In the 1st floor. 16th century in Western and Central Europe, a broad social movement unfolded, anti-feudal in its socio-economic and political essence, religious (anti-Catholic) in its ideological form. It became known as the Reformation, since it was based on the restructuring of the relationship between church and state. From a political point of view, the reformation was seen by its ideologists not so much in the renewal of the church and its teachings, but in the accomplishment of a socio-economic revolution. The Reformation changed the consciousness of man, opened up new spiritual horizons for him. Germany was the main focus of the European Reformation.

Characteristic ideas:

1. Recognition of the Holy Scripture as the only source of religious truth and rejection of the Catholic Holy Tradition;

2. Radical simplification and democratization of the church structure.

The Reformation gave rise to the third branch of Christianity, after Orthodoxy and Catholicism, Protestantism. Its main difference lies in the doctrine of the direct connection between God and man. Religious worship is given a secondary place.

Niccolo Machiavelli gives his sympathies to the individually controlled states. The sovereign entrusts his officials and officials with the practical implementation of his (and only his) will. The philosopher has a negative attitude to the fact that the sovereign, when making decisions, was limited by someone else's will, experienced the pressure of extraneous interest. Completely alien to him is the idea of ​​the people as a bearer, a source of supreme power. In the political sphere, the people should be a passive mass. In relation to the governed, the thinker advises the sovereign to act mainly in the guise of a guardian of the people. Ensuring peace in the country, the sovereign thereby increases the authority of the supreme (i.e., his) power. Machiavelli is inclined to believe that subjects are not very interested in the possession of rights and freedoms. He is well aware that an indispensable condition for the exercise of political power in forms pleasing to the sovereign is the consent of his subjects. It is possible to carry out the complete obedience of subjects to the sovereign in two ways: the first is love for the sovereign, the second is fear of him. Cruelty is permissible not only in wartime, but also in peacetime. Sovereigns are outside the jurisdiction of the court and should not be afraid of responsibility. The philosopher is little concerned with the solution of ethical issues, because power, politics, the technology of political domination are originally phenomena of an extramoral plane.

Martin Luther German theologian who was at the forefront of the Reformation. The opportunity for believers to be internally religious, to lead a truly Christian way of life, is provided by the secular order. Its effectiveness is connected with the support of the institutions of secular power (the state, laws) on natural, and not on divine law. The freedom of the soul, the realm of faith, the inner world of a person are outside the jurisdiction of the state, outside the scope of its laws. In his concept of the state, the thinker foresaw that in the sphere of natural law, within the boundaries of worldly relations, secular power should be guided by practical expediency, real interests determined by human reason. The prince (monarch) manages wisely, who likens power not as a privilege, but sends it as a burden placed on him by God. The idea of ​​strengthening the role of secular power is its independence from the papacy. Thoughts about the monarch as the supreme leader of the national church, about the clergy as a special estate called to serve the state, the consecration of secular power by religious authority - all this contributed to the planting of the cult of the state.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. socialism began to occupy an independent and fairly prominent place in the life of European society.

Thomas More, author of "Utopia" and Tommaso Campanella, the creator of the "City of the Sun" - the most prominent representatives of utopian socialism. These works contain sharp criticism of the social and state-legal orders of the civilization contemporary to the authors. The state government proposed by T. Mor was an attempt to creatively combine the positive features of its democratic, oligarchic and monarchical forms known by that time. The content of the "City of the Sun" by T. Campanella clearly demonstrates the presence of two contradictory principles among the socialists of this time. A correct assessment of the intellectual, moral, professional and other qualities of a person as factors designed to determine his position in society coexists with almost complete disregard for the individual human personality, his independence, initiative, originality and the dominance of the interests of the state.

Jean Bodin– a French political thinker who gave a theoretical justification for the ability of royal power to protect and implement national interests that stand above religious and other strife. The main work is Six Books on the Republic (1576). It reveals the content of this definition. According to the author, the sovereign state power must comply with certain requirements: follow the laws of the divine and natural, not interfere in the affairs of the family, violate the principle of religious tolerance. Boden is the most staunch supporter of truly sovereign (in his interpretation, absolutist) monarchical power. Law itself is the purpose of the existence of the state.

