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Sect. 4. To understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man.—A state also of equality wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another; there being nothing more evident, than that the creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection, unless the lord and master of them all should, by any manifest declaration of his will, set one above another, and confer on him, by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty.
Contents
- The Enlightenment
- Kant and the Redemption of Enlightenment
- Rousseau and Radicalization
- From Locke to Jefferson
- English Bill of Rights Year: 1689
- John Locke: Second Treatise on Civil Government Year: 1690
- John Locke: An Essay on Human Understanding Year: 1690
- Charles de Montesquieu: The Spirit of Laws Year: 1748
- Voltaire: Candide Year: 1759
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract Year: 1762
- Voltaire: Philosophical Dictionary Year: 1764
- Catherine II of Russia: The Grand Instructions to the Commissioners Year: 1767
- Denis Diderot: Supplement to the Voyage of Bougainville Year: 1772
- American Declaration of Independence Year: 1776
- Immanuel Kant: “What Is Enlightenment?” Year: 1784
- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Year: 1789
- Jeremy Bentham: An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation Year: 1789
- Marquis de Condorcet: Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind Year: 1795
- Thomas Malthus: An Essay on the Principle of Population Year: 1798
- David Ricardo: On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation Year: 1817