St. Thomas Aquinas takes many of Aristotle 's ideas from The Politics in order to create his idea of the best regime. He revisits the good and bad forms of each type of government Aristotle introduced, and then makes his decision that the best regime is a type of monarchy that he calls kingship. This decision stems from his definition of a king as "one who rules over the people of a city or province for the common good" (17).
Kingship is beneficial because it is the rule of one person. Aquinas states that the correct and most useful way to carry out an objective is "when it is lead to its appropriate end" (15). The incorrect way would be the opposite--to lead something to an inappropriate end, or not to lead it to an end at all. In light
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He, however, believes that kingship is so important, that a slight change of the type of monarchy would not be that bad. This is interesting, because Aquinas also says that tyranny is the "worst form of government" (18) because it seeks only the good of the tyrant, and is therefore further from the appropriate end of government, which is the common good and unity. The reasons Aquinas seems to change his mind about the idea of tyranny seem
1. The problems that Thomas Paine sees with the British monarchy involve its straying from ideal government, the unjust placement of one individual above all others, and its hereditary aspect. The problems that Thomas Paine sees with King George III in particular are his personal transgressions against liberty. Thomas Paine, firstly views government as “but a necessary evil” (15), and therefore it should be both as limited as possible and also tied to the more positive society. The ideal form of government, thus according to Paine, is a simple republic where the elected are forced to be accountable to their electors (16). The British monarchy fails in all accounts; not only does the prescence of a monarchy at all eliminate the accountability of a republic, but the complicatedness of the British monarchy system makes it worse in this aspect than even other monarchies. Although absolute monarchies are horrid in that they give no power to the people, they are still simpler than the British monarchy; this makes issues much more difficult to handle in the British monarchy (17). The other problems that Paine has with the British monarchy apply to monarchies at large. Paine argues that the placement of one person above all others is an unnatural divide; there is no explanation for the division of people into “KINGS and SUBJECTS” (22) such as there are in other forms of division that humans live with. If it does not make sense to place one individual above all others, then such should most certainly not be law; therefore, from this logic, monarchy, which is entirely based on the principle of placing one person (and their relatives) above all others, is an invalid and unnatural form of government. Of course, some people could, arguably, have earned the admiration and respect of their peers through important action, and thus be deserving of a leadership position. In a republic, by listening to their electors, the elected earn their right to lead. However, the hereditary monarchy removes this earning of the right to lead, and Paine takes issue with that. There is no guarantee that the descendants of a good leader will also be good leaders, and therefore the government of a country should never be left to heredity (29).
Some of the founding fathers have been firm believers in the ideas posed in John Locke’s “Second Treatise of Government”. The one idea that can be seen quite clearly is the complete dissenting stance taken by Locke on the thought of monarchy in civil government. “Absolute monarchy,
In cases where both the subjects and the monarch are happy with shared views on absolute ruling properly, the ruler should first unify his people to have the same goals as him which is to help their country be successful powerfully and financially. If the absolute monarch uses his power to his advantage, then the the subjects would not share the same view as their monarch, because they are living in poverty and unfair conditions, whereas the king is living in luxury and enjoying all the food they please. The subjects' view depend greatly on how they live their life, they might want everyone to live equally with enough food and money to get by, and to get rid of the gap between the powerful and the powerless. The rulers and the subjects have one ideal in common which is to help their country expand and prosper. Both the ruler and the subjects' views are so different since they are leading such contrasting lives, but a common ground they have is their country. They want their country to be great and powerful and they both hold much pride in living and calling it their
After the European expansion to the American continent at the end of the fifteenth century, many monarchs began to become absolute rulers. In between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, absolute powers began a rise in mainly Western Europe; while Eastern Europe experienced absolutism in the mid eighteenth century. But during the absolute monarchs rise to power, the population of each sovereign state had an abundance of diverse attitudes towards sovereignty. These diverse opinions arose for acknowledgement of different urgencies for an absolute monarch to attend to; these groups were sovereign monarchs, peasants, and nobility. One of the main views that dominated the growth of absolute power was the monarch’s.
