Exam 1 Sample Successful Answers Question 1: One of the areas of thought in the Enlightenment was the nature of the

state, and how people relate to it. Discuss this, based on course readings. Example 1
The enlightenment introduced new ways of thinking about almost everything related to politics. One of the main issues discussed was the nature of the state. Before the enlightenment, the state was a paternal structure that established the king and the church as the absolute authority over the people. The enlightenment called into question the structure of the state by challenging existing notions of sovereignty. As Rousseau explained in The Social Contract, changes in notions of sovereignty following popular revolutions led many to study public affairs so as to be informed political participants and eventually, voters. The previous notion that sovereignty is derived from strength instead of right was impossible to sustain as people across the continent began to see that force alone could not guarantee order. Enlightenment thinkers began to construct what came to be called the social contract. The idea of the social contract is that individuals voluntarily entered into a bond with all other individuals in a society in order to establish order, liberty, and justice for all. In entering into the social contract, each individual is required to surrender some of their individual liberty and, in return, is promised the benefits of state protection and political participation. This notion, essentially establishes the citizenry as the source of sovereign power. This new sovereign body is imbued with certain responsibilities that require the body to stay true to the original philosophy of popular sovereignty, essentially requiring any democracy to maintain the equality of all citizens. This idea removed the traditional rights assured to the aristocracy and clergy under systems like the Estates in France. The idea of equality also requires that civil association be a voluntary act. If someone opposes the social contract, their opposition does not invalidate the contract but excludes them from participation in it. The constant will of members of the State, by virtue of their popular sovereignty, is the general will and this general will becomes the will of the state. The enlightenment essentially changed the state from an institution embodied by a monarch to one dependent upon the will and participation of each member of the state. Example 2 During the enlightenment era, perceptions of the nature of the state transitioned from a relationship of subservience to equality. They believed that the nature of the state should be built upon a social contract in which citizens have an obligation to serve their community in exchange for the benefits offered by the state. The social contract was necessary to answer the question of why man, who is born free in nature, would allow a state to limit his liberty. A citizen benefits from the social contract in various ways. Locke believed a citizen needs a state to protect his property, while Rousseau believed he needs the unity of a community. The most enduring perspective is the view that belonging to a state benefits the citizen because a state exists to serve the needs of its people. Robespierre demonstrates the effects the enlightenment had during the French Revolution with his belief that the end of a government is universal happiness. The second part of the social contract describes the states role in this symbiotic relationship. In order to create an effective state, its people have an obligation to serve the community. A major component of Rousseaus piece is his belief that every citizen worries not for his own well-being, but the well-being of the community. A difficult aspect of this is the belief that not every person can benefit the community to the same degree. A component of enlightened discussion centers around the idea that citizenship should be based on how a person relates to the state. For example, a slave or female cannot fully benefit the state because they lack the ability to learn how and are thus excluded from the social contract. The final piece to the social contract as described by enlightenment thinkers is the legitimization of the state and thus, the legitimization of the social contract itself. Both Lock and Rousseau believed (to varying degrees) that the will of the people should influence state proceedings. Rousseau believes that force does not equal rights, meaning that arbitrary power cannot be legitimate because it uses force.

Volta ires support of religious toleration is important in its argument that the state does not have the authority to act on the basis of religion. The social contract demonstrates the emerging idea that the relationship between citizen and state was one of equal benefit.

Question 2: Discuss ideas of the natures and roles of men and women based on course readings. Example 1
Nature itself consists of symbiotic relationships with purposeful differences between each species. This concept supports the idea that each weakness in one gender is a power in the other. What most enlightenment thinkers from Rousseau to De Gouge agreed on was the idea that the differences between men and women serve a purpose. Disagreements emerge however, as one contemplates how extensive these differences are and whether females truly constitute an inferior species. Rousseau believes the strength of women exists not for its own purpose, but as a response exclusively to the weaknesses of men. The shining flaw in men is their inability to resist the charms of women. He believes women are endowed with more power to stimulate a mans desire th an he is able to satisfy. Observing the sexual dominance of males in nature could support his belief. Rousseau considers this observation to demonstrate a power women have over men due to their lack of virtue. Wollstonecraft counters this argument with the idea that the virtue of men and women could not be different unless one is to admit virtue is relative idea. While an observation of nature could support Rousseaus belief, Wollstonecrafts argument is effective in demonstrating the lack of natural evidence for cultural concepts such as virtue. One would assume that if enlightenment thinkers were right to draw evidence from nature, the act of marriage would effectively demonstrate the necessity of gender differences. Both De Gouge and Wollstonecraft argue however, that women are so inferior in marriage as to be better off in the state of nature. Despite the purpose of marriage being for each partner to care for the other, marriages of this era consisted of women forever constrained by childlike needs. As De Gouge states, marriage is the tomb of trust and love because it encouraged and later forced women to remain content in a subservient state. A flaw in the argument of female inferiority is perhaps the lack of cultural variety and humanistic study of the female mind. These authors both provide varying perspectives on the roles of men and women based on what can be observed in nature, as well as varying cultural perspectives.

Question 3: During the French Revolution, French people were divided. Describe what groups of people were engaged in politics during the Revolution, and what those groups wanted. Example 1
During the course of the French Revolution, numerous divisions in French society manifested themselves in the political sphere. The first and, initially most powerful group of French people consisted of the powerful and wealthy merchants and aristocrats who oversaw the first phase of the revolution. This group sought the dissolution of church power and property and the power of the monarch, which they saw as an arbitrary check on their growing economic power. This group also found the system of purchasing positions and titles that had flourished under the Bourbon monarchs. The new economic elite advocated for a system whereby economic power was more important than title or social station at birth. The second group consisted of the poor urban members of the Third Estate who sought to overthrow the Ancien Regime. This group had been given the worst deal under the previous system and sought both political representation and economic opportunity. This was the group that was responsible for the popular uprisings in cities like Paris and Orleans and would eventually populate then new National Assembly. The third group was a coalition of the First Estate, consisting of the clergy, and the rural and predominantly catholic members of the Third Estate, who had benefited from the wealth and stability provided by the bishoprics around which rural France was organized. This group advocated for a return to the monarchy and the patronage system that had been the political reality for most of Frances history.

Question 4: Discuss ideas about nature and religion. Example 1

The enlightenment engendered multiple new ideas about religion and nature. Many enlightenment thinkers celebrated what Voltaire termed the superstitions of religion that preceded the age of reason. Religion at the time of the enlightenment was without a doubt the most powerful institution both politically and culturally in Europe. The Catholic Church held enormous power over the politics of countries like France that was challenged by the emergence of ideas like popular sovereignty and the social contract. These ideas, coupled with the bloody history of the inquisition and crusades made it easy for many enlightenment thinkers to paint the church as out dated and barbaric. Many enlightenment thinkers turned to nature for inspiration. They regarded nature as a source of knowledge and morality that could serve to essentially replace church doctrine. Many enlightenment writers were fascinated with analyzing the cultures that were being discovered in the new world and considered the way society evolved from these primitive people and sought wisdom from what they considered a more natural way of life. Because of their disillusionment with what they saw as the decadence of European life, many enlightenment thinkers sought to understand the similarities and differences between themselves and the natives they discovered instead of simply writing them off as heathens. Writers like Rousseau focused on nature as a classroom, and emphasized the importance of spending time in nature.