Summary tutorials translated : 1-12
,Tutorial 1:
Learning objectives week 1:
1. Understanding the notion of progress that was developed from the eighteenth
century.
2. Understanding continuities and discontinuities in the development of the state in
connection with the French Revolution and industrialization.
3. Understanding the connection between theorists, like Condorcet and Saint-Simon,
and pragmatic civil servants, such as Beuth in Prussia and Chadwick in England.
4. To be able to define and discuss the main concepts:
•Progress
•State
•Politics: distribution, exercise, and legitimacy of power
•Technocracy
•Modernization
Technocracy:
- A program or ideal: problems is society should be dealt with by experts or a team
of experts.
- A practice: governance where the mandate for decision-making with regards to
political (society-enveloping) decisions lies with specialists/experts.
§This almost never happens, what does sometimes happen, is that large areas of decision making
become largely technocratic: e.g. the arrangement of the IJsselmeerpolders.
§AND: in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, there is more support for technocrats
- Modernization
Transition from ‘pre-modern’ to ‘traditional’ to ‘modern’ society.
•‘Modern society’ is industrialized society.
•The process of industrialization brings economic, social, political and cultural
changes: comprehensive transformation of society.
•Technology
•Demographic changes: urbanization, life expectancy, changing modes of life (family
units), changing norms & values, etc.
•Globalization
Frederick the Great: 1712-1786
•‘Enlightened’ king
•Erudite
•Scientific approach
•State before ruler
•Visible
,In which ways did Frederick the Great anticipate the interventionist state that emerged
after the French Revolution? Even so, why could this text not have been written in Western Europe
by any ruler after 1815?
Anticipate: Scientific (‘philosophical’) basis for government (3 times in the text).
Expertise in interconnected fields of economy, law, etc (also what was told in lecture:
mercantilist policies.
Not after 1815: relying on nobility; all power with the monarch.
After 1815: more collegial governance by a council of ministers
Which two reasons does Frederick give for the importance of the ruler being neutral
in religious matters? Which example(s) may have been in his mind when thinking of the evil
consequences of taking sides in a religious dispute?
Religion is absurd and therefore not worth the time of a serious ruler.
HOWEVER:
->One should never drive away valuable subjects (compare Huguenots leaving France).
More in general: the enormous damage caused by the religious wars in especially Germany.
Marquis de Condorcet1743-1794
•Aristocrat and mathematician
•Suffrage and equality
•Convicted of treason by Jacobins in 1793
•Wrote Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain in hiding
•Died in prison
Summarize in your own words the mechanism leading to progress, according to
Condorcet.
•People develop ever more knowledge, in part because of ever better instruments.
•Knowledge spreads, causing more people to gain more knowledge.
•This knowledge then becomes the basis for ‘arts’ (e.g. mechanical arts, p. 2), which
- makes nature more controllable, and problems more solvable.
- The engine powering this development is especially/mostly: education for all.
How are equality and progress related in Condorcet’s thinking?
•When was the Sketch published? -> 1795
•Equal opportunities for education
→ everyones talent can fully develop
→ more knowledge, more technology
, How does Condorcet respond to the objection (Malthus and others) that population growth would
always wipe out any progress in productivity?
a. that is unknowable, we cannot foresee this, because we do not know what
people at that moment in time will know – all we know is that they’ll know much
more than we do;
b. if it were to happen, then people will have become sensible enough not to
procreate at too great a pace: the happiness of their offspring will be more
important than their number [this idea comes close to the ‘sustainability’-idea of
the commission-Brundtland, report "Our Common Future (1987)]
Mckay:
Explain the two meanings of the concept of liberty in 18th century political thought:
- right to individual liberty, such as the freedom of expression, freedom from censorship
- sovereignty of the people: only the people themselves should determine what the limits to their
actions are (so: laws should only be made through some form of representation of the people
(parliament))
What was the American Bill of Rights? When was it introduced?
- 617: the first ten amendments to American Constitution
(proposal for amendments 1789) to safeguard the personal
freedoms and rights of the individual (ratified 1791)
McKay mentions three general causes of both the American and the French Revolution.
•Which are they?
•Explain how these causes operated in the American Revolution.
•When did this revolution take place?
612) - increasing gap between poor and rich, partly b/c of population growth and inflation (rich had
land, inflationproof)
- increasing popularity of ideals such as equality and freedom
- financial problems of governments
- Am Rev (1775-1783 Am. Revolutionary War, revolution starts in 1765 with the ‘Stamp Act Congress’
(“No taxation without representation” in British parliament):
● cost of Seven Year’s War(1756-1763) doubles British national debt: therefore British want to
increase taxes in the Americas
● that leads to the question whether the British can increase taxes without the consent of the
taxpayers (= political ideal of representation)
● no increase in inequality (616i).
