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Edmund Burke: English author and parliamentarian (1729-1797); until 1790 he was a Whig in the group around Lord Rockingham; he called for justice and conciliation toward the American colonies. Burke was vehemently against the French Revolution and foresaw its horrors. In his publication entitled "Reflections on the Revolution in France" (1790), he expressed his preference for an organically grown state rather than an artificially created one, and became the founder of modern history's conservative interpretation of the state.

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Thomas Hobbes: English philosopher and political theorist (1588-1679), one of the great systematists of rationalism, he was familiar with the philosophy of Descartes. In order to escape the English Revolution, Hobbes emigrated to Paris between 1640 and 1651, returning under the reign of Cromwell.
Hobbes' philosophy is strictly nominalist and mechanistic and excludes theology. It only deals with objects, both of a natural nature and of an artificial nature created by man that can be accessed by rational "calculation".
With his best-known work, "Leviathan" (1651), he became the founder of modern state philosophy. Because in a natural state "the condition of man is a condition of war of everyone against everyone", people must submit to the absolute supremacy of the state in both secular and religious matters. This is legitimized by the state's provision of security.

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John Locke: English philosopher (1632-1704), educated in Westminster School and studied science and medicine at Oxford University; friend, advisor and physician in the home of earl of Shaftsbury; periods in France and Holland, retuned with Wilhelm (III) of Orange to England and was active at the Board of Trade until 1700.
His main work entitled "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (drafted 1671, published for the first time 1689/90) formed the foundation for English empiricism.
Locke's views attacked the theory of divine right of kings and the nature of the state as conceived by the English philosopher and political theorist, Thomas Hobbes. He believed that sovereignty did not reside in the state but with the people, guaranteeing freedom, equality and property through reciprocal restrictions. The character of the state was one of people's sovereignty and neither patriarchal nor absolute forms of governments may be recognized. Locke further held that revolution was not only a right but often an obligation, and he advocated a system of checks and balances in government.
With his publication entitled "Two Treatises of Government" (1690), Locke became the founder of liberal political philosophy, which was to have a great impact on history both in England and in the United States of America (see also advanced subject of human rights, basic course 2).

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Karl Marx: German political philosopher and revolutionist (1818-1883). Marx studied law and philosophy at the universities of Bonn and Berlin, where he also joined young radical supporters of Hegel. Marx was the editor at the liberal-leaning oppositional "Rheinischen Zeitung" in Cologne; Marx went to Paris after publication of the newspaper was banned. Under the influence of Ludwig Feuerbach, he arrived at philosophical materialism and under the influence of French utopian socialists at revolutionary socialism. Together with Friedrich Engels, he developed his materialistic view of history. Ordered to leave Paris because of his revolutionary activities, he lived in Brussels between 1845 and 1848. He joined the Communist League in 1847 with Engels where they were commissioned to formulate a statement of principles "The Communist Manifesto" (1848) in which the proletarian revolution is predicted, brought about as the consequence of a natural continuation of an historical process.
The revolutions in 1848 enabled Marx to return to Germany. He was chief editor at the radical democratic "Neuen Rheinischen Zeitung" in Cologne. In 1849 Marx was expelled from Germany and lived in London for the rest of his life. Once in London, constantly reliant on Engels support and living initially in hard-pressed circumstances, he did journalistic work for several papers, but concentrated mainly on the study of history and economics. His main works on economics "Zur Kritik der politischen Ökonomie" (1859) and "Das Kapital" (vol. 1, 1867) remained unfinished; important parts were published as unpublished works. He returned to practical politics in 1864 playing a major role in the foundation of the International Workingmen' s Association (later called First International). Marx made the inaugural address, wrote the statutes of the International, and subsequently directed the work of its general council or governing body. In 1872 he brought about its effective dissolution.
Marx's ideas were to have their greatest impact after his death. To differing degrees, his ideas influenced many of the programs drawn up by socialist and communist parties and had a significant impact on other areas of 20th-century social scientific thinking. His ideas gained international importance after governments of communist states cited Marx both in the implementation of their political practice and in the disputes amongst each other.

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John Stuart Mill: British philosopher-economist (1806-1873); 1823-1858 clerk in the India House, 1866-1868 a member of the parliamentary liberal party. Mill corresponded with Auguste Comte, whose positivism he modified more in the direction of English empiricism, meaning using psychological assumptions. According to Mill, philosophy is based on psychology. His main work is "System of Logic" (vol. 1 + 2, 1843), which contains a detailed theory on inductive logic and an analysis of the term causality. His own epistemology (only experience leads to knowledge) was not presented until 1865. Mill is the author of numerous essays, an advocate of women's suffrage, a theorist of utilitarianism and one of the most important founders of liberalism. He expanded on the theories by Adam Smith and David Ricardo (incl. theories about international values and the wages fund theory).

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Charles de Secondat Montesquieu: Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, French author and philosopher on law and government (1689-1755); he became counselor of the Bordeaux parliament in 1714; in 1728 he became a member of the Académie Française. His main contribution is his philosophical work on the state and culture ""De l'Esprit des lois", in which he delivers a theory on the three main types of government, republic, monarchy and despotism based on an anthropological, sociological and historic examination: While a republic and monarchy are legally founded, despotism (tyranny) is kept alive out of fear and is dependent on needs (not laws). Montesquieu goes on to explain that separation of powers is an essential part of state structure, whose aim is the prevention of all arbitrariness exercised by individuals or groups; he developed his theory using the English constitution. This formulation led to the idea becoming one of the most important guiding principles for the first American constitutions (1776-1787) and in all later constitutions encompassing the separation of powers. Montesquieu also wrote novels and novella; he is regarded as the first French enlightener.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau: French writer and philosopher of Swiss origin (1712-1778), led a restless life, which he explained with ruthless openness in his autobiographical "Confessions" (1782); he belonged to the circle of writers contributing to the Encyclopedie, became famous through his award-winning publication on the negative influence of art and science on humankind ("Discours sur les sciences et les arts", 1750). In this publication, he accuses culture of having alienated humans from a natural and happy original state and having robbed people of their innocence, freedom and virtue. This book represents the beginning of the modern criticism of culture.
In the “Social Contract”, published in 1762, Rousseau regards the state as a voluntary union of individual will to form a "general will" (volonté générale); to this end, sovereignty stems from the people. It can be said that Rousseau prepared the emotional ground for the Romantic Movement, as well as paving the way for the French Revolution and democracy and having a large influence on modern education.
As far as political philosophy is concerned, Rousseau is regarded as the champion of the identity-based theory of democracy and of direct democracy (as opposed to the principle of representation).

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Subjects:  Human Rights  I  Democracy  I  Parties  I  Examples  I  Europe  I  Globalisation  I  United Nations  I  Sustainability

Methods:    Teaching Politics    II    Peace Education    II    Methods