Jacques Derrida

Katerina Siroruka Marx and Locke are two theorists with completely different ideas. When looking at their theories closely, several aspects emerge: Locke was a liberal political philosopher and Marx was a socialist political theorist, both men had different views on liberalism. Locke believed in the state of nature, in his account of natural law he wrote that all men are equal and independent; no one ought to harm another person in his life, health, liberty, or possessions. Marx would…

John Locke was a philosopher from England. His beliefs included that people are naturally unselfish and have natural rights. He also believed that all men are created equally and no man has more power than another man. Locke also thought that men give up their power to a government, or an appointed organization, which have political power over them. The point of a government is to protect its people. Locke believed that if a government acts out of line and in their own self-interest, the people…

George Orwell’s scathing dystopian novel, Animal Farm, is a poignant warning to all people who desire to live in an inherently free society. Through this novel, Orwell warns about the inherently selfish nature of man and the responsibility of the individual in government. He juxtaposes that, although dictatorial rulers are not inherently corrupt, they will become so if they are not monitored by the people. He also enunciates on the duty of free citizens to take responsibility in government.…

The Enlightenment lacked spontaneity and it was rather a result of the few individuals who viewed society through a lens that was not exclusively related to Christian teachings and greatly contributed to the development of reason. There a wide variety of philosophes who contributed to the debates on liberty; however, the French philosopher, Voltaire (née François Marie Arouet, 1694-1778), is among the most influential of the philosophes. As a member of the Moderate Enlightenment, Voltaire…

In the 17th century, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were philosophers who developed beliefs about the nature of man, which influenced their political philosophies and ideas about the social contract between the people and their government. Thomas Hobbes believed that all humans were naturally wicked and selfish. He stated that without a government there would be war with every man against each other and life would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Meanwhile, John Locke believed that…

John Stuart Mill the liberal and Jean-Jacques Rousseau the republican, are two political philosophers whom focussed on the integration of political liberty with the relationship found between that of the individual, society and the state by the means of power or authority. Both of these political thinkers formed their arguments in their writings, namely; On Liberty (1859) by Mill, and The Social Contract (1913) by Rousseau. On a more specific scale, their views differed in much contrast, whereby…

Introduction 1.1 Michel Foucault Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, a historian of ideas, a social the- orist, philologist and a literary critic. His theories addressed the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social con- trol through societal institutions. Foucault is considered to be a postmodern or post-structuralist as his theories have been used for re-assessing modernity's most cherished principles.[4] 1.2 Foucault's ideas on Objectication…

What follows, are various views, stated by notable people, to expose the reader to various definitions of civilization, as each person, provides different weight on the various aspects and tenets of civilization. The Marquis Mirabeau, in 1757, seems to be the first to use the word civilization. At the time, the word civilization for him and philosophers of the Enlightenment had a narrower meaning than today. “It denoted humane laws, limitations on war, a high level of purpose and conduct,…

Social Contract – Hobbes, Locke, RousseauAfter reading the three social contractarians, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, it is clear they each have different views on how to define a legitimate government, how to obtain one, what human nature is, and the social contract theory itself. The state of nature is a theoretical state in which there is no government formed yet. Each author speaks on how he believes humans interact or act individually in this state. The social…

Human well-being defined, is a state where the pursuit of life, liberty, and property is unhindered. It is when people within a society are free to do as they like, as long as they do not harm others. According to this definition of human well-being, the philosophies of John Stuart Mill prove to be more important in the preservation of this state. The prohibition of individual liberties, proposed by Mill, seem to be more of a threat to human well-being than the economic conditions described by…