Imagine a world were only one person had the sovereignty of a nation through his bloodline and was not chosen by the people of the nation. This form of government is known as absolute monarchism which was practiced since the beginning of the middle ages till this day (Pope Francis, Vatican City). When it comes to a monarchy, it is composed of an individual(s) (king or queen) who reigns till his death and has a divine right appointed by God to be the ruler. The divine right was a doctrine that plead in favor of absolute monarchism, which means that the power of the rulers came by God’s authority and could not be downsized by any earthly organization such as the government or even the parliament. The Queen Elizabeth I, ‘The Virgin Queen’, also
Bishop Jacques Bossuet noted in document 5 kings should be trusted and perceived as holy people and not to be hurt. The mentioned documents justify absolute monarchs establish fewer conflicts, had morals, and gave everybody an equal chance at
Hobbes, you are adamant in the claim that an absolute monarchy is the best type of government. However, it is clear that too much power in the hands of one individual will lead to corruption. You believe that people are prone to corruption and wrong deeds. With power solely rested on the divine rulers shoulders, should he fail, the nation will crumble. This kind of government could be toppled very easily, and a lack of a stable system set up in place should the monarch die would mean chaos would run rampant throughout the nation.
In the tomes of history, many philosophers have outlined their visions of a perfect society. Until recently however, few have ventured into the waters of religious tolerance. One such philosopher was John Locke. Writing in the late 17th century, Locke advocated a complete separation between church and state. He argued for an unprecedented tolerance of people of all faiths. Although Locke's views became widely popular throughout Europe and the Americas, they did not meet with unanimous approval. Many earlier philosophers disagreed with Locke. Two such philosophers were Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas disagreed in three key respects: Compulsion, toleration, and authority. Aristotle, on
Throughout the course of this essay, I will first define what Aquinas means by incorporating the claim that “an unjust law is no law at all”. This will include defining important terms that will correspond with evaluating Aquinas’ claim.
In a practice, hard to get a really great monarch, and even if you do it's hard to find another to succeed him, so there are practical problems with monarchy. In an ideal situation, he advances the notion that a mixed constitution is best for it is a monarch, but also aristocracy (spread power around) and some democracy in that some officials should be elected by the people (Aquinas, La Monarquia, V, p.28-34)
This article proposed ideas of kingship and presidential ideas. I found this article to be useful because it referenced an example of a good Kong and provided evidence of it also. I also found this article useful enough simply because it provided an examination of what a productive king
The Philosopher King rises to power by using his knowledge, and is very wise. He understands all that is good and evil, which is something your average citizen cannot do. In addition to this, the Philosopher King uses religion and education to bind people together. The King is incorruptible, and has a deeper understanding of reality. He loves truth above all, and uses his rationality to rule as the just person he is. The Philosopher King understand that pleasures of the soul are more important than that of the body. He shows courage, and no fear of death. In the best society the Philosopher King would be serving as a Monarch acting on behalf of everyone. He lives up to
Kings and rulers started to emerge as soon as people moved away from living in tribes. This was the case with the Jews when they have decided to unite under one ruler. However, long before them the first empire was established in Mesopotamia by Sargon of Akkad in 2334 BCE (Kelly, 2011). The essay will compare kingship in three geographically and chronologically different societies. They are the following: Babylonians during Hammurabi’s reign (1792-1750 BCE), Neo-Assyrians (934-610 BCE), and the Jews (1000 BCE). In order to avoid historical distortions, primary sources from those time periods will be used. These three communities have influenced each other in different fields. Therefore, we can see similarities in their ruling systems.
Throughout Common Sense, Thomas Paine shows that he is against Monarchical government, and he says that the government type itself is not a reasonable means of ruling a nation. To support this, he sheds light on several reasons in which a monarchy is a bad choice for government. Paine says that all the power is unbalanced and vested in the hands of a single person, which most of the time leads to the King of the nation using the powers he has, against his people, for the benefit of himself, and those around him. Paine also says that to have hereditary succession of a monarch is complete nonsense. Paine uses his reason to support this case by showing that maybe a nation is lucky and has a well fit ruler as a King, but who is to say the King’s successor will be best fit for the position of King or Queen of a country. The notion that one ruler is fair and just, does NOT guarantee that the successor will be as just or as fair.
The nature of tyranny is perceived to be a state of coercion and the obliteration of free will. But even with its unfavorable connotation, tyranny’s state has survived in different periods of history. Tyranny is a dichotomic pendulum that swings back and forth the ideas of the common people. Some think it to be a cruel authoritarian regime, but others think tyranny to be a natural granted regime. One similarity in the two ideas of tyranny is the idea that tyranny is not a perfect regime and does not have a firm structure of legislation. Because of its structureless nature, tyranny is always unstable and carries the fear of losing its power any moment. That is why there are two sides of tyranny. The people who try to hold the power of tyranny