From the INTRODUCTORY. IN the various systems of philosophical theories of government, which have been given to the world since the human reason was emancipated by the revival of learning, sovereignty, with scarcely an exception, has held a prominent place, and upon their conception of it all of the foremost thinkers since that time have rested their philosophic systems. The two great exceptions to this general practice are Montesquieu and Locke. The former neither defines nor treats of sovereignty; and the latter fails ...
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From the INTRODUCTORY. IN the various systems of philosophical theories of government, which have been given to the world since the human reason was emancipated by the revival of learning, sovereignty, with scarcely an exception, has held a prominent place, and upon their conception of it all of the foremost thinkers since that time have rested their philosophic systems. The two great exceptions to this general practice are Montesquieu and Locke. The former neither defines nor treats of sovereignty; and the latter fails even to mention the word. The explanation of this apparently vital omission from their systems may be found in the ethical idealism of these philosophers, who exalted moral obligation to an actual force and gave to man's consciousness of right a determinate authority which is denied by historical experience. They dealt with what they conceived ought to be in human affairs, rather than what really is. The other political philosophers preceding Locke, and Montesquieu such men as Jean Bodin, Suarez, Johannes Althusius, Hobbes and Spinoza, while often intermingling abstract right with strict legality, saw the necessity of recognizing sovereignty as an ever present factor in all phenomena of government, and, therefore, of introducing it into their systems. When Hume by the force of his logic discredited the "contract" theory of the source of governmental power which had swayed philosophic thought for a century and set in motion those doctrines that found fuller expression in the writings of Bentham and Austin, sovereignty again assumed the importance which it had in a measure lost through the influence of Locke and Montesquieu. To modern writers upon political philosophy, jurisprudence and law the subject of sovereignty has been one of recognized importance. Indeed, it has been to the great body of philosophic thought for the past three hundred years the persistent force which affects all the political relations of mankind. To the present-day philosopher, it is even more; it is the fundamental authority which controls, restrains and protects man as a member of society. In the advanced state of modern thought, it is irrational to consider origins or to trace the development of political institutions without admitting the existence and constant activity of sovereignty, and its potency in the creation, evolution, and expansion of such institutions. No problem of government can be proposed in which it is not an essential factor. No explanation of such terms as liberty and law satisfies the reason or appeals to man's consciousness of truth which does not introduce, define, and apply sovereignty.
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Add this copy of Notes On Sovereignty From the Standpoint of the State to cart. $13.70, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2023 by Legare Street Press.
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