Daily Lesson Planning Template

Lesson Topic: The Four Main Early Philosophers

Name: Jacob Wilkins
of Governance
Content Area: Government Grade Level(s): 12th

Lesson Content

The student will apply social science skills to understand the political philosophies that shaped the
development of Virginia and United States constitutional government by
c) evaluating the writings of Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu;

Learning Targets -- Please reference these learning targets throughout your lesson plan.
As a result of this lesson, students will…

Understand that “modern” political thought derives from a set of philosophers from the Protestant
Reformation, the Age of Discovery, & the Enlightenment.

Know that Thomas Hobbes was an English political theorist during the 16th and 17th centuries who
believed that government was the ultimate source of providing safety and security for its citizens.

Know that John Locke was an English political theorist who believed that people were entitled to the
natural rights of life, liberty, and property, and that the purpose of government was to protect those
rights.

Know that Baron de Montesquieu was a French political theorist of the Enlightenment who advocated
for the separation of powers into judicial, legislative, and executive departments.

Know that Jean Jacques Rousseau was a French political thinker who believed that government itself
served as a “social contract” for all of its citizens, citing that the government is a reaction to the
common interests of its people and that all give up their individual power in aid of the common good.

SKILLs:
Students will be able to articulate the ideas of these philosophers.

Students will be able to compare and contrast the ideas of these philosophers with the ideas upon
which America was founded.

Students will be able to collaborate with others.

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Procedures/Steps in the Lesson:

Today’s lesson puts students in groups so they can learn together. It is a four step process known as
a Jigsaw, and is a lesson that assumes students can teach each other about the content, and then the
instructor can check for understanding, clear up misconceptions, and move on. It has many upsides:
tons of content can be presented at once, students can learn in a safe environment from one
another in a way that is engaging and challenging enough to keep their attention, and it serves as an
excellent break from standard ways of presenting content (watching a video, lecture, etc). The
problem is that it doesn’t work well for students that don’t know each other yet, particularly in lower
grades, and it puts enough of the cognitive load on the student that they have to be able to assess
their readings on their own. Differentiated reading materials are absolutely vital to making a jigsaw
“work.” Today’s lesson assumes that all students read on about an 1100 Lexile score, but this is
unrealistic for an actual classroom.

A powerpoint may be helpful as an additional visual aid if your class needs it; however, I did not use
one and it worked fine.

Step 1: Organize students into a group of 4-6 people – 2 minutes

Jigsaws can be incredibly tricky. Mix up the formula of the group a little, and you can have a mess on
your hands. Plan ahead. Think about the students you’re pairing together. These students are going
to have to learn some things from one another, so they have to like each other to be able to do it!

Include a seating chart or list of students in the groups on the board. Make sure there are visual cues
that all students can see in the room. It will save you a lot of time.

Once you have divided students up, you can move on.

Step 2: Divide the day’s reading or lesson into 4 parts, and assign one student in each group to be
responsible for a different segment. – 2 minutes
Each document corresponds to a different political philosopher that we have identified. Keep in mind
that some articles will suit certain students better, so plan to keep differentiation in mind when
assigning readings.

To give you a better idea of how this works, imagine a group of four people: Julia, Kat, Jack, and
John. Kat gets 1 article, Julia gets 1 article, Jack gets 1 article, etc. After they receive their article to
read, they await further instruction.

Step 3: Give students time to learn and process their assigned segment independently –10 minutes
Students have been given 10 minutes, which they should spend reading and recoding the information
onto the “How Well Do You Know Your Philosopher?” worksheet. If the readings are on their
appropriate reading level, it will take about this much time.

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Step 4: Go to their “Expert Groups” – 2 minutes

Students will be told to match up with other students in the room which read the same article as
they did.
Step 5: Come up with presentation plans – 10 minutes
Students are now in their “expert groups” which are devised of people who all read the same article
they did. In a class of 20, each of these groups will probably have five people. They will be given ten
minutes and have to devise a way for each of them to present the content to their original groups –
their “jigsaw” groups.

