HIS109Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 34: Utopia, William Godwin, Bourgeoisie
Document Summary
Two great events dominated the european culture of the 19th century; intellectual enlightenment and industrialization. With newton"s laws of physics, western mind saw two kinds of law: natural law and positive law. 18th century philosophes tried to bring positive law into harmony with natural law in the universe. Rousseau was radical; in his social contract and discourse on the origins of inequality, he denied that private property is a natural right and the misery in society resulted from the want of private property. Unvirtuous behaviour stemmed from private property according to rousseau; in the state of nature, no private property ever existed. Ability to obey natural laws are exacerbated by the existence of private property. Radicalism is the restructuring and reorganizing of society from the roots up, leaving nothing to entrenched rights and the past. By 1795, property-owning bourgeoisie were back in power and radicalism in the french.
