Age of reasoning or age of enlightenment

Introduction

Its a period characterized by scientific discovery,invention,new thinking. it was a period that

encouraged a revolt against the established order of things ,the period is marked with two great
significant event viz the renaissance and the the reformation. this period seeks to establish the truth
using empirical method to determine the validity of all assertions as demonstrated with some few
examples of philososopher scientist e.g Galileo who at this time postulated contrary to the believe of
the church then that the earth is flat he opposed this fallacy and maintained that it still moves and that
the earth was round ,also during this emerged some other great philosophers and their followers who
postulated doctrines such as ;concept of sovereignty ,the social contract ,the divine right of kings ,the
natural right to rebel which today froms the underlining basis of modern day governance. Important
personalty around this period includes the likes of Thomas Hobbes, Nicollo Machievelli, Galileo, Jean
Bodin,Jean Jack Rosseau.

I will be discussing the exploits of Galileo, Hugo Grotious ,John Locke, and Jean Jack Rosseau.

Galileo

His impact was felt in the law of physics ,he is associated with the saying eppur si mouve it still moves.
he posited contrary to the believ of the church at the time that the earth was round not flat. His
dynamic idea of physics also impacted on Thomas hobbes idea.

The human being to him was to be seen as a complicated machine ,which had a definitive and
completely determined part in the functioning of a larger and vastly more complicated machine .

Hugo Grotius

He was a dutch jurist,political theorists and diplomat.he is otherwise known as the father of
international law.he said the desire to live in the society is central to man in view of his intellect as his
intellect is rational for him to live in the society and it is this desire which created or provided natural
law and it is also independent of divine command . he viewed natural as immutable that it cannot be
changed by God himself. In other words he asserted that natural law would have existed even if God
did not exist .

He enunciated on the principle of reason which can be deduced either a prior (i.e)rational and social
nature of man and the a posterior(i.e) the acceptance of law among nations.

For him there is duality about natural law among nations which is natural law founded a prior which is
human domestic society and the natural law a posterior which his natural law in relation and between
states which has international law

He gave 2 purposes for the duality of Natural Law

1. Justification of absolute duty of obedience of the people to the state or government.

 2. The creation of the basis for legally binding and stable relations among the states (i.e)
international law.

International law to him was therefore a product of natural law .

The next personality to be considered is

John Locke

He was a scientist philosopher and a doctor,he is regarded as the father of constitutionalism. He

authored 2 books he called TREATISE OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT ,which he used to refute the concept of
divine right of kings .

He opposed the hobbesian theory of man to man is wolf hommo hommene lupes est, and instead
believe that man is in a paradise lost and the world is still a beautiful world despite its charm and
drudgery. He believed that man in state of nature could achieve self actualization and enjoy the best of
times. In a state of nature , and has a right of life, liberty and estate but that security was however
lacking .

He was a precursor to propounding the Rule of Law which was eventually perfected by A.V Dicey. He
argued as follows

1. Man was in a state of nature which was pre-political making life boring.
2. Members of the society decided to enter into a social contract (a compact ).by which they
establish government.
3. That the powers of the government are limited by this social contract,and that was how he was
able to transform the divine rights of kings to also necessitate the natural rights to rebel.

To him man in a state of nature is in its golden stage, this is the sense of man in an ideal state which is
referred to as paradise lost and that everybody was free in a sate of nature and everybody has right to
life ,liberty and property only that the enjoyment of this rights particularly right to property was limited
by lack of security. It is this insecurity that made it necessary to have a civil society .

The state of civil society is headed by a magistrate which is called the independent judiciary.the theory
of modern liberal state is that the people vote their leader into power periodically and that is the idea in
western liberal democracy.

To john locke the chief end was the preservation of his property and to this end they establish a civil
society.he supported the notion of Thomas Hobbes that the first right of manin a state of nature is self
preservation.the original state of nature was unsafe because it lacked 3 important factors

1. Absence of settled law.

2. Absence of impartial judge .
3. Absence of power sufficient to enforce and execute judgement.
In other words that the state of civl government establish constitutionalism see the case of US V
Madison,Gouret v union of post office workers.

Hence a government establish by social contract has the power and is under a duty to govern by
established laws ,upright judges ,and the use of force only in its execution of such laws and the
prevention of redress of injuries by foreign enemies. He further asserted that all these are directed to
no other end but the peace ,safety , and public good of the people.

Consequences of jonh lockes theory include :

1. Nemo potest maxim (i.e)no one can convey more right than he himself posses .see the dictum of
kayode Eso JCA in the case of Ransome Kuti v AG Fed
2. Arbitrary deprivation of wrong is illegal,unacceptable, and untenable.inother words you can not
be arbitrarily deprived of your right unless by the order of court.
3. Violation of the social contract by government entitles the people to revolt and to return to the
pre-political state of nature.

CRITICISM

Locke was an individualist who used theological method to justifyhis position oin right to property

He was an apostle of capitalism

He was a product of the naturalist fallacy passing the ought for the is

Lastly he was too formalistic in his approach, as he failed to recognize the inequality in his society.

JEAN JACQUES ROSSEAU.

He was an embodiment of contradictions his published work (contrasucea) Was published in 1762.
The opening sentence of the book was man is born free but every where in chains. His idea was
that we have inalienable rights i.e natural rights which we broght to earth but because of
enlightened self interest society will now impose restrictions on the enjoyment of these rights.

The majority will then subdue this rights under the societies will. Theconcept is also known as
volunte generale which is tantamount to popular sovereignty

He was an apostle of individualism as well as a protector of the community

He was a defender of reason as well as instinctand sentiment ,rationality as distinguished from

irrationality.

He was an advocate of democracy as well as an autocrat. The French revolution fell on Rosseau idea of
social construct. he emphasized that freedom and equality are the basis of primitive societys existence .