- For Locke:John Locke, Second Treatise on Government, 1689
In the “second treatise of government”, Locke advocates that governments are formed through mutual agreement. He is of the view that those who are given the mandate to govern must do so without violating the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people. He opines that people acquire the rights to property, life, and liberty upon birth. Locke’s contention is that governments are supposed to protect the foregoing rights for the benefit of the citizens. Accordingly, he observes that the power to make laws is a preserve of the people.
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- For Montesquieu:Baron de Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws, 1748
Montesquieu’s main contributions touch on the separation of powers. In “The Spirit of Laws”, he advocates for the formation of the three arms of government: legislature, executive, and judiciary each with separate complementary mandates to check each other’s excesses. He explains that if all powers are concentrated within a single body, there can be no liberty. There would be anxiety among citizens knowing that an oppressive regime can enact oppressive laws and implement the laws in an oppressive manner. For liberty to prevail in any society, Montesquieu advocates that the three arms of government be accorded separate powers to ensure checks and balances in each arm to enhance liberty within the society.
- For Rousseau: Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1763
Rousseau’s main contribution was the formation of government. His criticism for modern civilization based on his observation of the inequality that exists in civilized societies led him to conclude that people are generally good but civilization corrupts them. He proposed that the formation of a social contract to curb inequality. To him social contract would be in the form of a civil society that people would form voluntarily and that will be governed by what Rousseau refers as the general will. To Rousseau, the general will would be exercised and expressed in the people’s unanimous consent to authority.
His contribution depicts government or any form of authority stems from the consent of the general will of the people. As such, every authority of the government should be exercised in such a way as to protect the rights and freedoms of every individual and the society at large. His idea of a contract can be witnessed in the form of elections where people exercise their individual and general will periodically. To Rousseau, government exists to signify the social contract.
Common attitudes and beliefs the Philosophers held in common
Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau believed that legitimate governments must derive their authority from the will of its citizens. They believed that since governments owed their legitimacy to their citizens they should not violate their legitimacy resulting to tyrannical tenets. They supposed that it is only through some form of consent by the governments exist. They also believed that every person is entitled to certain rights and freedoms which governments must protect. According to them, failure to protect those rights and freedoms, governments lose their legitimacy because that is what they are elected to do. The three philosophers also saw believed that governments have the tendency to degenerate into tyrannies. Each of the three philosophers proposed measures to curb tendencies of governments to degenerate into tyrannies. As such, Montesquieu proposed that power should not be concentrated or exercised by a single person. Rousseau believed that society should be governed by the general will of the citizens while Locke criticized monarchs as being unable to guarantee and protect the property, lives, and liberties of the people.
Bibliography
Halsall, Paul. Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws, 1748. Modern History Sourcebook, 1997.
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/montesquieu-spirit.asp
Halsall, Paul. Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract, 1763. Modern History Sourcebook,
1997. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/rousseau-soccon.asp
Koeller, David. John Locke: Second Treatise on Government, 2005.
http://www.thenagain.info/Classes/Sources/Locke-2ndTreatise.html
