system. Humanist philosophy tried the justice system in recognizing the power of natural rights stating that all men should be free. John locke necessity of government: from laws we gained laws, judges and an executive body, when a government becomes tyrannical, it returns to the state of nature and must be. Resisted as an obligation: state of nature = state of war, disputes over property, enslaving each other & stealing property, may degenerate into perpetual war, where clans and family members are involved. Individual liberty must not be suppressed by the sovereign.
