Hobbes, Locke & 18th Century England

Hobbes and Locke

• Tolerance towards every protestant was expected
• Kings aren't divinely appointed
• Kings hold their position through God's will
• Political agendas used biblical language and justification

Hobbes

• Advocated for absolutism
• Authored Leviathan
• Views humanity as inherently unsocial, not meant for communal living
• The driving forces of humans are their passions
• Possession equates to power
• Man is inherently a predator
• Common-wealth is synonymous with the State
• Theorist of absolutism, supported absolute monarchy
• Described humans as homo homini lupus (man is wolf to man)

Locke

• Championed constitutionalism
• Studied medicine at Oxford
• Defined government as a body deriving authority from, and limited by, fundamental law

Sir Robert Filmer

• Served as a lawyer and political theorist
• Held royalist leanings

Property

• For Hobbes property can exist only in the State
• For Locke property is the primary guiding principle
• Hobbes believed in pursuit of possession

Eighteenth Century

• England was perceived as the most civilized and free country
• Englishmen had freedom of speech
• Parliament held the ultimate power in decision-making
• Political disagreement was common
• Two main political parties: the Tories and the Whigs
• Only landowners could vote
• Freedom of domestic trade prevailed
• London's population grew through migration
• Rich merchants' daughters could marry into aristocratic families
• Circulation of goods and knowledge increased

Publications

• New publications included "The Tatler" and "The Spectator"
• Subscription magazines were made for public consumption and discussion in coffeehouses

Coffeehouses

• Coffeehouses were run by women, but they were not allowed to be customers

Enlightenment

• Provided a philosophical soundtrack
• Based on anti-traditional rationalism
• Locke believed the mind is a clean slate
• Knowledge is gained through experience, externally and internally
• Mind requires constant feeding with data
• God is seen as the great watchman
• Only a small group was considered during the Enlightenment

The Royal Society

• Founded by Royal Charter from Charles II in 1662
• Promoted humanistic education

Key Terms: Commercial Society

• Parliament was controlled by liberal Whigs and conservative Tories
• New Hanover kings were virtually powerless
• Abortive Catholic Jacobite rebellions occurred in Scotland in 1715 and 1745
• Enlightenment promoted freedom of the rational individual (white, Protestant, male, middle class)
• A shift from one-sex to two-sex models postulated a radical biological difference between men and women
• British universities had a bad reputation
• The Grand Tour was essential for gentlemen to gain taste, language skills, and an understanding of the British political system
• A new concept of individuality and public sphere emerged
• Civic virtues were debated and popularized
• Trade and merchants drove national moral and economic growth
• Goods and objects became important for displaying individual value

Capitalism & Romanticism

• Drama and poetry were more valued than novels
• Novels drew inspiration from antiquity
• Travel- or life-writing became popular forms of expression
• Newly booming market
• There was no overpopulation
• No food shortages
• There were enough workplaces
• The English considered themselves progressive and fit to rule
• There was colonization and ruling over Ireland
• The English believed they needed to help rule "uncivilized Ireland"
• Triangular trade allowed winning a new empire by trade around the globe
• The merchant became the idealized figure of the century
• Land's value was only realized when there was trade
• England excelled in trading and banking
• The "Fable of the Bees" caused scandal
• Free market replaced private space
• Capitalism was criticized
• A trade war was launched
• England weighed in to not lose its leading position in the trade war
• New colonies were established in North America
• Cheaper labor was needed in Africa

British East India Company

• Became a military power
• Took control of almost the entire Indian subcontinent
• The colonies resulted in anti-slavery movements

Mercantilism

• Nationalist economic policy to amplify exports and compress imports

Romanticism

• Countered the industrial revolution

Industrialization

• Altered daily life beyond politics
• Island positioning was favorable to trade positioning

Spinning Jenny

• The spinning jenny transformed industry beginning in 1769

Transport

• Railways symbolized society
• The first steam engine was invented by James Watt in 1776
• Train schedules synchronized time and created standard time
• Cities saw an influx of migrated people leaving the countryside
• Overpopulation became a problem

Child labour

• Prohibited in 1819

Communication

• Information became easier to transmit

Irish Potato Famine

• In 1840-50 Ireland experienced potato famine which killed 1 million and led to emigration of 1.5 million people

Utilitarianism

• The greatest happiness of the greatest number

Key Terms

• Adam Smith's Laissez-faire doctrine promotes that the state not interfere with economic processes
• Men are naturally inclined to trade
• The division of labour creates surplus value
• David Ricardo criticized unproductive aristocracy
• Utilitarianism aimed at maximizing happiness for the majority
• The Spinning Jenny and the steam engine caused a radical shift in demography
• Industrial cities rose
• Urbanization increased
• The working class was in a plight
• Slums developed like London's East End
• The Middle Class worshipped the principle of self-help

Utopian Socialism

• Robert Owen's New Lanark
• State of England Novels and social journalism highlighted social issues

Science and Empire

• Early world theories included neptunic and plutonic creation

Carl Linnaeus

• Carl Linnaeus developed a system of taxonomy

Charles Lyell & Geology

• Charles Lyell believed the world was much older than 6,000 years

Darwin & Darwinism

• Darwin developed the Theory of Evolution against Lamarck which was supported by natural selection, sexual selection
• Darwin felt humanity was not a separate creation
• A new gaze studied "primitive" peoples, biological difference was constructed, scientific racism prevailed
• Social Darwinism emerged from Herbert Spencer
• There were fears of degeneration and atavism, criminology, phrenology, physiognomy

Victorian Cultural Criticism

• The Victorian era was an age of crisis
• There was fear of accelerating change, decadence, and political radicalism
• There was Longing for stability or radical renewal
• Conservative beliefs: consciousness determines existence and is necessary for new moral social order
• Progressive thoughts: existence determines consciousness

Capitalism & the critics

• Thomas Carlyle had conservative criticisms of Capitalism
• Marx & Engels: Commodity fetishism, alienation, Base & Superstructure, abolition of private property in means of production
• William Godwin: people should become more reasonable and fraternal, the state should become superfluous anarchism
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
• John Ruskin, Victorian Medievalism
• William Morris was important to Arts & Crafts
• Oscar Wilde advocated Aestheticism & Decadence

Great War And Modernism

• Industrial mass production led to industrial mass slaughter, where man is merely an instrument
• The 19th century ended, so the war represents the conclusion of one empire and the start of another
• The red poppy became a symbol for all the deaths of the war
• The Outbreak of war caused widespread panic and chaos
• People believed it would be over by christmas
• It was welcomed as a natural and "cleansing" process of rebirth
• Society was on a downward spiral that was believed to be fixed

Welfare to Brexit

Building a Welfare State (pensions, public healthcare, unemployment insurance) after WWII to overcome class society and pacify social tensions

• Industries were nationalized including coal, steel, shipbuilding, Bank of England, British Airways, British Rail, telephone, gas, and electricity
• "Social Democratic Consensus" was supported by both Labour and Conservatives ("Butskellism")
• Financial crisis worsened, unemployment rose since the late 1960s
• Neoliberalism was advocated by Margaret Thatcher of the Conservative Party that radical reversal of “Butskellism": privatization of industries and services, breaking the power of trade unions, massive cuts in public spending, commodification of all fields of society
• The values of self-help, economic egoism, and cult of greed were reintroduced
• On returning to power in 1997, Labour vowed to change effects of Thacherism, but it did not deliver change

Explore the contrasting views of Hobbes and Locke on the state of nature. Understand England's unique status in the 18th century. Discover the influence of publications like 'The Tatler' and 'The Spectator' on society and intellectual life.