This is a perfect time to circulate around the classroom and determine how well students understood
the reading. This is also the most opportune time to address misconceptions; however, it would be
wise to take that time at the end as well.

Step 6: Go back to their “Jigsaw Groups” – 2 minutes

Students will transition back to their original seat.

Step 7: Present content – 10 minutes

Students will present what they learned in their expert groups to their jigsaw partners, starting with
whoever read Rousseau and finishing with whoever read about Hobbes.

Each student should be given at least two minutes to present their content. With transitions
between students are considered, this entire portion of the activity will probably take about ten
minutes With all of that in mind, circulation to ensure that students remain on task is important.

Step 8: Address misconceptions – 5 minutes

Talk about each article with your students. Having a powerpoint slide about each of these
philosophers would be a great way to do so. If there were misconceptions about the content, this is
the last real chance you’ll have to “correct the record!”

END OF LESSON
Materials/ Supplies/ Sources/ Digital and Interactive Instructional Technology (if appropriate): –

Montesquieu article
Hobbes article
Rousseau article
Locke article

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PHILOSOPHER OF THE WEEK

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Switzerland/France

Jean Jacque Rousseau, one of the great philosophers of the French enlightenment, was born in
Geneva, Switzerland, and raised by an aunt and uncle, after his mother died days after his birth. At
the age of thirteen he was apprenticed to an engraver, but ran away three years later, eventually
becoming the secretary for Madame Louise de Warens, who influenced his life and writings. In 1742,
Rousseau went to Paris, where he became a friend of Denis Diderot, a French philosopher and the
writer of Encyclopedie, the "bible" of the Enlightenment.

Rousseau was a creative writer and used everything from opera to novels and romances to explain
his philosophy. He believed that human beings are inherently good, but are corrupted by the evils of
society. He considered science, art and social institutions to be a part of what corrupts. He believed
that the only way to get back to that goodness that human beings are born with is to be as close to
nature as possible.

In The Social Contract, Rousseau explained his political theories, which would later influence the
writers of the United States Constitution as well as the leaders of the French Revolution. "Man is
born free, and he is everywhere in chains." Because humans are corrupted by society, all people
must enter into a social contract that requires people to recognize a collective "good will," which
represents the common good or public interest. All citizens should participate and should be
committed to the good of all, even if it is not in their personal best interest. He believed that living
for the common good promotes liberty and equality.

Rousseau was a big supporter of education. "We are born weak, we need strength; helpless we need
aid; foolish we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man’s
estate, is the gift of education." His novel Emile emphasizes how allowing free expression and a
focus on the environment instead of repressing curiosity will produce a well-balanced, freethinking
child. He also believed that women needed to be educated as well as men, but in different directions.
Women, according to Rousseau, were not meant to be brought up ignorant and only allowed to do
housework. "Nature means them to think, to will, to love cultivate their minds as well as their
persons; she [Nature] puts these weapons in their hands to make up for their lack of strength and to
enable them to direct the strength of men. They should learn many things, but only such things as
suitable." Rousseau was not only remarkable because he believed that a child's education should be
focused on his/her interests, but also because he believed that women need to learn more than
simply domestic chores.

After years of moving from place to place because his ideas were unpopular with government
officials, Rousseau died in 1778 in Ermenonville, France.

Classroom Discussion Questions:

If Rousseau were alive today, how would he answer the question, "Which is more powerful, love or
hate?"

In a historical context, what would Rousseau think was the greatest

challenge facing humankind during his lifetime?

According to Rousseau, what is the root cause of greed?

Rousseau believed that science, art, and social institutions corrupted human beings from their
natural goodness. What modern examples do you think he would have been the most against?

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Baron de Montesquieu
Redirected from Montesquieu

Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (January 18, 1689 - February 10, 1755)
was a French political thinker who lived during the Enlightenmentand articulated the theory
of separation of powers, implemented in many constitutions the world over.

