27 Oct Which philosopher is best and most specifically identified with the following idea

Which philosopher is best and most specifically identified with the following idea?

1. There is no universal, natural conception of the good but only what people desire and thus call “good.”

2. All humans have certain essential functions and capabilities that define what it means to live a good life and which we can use to compare different systems of politics and economics today.

3. Humans do not fully own themselves but in a way belong to God. As such, they have an obligation to preserve their own lives and those of others.

4. All humans have a fear of violent death, and thus all have a reason, even obligation to themselves, to surrender their natural liberty to a sovereign who governs with absolute authority over a civil commonwealth.

5. There is no universal, natural conception of justice or right, but only what a sovereign wills and decides to call “just” or “right.”

6. The best rule is that of philosophers who have attained love of wisdom in its entirety and are best place to legislate for the good of the entire city.

7. The purpose of human life is to live in accordance with reason and virtue, and the city-state plays a role through its laws and customs in helping us not only to live but to live well.

8. Because we establish civil society in order to protect our natural rights, we do not give up our natural rights to the sovereign or the government, and thus retain the right to change or even rebel against our government if our natural rights are consistently violated.

9. Justice refers to the idea of equality between equals, and so if someone contributes to the welfare of the community in greater proportion because of their reason, virtue, and skill they are entitled to be treated with greater privilege and distinction.

10. Most of us are like people chained in a cave watching shadow projections of objects against the wall, thinking that these shadows are all that there is and are reality itself. Some escape the cave and, after first being blinded by the light, are able to perceive reality directly as it is.

11. The kind of social contract that would guarantee our genuine moral freedom is one in which we all place our person and natural power in common under the general will of the entire community.

12. Individuals have an obligation to leave the state of nature and form a civil society in order to protect their natural rights and relieve themselves of the burden of enforcing those rights on their own.

13. In a true social contract, we should be willing to put aside our own private will, based on our private interest, and accept what the will formed by our co-citizens has identified as the common interest. In this, in fact, we find our true moral freedom.

14. Once we have left the state of nature and formed a civil society, we should understand our liberty as being governed by the legislative power that we ourselves have established by consent.

15. The city is in a certain way like the soul: they each have three parts and reason should be in charge in both.