Theme 2 Enlightenment Thought Philosophy of History Readings

Theme 2. Enlightenment Thought: Philosophy of History Readings to class: ØLocke J. Two Treatises of Government. Cambridge University Press, 1970, pp. 153 - 161, 283 -320, 336 -371 ØHabermas J. The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity. Cambridge (Mass. ): MIT Press, 1987, Lecture II, pp. 23 -44 ØSchmidt J. Civility, Enlightenment, and Society: Conceptual Confusions and Kantian Remedie, in American Political Science Review, 1998, Vol. 92, No. 2, pp. 419 -427

The Problem of Human History The concept of humanity: reason and freedom The concept of commonwealth: order and law The problem: how could the society arise when the men were free and had individual wishes?

Thomas Hobbes (1588 -1679) The treatise ‘Leviathan’ (1651) was inspired by the civil war in England Natural state of humankind: ü equality of mental and physical abilities and therefore equality of rights ü atomized and competitive individuals Natural Law: total freedom of means for individual’s ends Natural consequence of the Natural Law: the state of war (homo homini lupus est) Natural rule: the human reason dictates the establishment of a peace agreement among people Public Contract: restriction of individuals’ natural rights and transfer of rights to a sovereign Sovereign: the soul of the political body and absolute ruler

Tasks of Sovereign Providing security for people and maintaining domestic peace Providing people’s wellbeing Using all force Establishing laws Educating people Taking all responsibility for the commonwealth surviving

John Locke (1632 -1704) The book ‘Two Treatises of Government’ (1690) was influenced by the Revolution of 1688 Criticisms on Robert Filmer Own concept of the origins of political power and civil state: ü critical approach to Hobbes’ concept of Public Contract and its reformulation ü concept of division of power

The System of Power The Legislative Power is a soul of the political body and provide the state’s unity The Executive Power provides the peace among the commonwealth members (domestic affairs) maintaining the order established by laws The Federative Power provides the peace on the borders of the commonwealth (foreign affairs) monitoring and reacting to the foreigners’ actions

Hobbes vs. Locke The state of nature: a-social & dangerous vs. social but uncomfortable The public contract: social relationship vs. political order The sovereignty: concentrated as much as possible vs. divided into three branches

Immanuel Kant (1724 -1804) ‘The Idea of the General History in the Aspect of World Civil Society’ (1784) The human beings have a free will The history of the humankind has some direction The Nature has a plan about humanity development ‘Antagonism’ is an instrument of education and development of sociality World civil society is the Nature’s end for the humankind

George V. F. Hegel (1770 -1831) ü ü Absolute Idea: Reason is not a property of humanity, but the humankind is the Reason property The human history is a moment of the self-realization of Reason The meaning of history is a progress in notion of freedom Three stages of the self-realization of Reason: Oriental World Greek and Roman World ü German World

Civil Society & State Dialectical development of the freedom notion: family through civil society to state Family is a domain of necessity of socially ordered life Civil society is a domain of realization of needs, private ends, and competition The state is a domain of the objective Reason as a reality of freedom

Kant vs. Hegel Reason: Subjective vs. Objective Civil Society: individual freedom directed to social order vs. individual freedom defined and provided by the state History: perfect civil society in the future vs. the present of the perfect state

Evolution of the ‘Civil Society’ Social order based on the all embracing state power (after establishment of the state and inside it) Social order based on the individual interactions but maintained by ordered state power (counterpart of state) Social order based on individual freedom and competition ordered by public laws (before the state and outside of it)

Evolution of the ‘Civil Society’ Classics: Current Discourses: § The definitions of sociality § The definitions of civil rights in the context of struggle between absolutist state and bourgeoisie § A controversy ‘political authority vs. people’s autonomy in the context of tensions between old institutions and new movements § A controversy ‘state bureaucracy vs. selforganized democracy’