Renaissance political teachings

• Part 1

Leading thinkers of this period: N. Machiavelli, Martin Luther, Thomas More,Tomaso Companella,Jean Bodin, T. Gobbe, G. Grotius, J. Locke,B. Spinoza.

Features and characteristics of this period:

Ё development of humanistic principles in political theory;

Ё liberation of political thought from theology;

Ё analysis of the problem of human rights and freedoms;

E analysis of the law and the state, the democratic structure of public life.

The largest representative, the founder of the political thought of the Renaissance, can rightly be called an Italian thinker, statesman, writer and historian. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527). He came from an ancient but impoverished patrician family. During Republic Machiavelli was actively involved in political activities, for 14 years he held the position of secretary of the Council of Ten, and carried out important diplomatic assignments. After a political upheaval that returned power to the Medici family, Machiavelli was suspected of participating in an anti-government conspiracy, removed from business and then exiled to his estate (near Florence), where he wrote most of his works.

The main theoretical works - "The Sovereign", "Discourses on the first decade of Titus Livius", "The Art of War" - were written by him after the fall of the Florentine Republic, when Machiavelli was removed from political activity. Machiavelli was the first to consider politics as an autonomous sphere of human activity, in which there are "natural causes" and "useful rules" that allow "taking into account one's capabilities" in order to "foresee" the course of events and take the necessary measures.

According to Machiavelli, the highest rule of politics and its main problem is to find the course of action that corresponds to the nature of the time and the specific circumstances at the time of the decision. That is why politics is not reduced to a simple assimilation of general prescriptions, "here one cannot speak abstractly, because everything changes depending on the circumstances." Men tend to act according to the natural inclination of their character and temperament; one reaches the goal "by caution and patience", the other by "onslaught and suddenness", but both invariably fail when conditions require a change in behavior, and the person remains in the same mode of action that previously brought success.

The preparation of a political figure requires not only the study of history, especially antiquity (Machiavelli was a Renaissance man who idolized ancient culture), but also knowledge of modern life, constant observation and reflection on events and actors on the “proscenium” of history.

Machiavelli did not consider any of the forms of government (monarchy, aristocracy, democracy) perfect and suitable in all circumstances.

Reflecting on the actions of statesmen, Machiavelli put forward the thesis that a politician should combine the features of a lion and a fox: foxes - in order to avoid set traps; lion - to crush the enemy in open battle.

Machiavelli was not a supporter of fundamental immorality in politics, he believed that in emergency circumstances, when “the people are corrupted”, emergency measures are also needed. "Sovereign" is only one of the factors of the political situation, which also includes the "people", "know" and "army".

Machiavelli considers the main condition for political success to be “valor”, and not the meanness of the soul.

The driving forces of politics, according to Machiavelli, are fortune and the personal energy of the individual (he understood by fortune an objective historical necessity).

The Italian thinker puts forward the thesis “the end justifies the means”. He wrote that, as experience shows, grandiose deeds were done by those princes who did not reckon with promises, but acted by cunning and deceit. Adherents of this thesis in the literature are often called supporters of “Machiavellian politics”, “Machiavellianism”. At the same time, Machiavelli condemned those who destroy by violence rather than correct.

Believing that the desire for conquest is the natural state of people, states, Machiavelli understood by politics, first of all, the politics of power. He considered good laws and a strong army to be the main pillar of state policy. Speaking for the creation of a standing army, built on the basis of conscription, he condemned mercenarism. In his writings, Machiavelli prioritizes political leadership over military leadership. He argued that the sovereign must personally lead the army in campaigns and battles.

Machiavelli built the classification of wars on the basis of real social relations, freeing it from religious layers. Machiavelli, for example, singled out one type of war, which are excited by the ambition of sovereigns and republics, seeking to strengthen and expand their dominion. During these wars, significant damage is caused to the state, but the inhabitants are not expelled from their land. Another kind of war he considered those associated with the expulsion of an entire people from the country. The main goal of such wars is not to conquer the country, but to take possession of it, to expel or exterminate its inhabitants.

