Social Philosophers and Commentators
Natural Law Philosophers of the 17th
Century
- Sir Francis Bacon, 1561-1642. - (1), (2), (3), (4) (5), (many
portraits)
- The
Essays, 1601.
- The Proficience and Advancement of Learning, 1605
- Novum Organum, 1620.
- New
Atlantis, 1626.
- English empiricist philosopher and originator of the modern "positivist" view
of science, as opposed to the Aristotlean approach to knowledge of the Scholastics. Argued for grounding of "natural law"
doctrines in methodological individualism.
- James Harrington
, 1611-1677. (1) , (2)
, (3)
- The
Commonwealth of Oceana , 1656.
- English philosopher, his 1656 tract advocated the setting up of a
state run by the landed aristocracy, albeit with a written constitution
and restrictions on amount of land-holdings to balance the power.
Particularly influential on the leaders of the American Revolution.
- Johann Peter Süssmilch, 1707-1767
- Die gottliche Ordnung, 1741.
- Prussian pastor and natural law "statistician". His 1741 work on
population was supposed to show the "natural" constancy of certain population
patterns ("God's order", as the title of his 1741 work). His remarkable
capable use of the "law of large numbers" in appraising demographic statistics
has led him to be considered one of the fathers of econometrics..
His work was referenced extensively by Malthus.
Augustan Commentators (early 18th Century)
- Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745
Enlightenment Social Philosophers
(mid-18th Century)
- Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu,
1689-1755. (1) ,
(2)
, (3) ,
(4) , (5), Portrait
- Of the Spirit of the Laws, 1748 - Books 20-23
- French Enlightenment political philosopher, essayist and social
commentator. He was among the first to attempt to apply Newtonian analogies to
political, social,
economic and moral behavior. Conceived of the concepts of "social laws" and a
natural "social equilibrium" as the balance of opposing forces, that were later
taken up by the Physiocrats.
- Paul Henri Dietrich (Thiry), Baron
d'Holbach, 1723-1789 - (1),
(2),
(3), (4),
(5), (6)
- The System of Nature, 1770 - Vol.
1, Vol.
2
- Good (or Common) Sense, or Natural Ideas vs. Supernatural Ideas,
1772. - extracts
- German-born French Enlightenment
philosopher. Outspoken atheist, materialist and radical opponent
of aristocratic privileges. His mechanical-materialist conception
of the universe (and hard determinism on human nature) was outlined in
his 1770 treatise. Died during the French Revolution.
- Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet, 1743-1794.
The Romantic Era: Individualists (Early 19th
Century)
- Jean-Baptiste Say, 1767-1832.
The Romantic Era: Collectivists (Early 19th Century)
- Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon,
1760-1825
The Victorian Era (Late 19th Century)
- John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873.
The Sociologists
The Twentieth Century
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