Perspectives on Human Nature and Government

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Perspectives on Human Nature and Government

• Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau

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Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

• Social order is created by humans. Therefore,
  they can change it.

Without government, society would be solitary,
poor, nasty, brutish, and short!
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Thomas Hobbes

• Without society, we would live in a state of
  nature, where we each have unlimited natural
  freedoms.
• The downside of this general autonomy is that it
  includes the "right to all things" and thus the
  freedom to harm all who threaten one's own
  self-preservation there are no positive rights,
  only laws of nature and an endless "war of all
  against all" (Bellum omnium contra omnes).

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Thomas Hobbes

• To avoid this, we jointly agree to an implicit
  social contract by which we each gain civil
  rights in return for accepting the obligation to
  honor the rights of others, giving up some
  freedoms to do so.

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Thomas Hobbes

• People need order.
• People will be willing to give up individual
  liberties to maintain peace.

• The social contract is an agreement to obey the
  laws.
• But, human nature will not allow this to happen!
• Thus, the need for authoritarian government.

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John Locke (1632-1704)

• Locke observed that, in society, people were
  rewarded based upon their industriousness.
• But, people should not accumulate too much money,
  otherwise society could become a horrible place.
• He proposed (like Hobbes before him) that people
  needed a sense of order. But how to achieve
  order while maximizing individual liberties?

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John Locke

• Locke stressed the moral imperative that
  prevented humans from pursuing a free-for-all.
• A moral imperative is a principle originating
  inside a person's mind that compels him to act.
• Originally defined by Immanuel Kant, the
  imperative was meant to be a dictate of pure
  reason, in its practical aspect. Not following
  the moral law was seen to be self-defeating and
  thus contrary to reason.

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John Locke

• Locke took the imperative to
• originate in conscience, as the
• divine voice speaking through
• the human spirit. The dictates
• of conscience are simply right
• and often resist further
• justification.
• Lockes faith in conscience stem
• from the idea that man was born a
• clean slate (tabula rasa) and was
• taught morality by society.

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John Locke
Tabula rasa (clean slate) refers to the
epistemological thesis that individual human
beings are born with no innate or built-in mental
content, in a word, "blank," and that their
entire resource of knowledge is built up
gradually from their experiences and sensory
perceptions of the outside world. Proponents
of tabula rasa favor "nurture" in
the nature versus nurture
debate.
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John Locke

• In Locke's philosophy, tabula rasa is the theory
  that data is added to the human mind and rules
  for processing are formed solely by one's sensory
  experiences.
• As understood by Locke, tabula rasa emphasizes
  the individual's freedom to author his or her own
  soul. Each individual is free to define the
  content of his or her character.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

• Rousseau believed in the concept
  of the noble savage humanity
  unencumbered by civilization the
  normal essence of an
  unfettered human.
• Since the concept embodies the
  idea that without the bounds of
  civilization, humans are
  essentially good, the basis for the idea of the
  noble savage lies in the doctrine of the goodness
  of humans.
• Pride and civilization distance humanity from its
  original, natural state of goodness.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Agreed with Hobbes Social Contract mutual
  agreement to protect the rights of everyone not
  only the wealthy.
• No person is above
  the law.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• "Man is born free and everywhere he is in
  chains."

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Human nature is basically good
• Admired the noble savage humans living in a
  state of simple freedom governing themselves
  compassionate
• Society civilization are corrupting forces on
  the individual
• Society robs us of our freedom makes us
  bloodthirsty

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• Hobbes (1588-1679)
• Without government, society would be solitary,
  poor, nasty, brutish,
• and short!
• Without society, man would live in a state of
  nature, where we each
• have unlimited natural freedoms.
• State of nature leads to Right to all things"
  and thus the freedom
• to harm all who threaten one's own
  self-preservation
• Right to all Things leads to War of all
  against all" (Bellum omnium
• contra omnes), and thus chaos, anarchy, end of
  the world-type stuff.
• Humanity needs the Social Contract in which
  individuals honor the
• rights of others but lose certain freedoms.
  Unfortunately, human
• nature will not allow this to happen (we are
  essentially greedy and
• egocentric), thus, the need for authoritarian
  government.

