Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy.

I have been reading Bertrand Russell's 'History of Western Philosophy' and in this blog I will be focusing on Descartes, Machiavelli and Thomas More; three of the characters he discusses in his book, it will also be neccessary to involve Plato due to the similarities his ideas have with their modern counterparts.

The ideas outlined in Machiavelli's 'The Prince' (15143) seem as relevant today as they did when they were written. He suggests that the best way of gaining power is cruelty and deception. He believes that a leader should be feared as opposed to liked. Machiavelli was possibly the first person to argue that morality has nothing to do with leadership, he also dismissed the idea of rulers having a divine right to rule, passed to them from God. These ideas contradict Plato's ideas in 'The Republic'. Plato believes that a ruler should be a Philosopher, who doesn't want to rule, but feels morally obliged to due to his belief that he is the best option. Although in our society, modern rulers tend not to be brutal tyrants, it often seems as though politicians would do anything at all for power.

Renee Descartes's was a rationalist philosopher who came up with 'Cogito Ergo Sum', meaning 'I think therefore I am'. He challenged every piece of knowledge he thought he had and only accepted facts that he thought could be rationally verified. He eventually decided that his existence could only be proved due to the fact that he thinks. Descartes then went on to 'prove' the existence of God, unforunately this was done poorly, particularly by Descartes standards. It is hard to tell however whether or not he did believe in God or if he was doing so as not to ruin his reputation in such a religious society.

Thomas More, much like Plato wrote about an ideal state for man to live in, Called Utopia. According to More everything in Utopia is perfect, it is basically a communist state. There is no private ownership of property, all houses are alike and fashions never change. People work for six hours per day and have eight hours of sleep, they can play for one hour. Everybody is expected to believe in some kind of god, those who do not are seen as lesser citizens and everybody believes that there is an afterlife, promoting good behaviour. Good family ethics are practiced, children are expected to stay silent and criminals may become 'Bondmen'. These Bondmen are used to serve the community as a whole. The main problem with this (aside from the fact that in practice it would never actually work) is that it would be painfully dull. There would be no diversity or excitment whatsoever.