1) Three types of sovereigni) Monarchy: Rule by a single person, a monarch

(a) Absolute Monarchy(b) Constitutional monarchy

ii) Oligarchy: Rule by a privileged class(a) Aristocracy vs Aristocratic Class

iii) Democracy: Rule by the people(a) Direct democracy(b) Representative democracy

2) How does a sovereign gain its legitimacyi) It doesn’tii) Through positive consequencesiii) Through force

(a) Conquestiv) Through God

(a) Divine Right of Kings(b) Mandate of Heaven

v) Through consent: Social Contract Theory(a) Must be explicit(b) Can be implicit(c) One ought consent

3) Major Figures in Social Contract Theoryi) Thomas Hobbes

(a) State of Nature: what life is like before a governing body(b) Natural rights: own power as he will himself(c) Legitimacy: obligation of obedience lasts as long as he is able to protect them

ii) John Locke(a) State of nature: people are basically good, but live in fear because not everyone is(b) Natural rights: The Law of Nature – the God-given and inalienable right to life,

liberty, and property(c) Legitimacy: The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their

propertyiii) Rousseau

(a) State of Nature: natural society is the family1. The child may decide to remain connected, but the result is a voluntary

society, based on agreement2. The family the prime model of political societies

(b) Natural rights: Natural liberty – provide for his own preservation, and his first cares are those he owes to himself; and as soon as he can think for himself he is the sole judge of the right way to take care of himself, which makes him his own master(i) Note: In section 8 you can see that Rousseau regards this as a right whikle in the

state of nature, but maintains that it is given up for two superior types of liberty – civic and moral

(ii) Note: In section 9 you can read a little more about the state of nature

(c) Legitimacy: Against the Divine Right of Kings(i) Epistemic worry: Even if this theory were correct, we would have no way of

knowing who the legitimate king is(ii) A implied objection: This theory is false, for it is absurd to suppose that lineage

could be the basis of legitimate governance(iii) All human power is established in favor of the governed(iv) Against might makes right: the strongest is never strong enough to be always

the master unless he transforms strength into right and obedience into duty(v) No man has a natural authority over his fellow

1. Man’s first law gives him autonomy2. We rejected Aristotles natural rulers3. Rejected Divine Right of Kings

(vi) It is impossible to freely give oneself to slavery1. Madness doesn’t create any right2. There cant be any way of compensating someone who gives up everything

a. Objection: the right to slavery can be acquired via the right to kill ones defeated enemiesi. Response: at most this is an act of prudence, not duty. The

victorious state has power, not authority3. Such a renunciation is incompatible with man’s nature; to remove all

freedom from his will is to remove all morality from his actions(vii) Even if one could, one could not give up authority over children(viii) Total alienation of each associate, together with all his rights, to the

whole community1. The same thing is happening to everyone, so no one has an interest in

making things tougher for everyone but himself2. The alienation cannot be incomplete, for that would be to continue the

state of nature3. The right over himself that the others get is matched by the right that he

gets over each of them. So, he gains as much as he loses as well as extra protection