The merit of Machiavelli was also the study of the military organization, its structure. In the treatise “On the Art of War”, he developed the principles of military art, methods of military operations, and requirements for military leaders.

During the formation of bourgeois social relations, a whole galaxy of outstanding thinkers appeared (XVII - the first third of the XIX centuries).

Among them it is necessary to highlight Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), English philosopher, representative of mechanistic materialism. He was born in the family of a priest; after graduating from Oxford University (1608), he entered the aristocratic family of the Duke of Devonshire as a tutor, with whom he was associated until the end of his life. From 1640 Hobbes was in exile in France; returned to his homeland in 1651 after the consolidation of the dictatorship of Cromwell, whose policy he tried to ideologically substantiate. Philosophical and political views of Hobbes are summarized in his book "Leviathan, or Matter, Form and Power of the Church and Civil State" (1651).

The world, according to Hobbes, is a collection of material substances - bodies. Among them, he highlights natural And artificial body. So artificial the state is the body. Man occupies an intermediate position between natural and artificial bodies: he is a natural body, but, as a citizen, participates in the creation of an artificial body - the state. In the natural (pre-state) state, people are equal to each other physically and mentally. Equal ability to lust and grab the same things leads to an unceasing struggle. Therefore, the state of nature is a war of “all against all”. Natural law operates here, which Hobbes interprets as the freedom to do everything for self-preservation, including encroaching on someone else's life. But natural law does not at all provide superiority and does not guarantee security to anyone. This can be done, according to Hobbes, only state, which establishes and controls the implementation of a set of natural laws (allowing for the establishment of universal peace it is reasonable to go to the mutual restriction of the rights of all people). According to T. Hobbes, the state arose on the basis of social contract, and was established to ensure world peace and security. As a result of the social contract, the rights of individual citizens who voluntarily restricted their freedom were transferred to the sovereign (or state bodies). The sovereign was entrusted with the function of protecting peace and prosperity. The good of the people, Hobbes believed, is the highest law of the state. Hobbes in every possible way extolled the role of the state, recognized by him absolute sovereign. The exaltation of a powerful state by Hobbes was one of the first theories of bourgeois dictatorship, the main task of which the thinker saw in ending the civil war.

The emerging state (democratic, aristocratic or monarchical) is thus valuable in itself. Of all types of government, Hobbes prefers the monarchy, which, in his opinion, ensures the continuity of the will of the sovereign, the internal unity of the will in the state and its unity with the executive bodies.

Another representative of this period is John Locke (1632-1704), English philosopher-educator, founder of the socio-political doctrine liberalism. J. Locke was born into a Puritan family of a small landowner, graduated from Westminster School and College in Oxford, where he then taught. In 1668 he was elected to the Royal Society of London. Becoming in 1667 a family doctor, and then the secretary of Lord Ashley (a prominent public figure during the Restoration), Locke joins an active political life.

Locke's political theory, set forth in "Two Treatises on State Government", is directed against patriarchal absolutism and considers the socio-political process as development of human community from the state of nature to civil society and self-government.

The main purpose of the government is to protect the natural right of citizens to life, liberty and property, and in order to reliably ensure natural rights, equality and freedom, people agree to establish a state. But whoever possesses concrete power in the state is charged with the duty to govern according to established permanent laws, and not by impromptu decrees.

In contrast to the absolutist theory of the state of Hobbes, according to Locke, only a certain part of “natural rights” (the administration of justice, external relations, etc.) is transferred to the government in order to effectively protect all the rest - freedom of speech, faith and, above all, property.

Each person transfers part of his rights to the state and government. The relationship of a person to the state and government is determined by the relationship of a person to property: the more property, the more political rights, but the more obligations to the state that protects this property. The people remain unconditional sovereign. The non-observance by the government of the rules of the “social contract” (mainly the inviolability of property, which guarantees individual freedom) makes it illegal and gives the subjects the right to resist. However, resistance is also limited to reasonable limits and ends with the establishment of a solid political balance.

