Essay Sample: The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights

As we know decades before our current government came to be there were plenty of disagreements shed among the topic of human rights.  From the 1600-1700s there were quite huge amounts of philosophers publishing books based on that. There were two sides of the argument. Some believed that people should obey their absolute ruler to lower crime rates and to secure human rights. Although others believed that humans should be independent and without the use of a government. The people of this learned about the time of King James II ruling where he abused his power. I will be explaining about the side that thought the social contract was the only way for people to live peacefully. This way people would not be without a system but also would not be controlled entirely. Starting with Thomas Hobbes, Baron de Montesquieu, Jean Jaque Rousseau, and John Locke who focused their books on the term social contract.

Baron Montesquieu lived from January 18th, 1689 to February 10th, 1755. He despised democracy and supported the republic. Amazingly he was the one that thought up the 3 branches of government which are executive, legislative, and judicial. It’s also known as the check and balances system. First off the executive branch is the part where the leader or president brings out the law. Legislative are those who create the laws for the governed and the judicial system enforces the laws that are written. For example if you murder someone and there is proof found of it. You’ll be given a fair court trial which is where the judicial system comes into play. Someone like a judge will be appointed to either convict you or let you go. One of his most popular books is called The Spirit Of Laws published in 1748. The book talks about how people are naturally too greedy which means some type of leader should be able to unite them. The social contract which is when the government protects the people in exchange for them to lose some of their rights. As we can see from Baron’s theories some of these ideas are now involved in our current system. In our government we currently have that exact check and balance system in use. We have the Congress which creates laws depending on votes from different parties. The president, who is in charge of our executive branch, and the judicial side gives us a fair trial for those accused. 

Born on June 28th, 1712 to July 2nd, 1778. He had similar ideas to Baron Montesqieu who supported the republic. He believed salvery was ok and that death penalty was a fair punishment for those with the same crime. His main idea was that the government is the third party or peacemaker between the rulers and subjects. This is also called the social contract which was mostly used by the 5 philosophers in this essay. Of course Jean knew that this was the best way for a secure society but with human rights. Additionally he thought that humanity was ruined by the evolution of humanity. Modern technology during his age negatively affected people's self image incredibly. The state of nature before society where everything was just simple was his belief. When humans did not have to think about unnecessary things besides surviving. The author of the social contract which was created in 1762. Specifically it talked about how people would only have a mutual agreement with the government out of their own interest. Naturally they had the right to break free from the system if their rights were violated.

Starting off with John Locke’s birthday he was born on August 29th, 1632 to October 28th, 1704. Unlike his other fellow theorists John was neutral on the terms of being a democrat or a republican. Unfortunately he had also advocated the death penalty as the others. John Locke listed the three basic rights he knew all people had no matter what situation it was. Humans had the right of life, liberty, and property. Fun fact Thomas Jefferson one of our founding fathers had quite similar ideas to John Locke. He was inspired by John Locke’s ideas and incorporated them into the Declaration of Independence which is now still used today. Our laws have been based on those three since the beginning of time. Just from these three ideas it came into life from that document and into how our society works. John Locke also made sure to specify that if any of these laws were not in use the ruler or sovereign could be overthrown. Two Treatises On The Government was about how people were equal. There was no real thing like a hierarchy since that was just a society concept. Of course he knew that we couldn’t rule themselves and punish people since that would have been very bloody and a biased judgement.

Fun fact he was an English philosopher, scientist, and known for his work called the Levithan. Thomas Hobbes was born April 5th, 1588-December 4th, 1679.

Since people couldn't rule instead a ruler or just a system would help us with that. Sadly he believed in a monarchy where there would only be sovereign. His book Leviathan talks about always obeying all their orders even if it's unreasonable because they're the only people that could protect us. He wrote this during the time period after the English Civil War out of fear and fright. Thomas Hobbes saw what people could do if left to their own rules. The bloodshed and violence terrified him and led him to obsessively believe in the concept of an absolute sovereign. 

From the past paragraphs where we wrote about Thomas Hobbes, Baron de Montesquieu, Jean Jaque Rousseau, and John Locke. We can see that they were philosophers in different eras but fundamentally had the same foundation. Perhaps each of them had differences in certain ideas. As we can see the term social contract is repeatedly used in their ideas because it was the most peaceful way for humanity. To prevent bloodshed and wars like the English Civil war where approximately 200,000 people died. After this nightmare theorists thought of the best way to stop this violence. Their theories made it into our current generation like the Declaration Of Independence and our laws. Although they may be people from the past the impact they made on philosophical thought changed centuries of human history.