Essay on Varying Ideas on What Makes a Just Society

Throughout this book, Montesquieu touched up on other governments and even earlier governments. He described ways a government should be made up, and he centered in on one idea. This idea was to create three branches of government which were the legislative, executive, and judicial. These were to be used for different causes and could check the others power so one branch doesn’t get too powerful and disrupt its citizens liberties. About 50 years later, these ideas would soon influence a growing nation’s government.

Socrates’, Plato’s, and Aristotle’s main criticisms of democracy were based on both theory and precedents. Whereas Plato and Aristotle believed that democracy could lead to mob rule in part due to group-think based on a population’s impulses, Socrates advocated that governance should not be solicited based on the citizenry’s desires at any given time. Aristotle advocated that democracy was indeed the best form of government, or better said he believed democracy to be lesser of the forms of government. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all believed that only the wisest should govern because those governed might squander resources and wealth, make decisions based on emotion, and revolt due to a perceived or real notion of inequality.

Montesquieu, a philosopher who lived in France during the reign of absolute monarchs, experienced the unjust division of political power between the wealthy nobles and king living in Versailles and the citizens of the third estate. He believed that instead of an absolute monarchy, political power should be divided between three branches of government, the legislative, executive, and judicial, with a system of checks and balances to ensure that one group would not overpower the others. (Doc. 3) Montesquieu’s ideas would become the basis of the United States’ government and serve as an inspiration to the French third estate to support the decline of absolute monarchies. Another French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote The Social Contract in 1762 during the reign of French monarchs, stated that absolute authority removes the natural rights of humanity. (Doc. 5) As a firm believer of individual freedoms, Rousseau explained that a leader must gain the citizens’ consent to rule, as all citizens are equal due to logic and reasoning. Like Montesquieu, Rousseau’s ideas would inspire the French to overthrow its monarch during their revolution. His reasoning encouraged the French to accept a democratic government, where citizens elect a leader to rule them, unlike before where monarchs inherited political power. Frederick II,

Government is built on the premises of the established ideas of former politicians and then the new outlooks of recent politicians. All ideas on government are based on the structure and laws of former civilizations. Thus, many politicians can have similar viewpoints on government due to basing their ideas on the same former structures. But, in contrast new government structures include a variety of variations. Therefore, Jean Domat, Montesquieu and Jean Jacques Rousseau have major differences in their outlooks on government, but they do share similar aspects.

In the era of the contemporary United States, a country that has had the longest standing democracy, we are used to thinking very highly of its system. However, throughout our history, there have been a couple of critics to the system of democracy. It comes as no surprise that democracy does have its issues. One of the first pieces of literature where democracy was mentioned and analyzed at a deeper level was The Republic by Plato. This ancient Greek philosopher did not completely agree with democracy, regardless of the fact that ancient Athens was the first civilization that gave rise to it. In fact, in a numerical list that he composes on which are the best ways of ruling, Plato puts democracy at one of the lowest levels. In order, Plato’s list of types of government from most desirable to least desirable looks like this: 1.) Republic (The ideal city) 2.) Timocracy 3.) Oligarchy 4.) Democracy 5.) Tyranny. Additionally, In The Republic, Plato tells us his beliefs and values on certain aspects of life through the eyes of Socrates. So, even though Plato himself does not appear in The Republic and instead Socrates does, nonetheless, Plato and Socrates shared the same ideology when it came to democracy. As we know, Plato did not agree with democracy. As a result, in this paper, I will explore the greatest intellectual strengths and weaknesses of Plato’s view on democracy.

What is law? Law is a system of rules used to govern a society and control the behaviors of its members. In this case, Martin Luther King is charged for breaking a law. King questions the differences between just and unjust laws to justify his actions in Birmingham and the charges of breaking laws willingly. Defending his willingness to break laws, King argues, “How can you advocate breaking laws and obeying other?” He answers to accusation of his willingness to break laws with a well-written argument of what is just and unjust laws. Martin Luther King uses the definition, the categories, and the implication of the law excellently to answer the charges of breaking laws willingly.

Plato in the Republic writes about a new form of society which would be based upon the good of everyone, whereby those who are most able should rule. Plato states that "Unless, said I,

In The Republic by Plato, Plato constructed an ideal city where Philosophers would rule. Governed by an aristocratic form of government, it took away some of the most basic rights a normal citizen should deserve, freedom of choice, worship, and assembly were distressed. Though the idea of philosopher kings is good on paper, fundamental flaws of the human kind even described by Plato himself prevent it from being truly successful. The idea of an ideal democratic government like what our founding fathers had envisioned is the most successful and best political form which will ensure individual freedom and keep power struggle to a minimum.

Around the same time, Americans were also influenced by the works of Charles, the Baron de Montesquieu, a French political thinker. He believed that there were three types of governments; a monarchy (ruled by a king or queen), a republic (ruled by an elected leader) and a despotism (ruled by a dictator). In his book, The Spirit of Laws ,

Through the whole of the Letters, and the tale of the Troglodytes, Montesquieu is, in addition to philosophical questions, stumbling upon a question made clear by the theme of this week's readings: Why Government?

"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." Martin Luther King's words, which just correspond with the above assertion, perfectly tell us what to do in face of laws, either just or unjust.

Aristotle made the classification of classes as the rich class, the middle class and the poor class (Halsall, 2000). He believed growing up within the realms of the richer class hindered one from learning and be unwilling to give justice which results in making one more likely to be more recognized and abuse authority; whereas, the very poor are more likely to fall in this problem and "must be ruled like slaves" (Aristotle, 2000, p. 3). Aristotle views of the ideal government should be ruled by a person from the middle class for they are able work together as a team. This demonstrates that poor and the rich war was ongoing leading him to support a government run by the middle class people whose very existence in the mean of society would ensure true justice. Nevertheless, Plato ideal government is for individuals who were full of virtue and wisdom which were the philosopher kings. He sought leaders were irrationally chosen based on irrelevant details such as family background, wealth, good looks and persuasive speech. He was born an aristocrat and so he thought an average citizen incapable of thinking and reasoning intelligently enough to make decisions about governmental affairs. Plato believed only the intelligent which are the philosophers kings should rule the state and those individuals do what he or she was qualified

Democracy is often referred to as the rule of the many, but Aristotle called this definition incomplete. In his book “Politics”, he explained that in a city if the majorities are aristocrats and if they have political authority, then it is an aristocracy not a democracy. He therefore defined democracy as when “free people have authority and Oligarchy as when the wealthy have it” (1290b). Plato viewed Democracy as a flawed system with too much inefficiency that would make any implementation of a true democracy not worth it. While Aristotle viewed democracy as a system that could work if it is limited to certain restrictions and if it is the regime that best fits the culture of the people to be governed. In this essay it will be argued that Plato’s view on democracy as a flawed system is more prevalent or more compelling if the current political arena around the world is observed.

Throughout history, people have been trying to create an improved, fair, and equal system of justice, not only to better society in which one lives, but to also find a sense of meaning in what responsibilities people should hold within their civilizations in order to create this just way of living. As early as the Old Testament within the Bible, we see examples of how the Hebrews formed their own justice. This can be seen in the in text of the Ten Commandments which were written in a form of law. Laws were significant even in this basic form of context, such as the Ten Commandments, which offered the ideas of right and wrongdoings and the sin for violating others for one’s own benefit. This not only

Montesquieu was a French philosopher who was very important in the American constitutional thought. He was a man who was referred to more that any other theoretical writer and wrote, "The Spirit of the Laws." Some of Montesquie's theories or views were that the Republic form of government was only