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• Locke (1632-1704)
• People need a sense of order.
• Society avoids chaos because of the Moral
  Imperative.
• The Moral Imperative is based on conscience
  (God).
• Humans are born as blank slates (tabula rasa),
  which
• means society can instill proper morality, and
  thus, a
• conscience.
• Tabula rasa also implies self-determination and
  
• nurture in the nature vs. nurture debate.

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• Rousseau (1712-1778)
• Believed in the concept of the Noble Savage, in
  which
• humans come from a state of compassionate
  simplicity.
• Believed that Human Nature is essentially good.
  
• Pride and civilization distance humanity from
  its original,
• natural state of goodness. "Man is born free
  and
• everywhere he is in chains."
• Agreed with Hobbes Social Contract, but felt
  more
• optimistic of its success.

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Moral Reasoning

• Lawrence Kohlbergs
• Theory of Moral Development

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• Why do some people feel they must obey the letter
  of the law while others believe that there is a
  higher law?
• Most countries, including the United States, are
  founded through illegal acts of rebellion or
  revolution.
• In order to answer this question, Kohlberg began
  to look at the ways in which people develop
  morally.

Lawrence Kohlberg
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Kohlbergs Stages

• Kohlberg suggested a stage theory of moral
  development
• Preconventional Morality
• 1. Punishment / Obedience
• 2. Personal Reward Orientation (individualism)
• Conventional Morality
• 3. Interpersonal Orientation (good for group)
• 4. Authority and Social Order (law order)
• Postconventional Morality
• 5. Social Contract Orientation
• 6. Universal Ethical Principle Orientation

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Kohlbergs Stages

• Preconventional Morality
• Stage 1 Punishment-Obedience Orientation
• Motivation Avoid (physical) punishment
• MORALITY IS WHAT YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH
• Example Ill do the right thing so I dont get
  hit.
• Stage 2 Personal Reward Orientation
• Motivation Satisfy own needs
• OBEYS RULES TO OBTAIN REWARDS
• Example Ill do the right thing if you give me a
  cookie.

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Kohlbergs Stages

• Conventional Morality
• Stage 3 Interpersonal Orientation
• Motivation Good boy, good girl
• OBEYS RULES TO GET APPROVAL.
• Example Ill do the right thing to please
  others.
• Stage 4 Authority and Social Order Orientation
• Motivation Maintain Law and Order
• OBEYS LAWS BECAUSE THEY MAINTAIN THE SOCIAL ORDER
• Example Ill do the right thing because I have
  respect for the rules.

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Kohlbergs Stages

• Postconventional Morality
• Stage 5 Social Contract Orientation
• Motivation Majority Rule
• BELIEF IN DEMOCRATICALLY ACCEPTED LAWS
• Example Ill do the right thing
  because it is in everyones best
  interest.

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Kohlbergs Stages

• Postconventional Morality
• Stage 6 Universal Ethical Principle Orientation
• Motivation Maintain universal principles of
  justice, equality, trust, and respect, regardless
  of the reactions of others.
• CONSCIENCE
• Example Ill do the right thing because my heart
  tells me its the right thing to do.

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Kohlbergs Method

• In order to determine at which stage of moral
  development a person was, Kohlberg presented the
  person with moral dilemmas
• The Case of Heinz and the Druggist.
• Mr. Heinz's wife is dying. There is one drug that
  will save her life but it is very expensive. The
  druggist will not lower the price so that Mr.
  Heinz can buy it to save his wife's life. What
  should he do? More importantly, why?
• Moral dilemmas were judged, not according to the
  respondents position (to steal the drug or not),
  but on the basis of the kind of reasoning the
  answer exhibited.

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Heart of Darkness

• Why do some people maintain their sense of
  morality in the absence of law, while others
  revert to immoral, amoral, or even savage
  behavior?
• Do people need law in order to behave in a
  moralistic fashion?
• Can those who live in the absence of
  civilization maintain a sense of morality?
  On what do they base their behavior?
• WHY DO GOOD?