Voltaire
This 1763 work, written after the persecution and execution of the Protestant Jean Calas, is Voltaire's famous plea for religious harmony and against fanaticism.
What is the Treatise on Tolerance?
The opening line of this 1762 political treatise is, "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."
What is The Social Contract?
Locke believed that the only legitimate government is one based on the voluntary agreement, or this, of the governed people.
What is Consent?
For Hobbes, the Social Contract is an agreement made not between the people and the ruler, but between these parties.
What are the Individuals (or People) with one another?
Montesquieu is famous for advocating this system of government, where power is divided among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
What is the Separation of Powers?
A common saying of Voltaire criticizing excessive religious zealotry is that those who can make you believe absurdities can also make you commit this.
What are Atrocities (or Injustices)?
For Rousseau, this concept represents the surrender of individual rights to the community for the sake of the common good and moral liberty.
What is the General Will?
Locke famously argued that the essential, unalienable rights granted by the Law of Nature are these three.
What are Life, Liberty, and Estate (or Property)?
Hobbes famously described life in this condition, without government, as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
What is the State of Nature?
Montesquieu defined this type of government, suitable for large empires, as one where a single person rules without law or rule, motivated by fear.
What is a Despotism?
As a firm believer in a clockmaker God who created the world but does not interfere in human affairs, Voltaire adhered to this belief system.
What is Deism?
In The Social Contract, this term refers to the collective body of all citizens, which holds the unalienable legislative power and cannot be represented.
What is the Sovereign?
Thomas Jefferson famously rephrased Locke's natural rights—Life, Liberty, and Estate—to these three concepts in the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
What are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness?
Hobbes believed that the two main human motivations driving all action in the State of Nature are the fear of death and this desire for power over others.
What is Glory (or Self-Preservation)?
Montesquieu's ideas on the separation of powers and the importance of checks on authority were a primary influence on this foundational document of the United States.
What is the U.S. Constitution?
Voltaire is famous for his passionate defense of civil liberties and the freedoms of speech, religion, and this political system, where rulers have checked power.
What is a Constitutional Monarchy?
When an individual exchanges their natural freedom and unlimited right to everything for civil freedom and proprietorship, they gain this.
What is Civil Liberty?
Locke wrote his Two Treatises largely to argue against this theory that kings receive their authority directly from God.
What is the Divine Right of Kings?
Hobbes argued that the people surrender all their rights (except the right to self-preservation) to this single, absolute power in exchange for peace and security.
What is the Sovereign?
Montesquieu primarily derived his ideas for the Separation of Powers from his analysis and admiration of the existing governmental structure of this country.
What is England?
Voltaire is famous for his passionate defense of this freedom, stating, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
What is Freedom of Speech?
Rousseau described the original human in this primitive, pre-society condition as a "noble savage," inherently good and driven by self-preservation (amour de soi) and pity.
What is the State of Nature?
This Latin term, meaning "blank slate," is used by Locke to describe the state of the mind before receiving sensory experience.
What is Tabula Rasa?
This 1651 political treatise, named after a biblical sea monster, argues for a strong, absolute sovereign to prevent civil war.
What is Leviathan?
Montesquieu believed that the fundamental principle or "spring" of a Republic is this virtue, which he saw as necessary for citizens to sacrifice for the common good.
What is Political Virtue (or Civic Virtue)?