Born in 1689 at Chateau La Brede near Bordeaux, he was president of the parlement of
Bordeaux by the age of twenty-seven, and shortly afterwards achieved literary success with
the publication of his Lettres persanes (1721), a satire based on the imaginary
correspondence of an Oriental visitor to Paris, pointing out the absurdities of contemporary
society. He travelled widely, spending two years in England (1729 - 1731), but was
troubled by poor eyesight, and was completely blind by the time of his death in 1755. His
great work, De l'esprit des lois (1748), was published anonymously and was enormously
influential.

He argued that the aristocracy - which Voltaire would decry - protected the state from
the absolutist[?] despot (or monarchy) and from the despotism of the many (or anarchy).
His was a purely political and rational defense, conveniently non-economic. Montesquieu's
motto was, "Liberty is the stepchild of privilege." This allowed Montesquieu to defend the
constitutional monarch as he claimed it was governed by honor. Montesquieu argued that
the monarchs could become too passionate and the commons were too big and too
egalitarian to rule properly. However, he portrayed the aristocracy as having and
maintaining the honor that kept monarchies constitutional. But, he also warned that the
aristocracy is doomed when it becomes self-interested, arrogant and parasitic.

Montesquieu's most radical work situated the three French classes into a "checks and
balances", a term he coined, of three sovereignties; the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the
commons. Montesquieu saw two types of powers existing; the sovereign and the
administrative. The administrative powers were the legislative, the executive, and
the judiciary. These powers were to be divided up amongst the three classes so that each
would have a power over the other. This is so radical because it completely eliminates
the clergy from the estates and because it erases any last vestige of a feudalistic structure.

Montesquieu's thought was a powerful influence on many of the American Founders, most
notably James Madison.

Quotes

 "Law should be like death, which spares no one."

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You Say You Want a Revolution

By Saul Straussman, Big History Project, adapted by Newsela staff

In the 1600s and 1700s, several events combined to change the lives of people around the world.

During the Age of Exploration, Europeans began to colonize other parts of the world. At the same time,
Enlightenment thinkers started to question the idea of liberty. They were thinking about what “liberty” actually
meant. For some Enlightenment thinkers, liberty meant popular sovereignty.

Popular sovereignty is the idea that the people of a country need to support the government in order for the
government to be legal.

Where did this idea of liberty or popular sovereignty come from?

English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) is famous for his idea of liberty. Locke believed that “All people have
the natural rights of life, liberty, and property.”

Let’s break down Locke’s statement. Locke believed that once we’re born, we have the right to a good life. He also
said that we are all equal. Finally, he said that we have a right to keep our own money and possessions
(property). No government can take these away from us.

Locke explained the purpose of any government: “The power of government comes from the people and the duty of
the government therefore is to protect those natural rights.”

In other words, the three natural rights we have — life, liberty, and property — should be protected by a
government.

What if the government fails to do that? According to Locke, “then the people have the right to overthrow the
government, by force if necessary.”

Wow! Imagine you are a king in that time. Locke’s ideas would be rebellious. If people took these ideas seriously,
they might even start a revolution!

The Seven Years' War in Europe was known in North America as the French and Indian War. It is one major event
that led to revolutions around the world.

In the Seven Years' War, Great Britain defeated France. As a result, Britain gained all of France’s territories in
Canada and India. The British won, but they owed money from the war.

Great Britain had to pay back what they owed. To do it they made the American colonists pay for the war. The
colonists benefited from the victory, because the new territory made them safer. How would the colonists pay for
the war? Taxes.

Taxes were a common reason for revolutions between 1775 and 1830. High taxes made people angry. That anger
combined with the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers who gave reasons for getting rid of ruling governments and
their taxes.

To help pay for the Seven Years War, the British government passed the Stamp Act. This was a tax on goods in the
Americas to help pay for “the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing” the American Colonies. The tax was
known as the Stamp Act because the government put a stamp on items to prove that the tax had been paid on them.