,Tutorial 1:
Learning objectives week 1:
1. Understanding the notion of progress that was developed from the eighteenth
century.
2. Understanding continuities and discontinuities in the development of the state in
connection with the French Revolution and industrialization.
3. Understanding the connection between theorists, like Condorcet and Saint-Simon,
and pragmatic civil servants, such as Beuth in Prussia and Chadwick in England.
4. To be able to define and discuss the main concepts:
•Progress
•State
•Politics: distribution, exercise, and legitimacy of power
•Technocracy
•Modernization
Technocracy:
- A program or ideal: problems is society should be dealt with by experts or a team
of experts.
- A practice: governance where the mandate for decision-making with regards to
political (society-enveloping) decisions lies with specialists/experts.
§This almost never happens, what does sometimes happen, is that large areas of decision making
become largely technocratic: e.g. the arrangement of the IJsselmeerpolders.
§AND: in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, there is more support for technocrats
- Modernization
Transition from ‘pre-modern’ to ‘traditional’ to ‘modern’ society.
•‘Modern society’ is industrialized society.
•The process of industrialization brings economic, social, political and cultural
changes: comprehensive transformation of society.
•Technology
•Demographic changes: urbanization, life expectancy, changing modes of life (family
units), changing norms & values, etc.
•Globalization
Frederick the Great: 1712-1786
•‘Enlightened’ king
•Erudite
•Scientific approach
•State before ruler
•Visible
,In which ways did Frederick the Great anticipate the interventionist state that emerged
after the French Revolution? Even so, why could this text not have been written in Western Europe
by any ruler after 1815?
Anticipate: Scientific (‘philosophical’) basis for government (3 times in the text).
Expertise in interconnected fields of economy, law, etc (also what was told in lecture:
mercantilist policies.
Not after 1815: relying on nobility; all power with the monarch.
After 1815: more collegial governance by a council of ministers
Which two reasons does Frederick give for the importance of the ruler being neutral
in religious matters? Which example(s) may have been in his mind when thinking of the evil
consequences of taking sides in a religious dispute?
Religion is absurd and therefore not worth the time of a serious ruler.
HOWEVER:
->One should never drive away valuable subjects (compare Huguenots leaving France).
More in general: the enormous damage caused by the religious wars in especially Germany.
Marquis de Condorcet1743-1794
•Aristocrat and mathematician
•Suffrage and equality
•Convicted of treason by Jacobins in 1793
•Wrote Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain in hiding
•Died in prison
Summarize in your own words the mechanism leading to progress, according to
Condorcet.
•People develop ever more knowledge, in part because of ever better instruments.
•Knowledge spreads, causing more people to gain more knowledge.
•This knowledge then becomes the basis for ‘arts’ (e.g. mechanical arts, p. 2), which
- makes nature more controllable, and problems more solvable.
- The engine powering this development is especially/mostly: education for all.
How are equality and progress related in Condorcet’s thinking?
•When was the Sketch published? -> 1795
•Equal opportunities for education
→ everyones talent can fully develop
→ more knowledge, more technology
, How does Condorcet respond to the objection (Malthus and others) that population growth would
always wipe out any progress in productivity?
a. that is unknowable, we cannot foresee this, because we do not know what
people at that moment in time will know – all we know is that they’ll know much
more than we do;
b. if it were to happen, then people will have become sensible enough not to
procreate at too great a pace: the happiness of their offspring will be more
important than their number [this idea comes close to the ‘sustainability’-idea of
the commission-Brundtland, report "Our Common Future (1987)]
Mckay:
Explain the two meanings of the concept of liberty in 18th century political thought:
- right to individual liberty, such as the freedom of expression, freedom from censorship
- sovereignty of the people: only the people themselves should determine what the limits to their
actions are (so: laws should only be made through some form of representation of the people
(parliament))
What was the American Bill of Rights? When was it introduced?
- 617: the first ten amendments to American Constitution
(proposal for amendments 1789) to safeguard the personal
freedoms and rights of the individual (ratified 1791)
McKay mentions three general causes of both the American and the French Revolution.
•Which are they?
•Explain how these causes operated in the American Revolution.
•When did this revolution take place?
612) - increasing gap between poor and rich, partly b/c of population growth and inflation (rich had
land, inflationproof)
- increasing popularity of ideals such as equality and freedom
- financial problems of governments
- Am Rev (1775-1783 Am. Revolutionary War, revolution starts in 1765 with the ‘Stamp Act Congress’
(“No taxation without representation” in British parliament):
● cost of Seven Year’s War(1756-1763) doubles British national debt: therefore British want to
increase taxes in the Americas
● that leads to the question whether the British can increase taxes without the consent of the
taxpayers (= political ideal of representation)
● no increase in inequality (616i).