Patrick Henry was an American colonist who did not like the new taxes. He gave a famous speech to the Virginia
Convention on March 23, 1775. He said the American colonists had asked Great Britain for lower taxes, but they
were rejected. He ended with a famous line: “give me liberty or give me death!”

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Henry and others thought the British government was ignoring the colonists while still
ruling over them. According to Locke’s ideas, the colonists were now free to throw off this
government. What does this mean? Revolution!

Conclusion
The ideas of John Locke and other Enlightenment
thinkers of the late 1600s and 1700s released
revolutionary ideas that many of the thinkers could not
have expected.

The idea of liberty was a powerful force that inspired people on

both sides of the Atlantic to reject governments that did not
respect their rights.

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Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes (April 5, 1588 - December 4, 1679) was a noted English political philosopher, most
famous for his book Leviathan (1651).

In his famous work, he set out his views on human nature and the necessity of governments and
societies. In the state-of-nature[?], while some men may be stronger or more intelligent than others,
none are so far above as to be beyond fear of another man doing harm. Thus, each of us has rights to
everything, and due to the scarcity of these things, there is a constant war of all against all (Bellum
omnia omnes). However, man has a self-interested desire to end war, and so he forms societies by
entering into a social contract.

According to Hobbes, such a society needs an authority to whom all members of that society
surrender enough of their natural liberty for the authority to be able to ensure internal peace and a
common defense. This benevolent sovereign, whether monarch or administrative state, should be
the Leviathan, an unquestionable authority. The political theory of Leviathan actually varies little
from that set out in two earlier works, The Elements of Law and De Cive (On The Citizen).

This political philosophy has been analysed by the influential Richard Tuck as a response to the
problems that Cartesian doubt introduce for moral philosophy. Hobbes concedes, with the sceptics
and with Descartes, than we cannot know anything about the external world for certain from our
sense impressions of it. His philosophy is seen as an attempt to base a coherent theory of social
formation purely on the fact of the sense impressions themselves, arguing that these sense
impressions are enough for man to act to preserve his own life, and building up his entire political
philosophy from that single imperative.

Tuck gives considerable weight also to the sometimes neglected second half of Leviathan, which
deals with the fraught questions of religion, and specifically authority over matters of faith.
Interpreting it in the context of the English Civil War and its aftermath, Tuck argues that Leviathan
was intended to allow the sovereign authority to assert power over matters of faith and doctrine,
and that it further marks Hobbes as a supporter of the religious policy of the post-Civil War English
republic, Independency.

Hobbes also wrote numerous other books on political philosophy and other matters, providing an
account of human nature as self-interested co-operation. He was a contemporary of Descartes and
wrote one of the replies to Descartes' Meditations.

In Leviathan, written during the English Civil Wars (1642-1651), Hobbes argues for the necessity and
natural evolution of the social contract, a social construct in which individuals mutually unite into
political societies, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept resultant duties to protect themselves
and one another from whatever might come otherwise. He also advocates rule by an absolute sovereign,
saying that chaos--and other situations identified with a "state of nature" (a pre-government state in which

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individuals' actions are bound only by those individuals' desires and restraints)--could be averted only by
a strong central government, one with the power of the biblical Leviathan (a sea creature), which would
protect people from their own selfishness. He also warned of "the war of all against all" (Bellum omnium
contra omnes), a motto that went on to greater fame and represented Hobbes' view of humanity without
government.

As Hobbes lays out his thoughts on the foundation of states and legitimate government, he does it
methodically: The state is created by humans, so he first describes human nature. He says that in each of
us can be found a representation of general humanity and that all acts are ultimately self-serving--that in a
state of nature, humans would behave completely selfishly. He concludes that humanity's natural
condition is a state of perpetual war, fear and amorality, and that only government can hold a society
together.

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“HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR PHILOSOPHER?”

8/28/2018 Name:___________________________

1. Where was he from?

2. What did he believe about government/society?

3. What ideas of his were adopted by the United States? List three examples, and if you can,
say how they were adopted into the United States government.

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