Locke formulates the idea rule of law, arguing that in the state absolutely no one, no body can be removed from submission to the laws. In his opinion, the legislative power in the state should be separated from the executive (including the judiciary) and “federal” (foreign relations), and the government itself should also strictly obey the law.

The study of this period involves familiarization with the life and works of Benedict(Baruch) Spinoza (1632-1677), a Dutch materialist philosopher. Spinoza was born in the family of a merchant who belonged to the Jewish community. Having headed his father's business after his death (1654), he simultaneously established scientific and friendly ties among those who were opposed to the Calvinist church that dominated the Netherlands. The leaders of the Jewish community in Amsterdam subjected Spinoza to a "great excommunication." Fleeing from his pursuers, Spinoza lived in the countryside, forced to earn a living by polishing lenses, then in Rijnsburg, a suburb of The Hague, where he created philosophical works.

Spinoza expressed his socio-political views in the work "Political Treatise" and in a number of others. He was anti-clerical, a supporter of republican government and an opponent of the monarchy. Spinoza's anti-clericalism was associated with his awareness of the political role of the church as the closest ally of monarchical rule.

Like other theories natural law And social contract Spinoza deduced the laws of society from the features of an unchanging human nature and considered it possible to harmonize the private egoistic interests of citizens with the interests of the whole society.

8. Political and legal ideology in the period
English bourgeois revolution

The English bourgeois revolution had a wider resonance in society than the Dutch one. Its participants were various political forces: the urban bourgeoisie, the gentry, the peasantry, the old nobility and the top of the English church. Naturally, their programs and theoretical constructions were different, but religion was common - Calvinism. One of the demands of the revolution is the "cleansing" (English, pure or lat. purus - clean) of the English Church from the remnants of Catholicism, so the opponents of the king were called puritans. But along with religious motives, G. Grotius's theories of natural law and the contractual state were used.

Independents
(independent)

The leading party was independents(English independence - independent). Their religious and political slogans were as follows: complete independence and self-government for each community of believers, the elimination of the centralized and subordinate to the king of the English Church, absolute religious tolerance and inalienability of freedom

J. Milton

conscience. Actually political demands were distinguished by moderation: recognizing the advantages of the republic, they were ready to be content with a constitutional monarchy.

The most striking exponent of the ideology of the Independents was the great English poet, politician John Milton(1608 - 1674). In his treatises ("On the Power of Kings and Officials", "Protection of the English People" etc.), he justified the freedom of people by nature, the people, "public consent" created the state in order to protect the common good, is the only source and bearer of power. The people appointed rulers, kings, dignitaries and subordinated them to the law. And if they evade this, then they have the right (through a meeting of their representatives) to be called to account. Therefore, the court of the people over the king is a manifestation of meekness and mercy (a direct justification of the revolution and the execution of Charles I).

From Milton's point of view, a republic with census suffrage is preferable to other political forms. Under it, the rights of freedom of conscience, thoughts, and words are most ensured, and the opportunities to influence the administration of the state are used more fully.

Levellers
(equalizers)

If the Independents actually sought power for the bourgeoisie and the new nobility, liberation from the shackles of feudalism, then levellers(from English, level - level) advocated the continuation of the revolution, a democratic constitution and the establishment of a republic. They relied on the soldiers' demand for the continuation of the revolution, the democratization of the state, and the provision of rights and freedoms.

The ideologue of the Levellers was John Lilburn(1614 - 1657). The cornerstone of his teaching is the principle of the primacy, supremacy and sovereignty of the power of the people:

All power originally and in its essence proceeds from the people, and their consent, expressed through their representatives, is the only basis of all just government.

Levellers highlight British Birthrights, identifying them with natural law: freedom of speech, conscience, press, petition, trade, from military service, equality before the law and

court. He also referred private property to natural law, but sharply opposed class distinctions and privileges. Thus, Lilburn's associate Richard Rambold stated that he did not believe "that God created the greater part of the human race with a saddle on his back and a bridle in his teeth, and a smaller one in boots with spurs to ride on the first one."

State arose as a result of a contract, created by an agreement of people "for the benefit and good of everyone." Hence the right of the people to organize such a state so that this benefit is guaranteed. And the rulers receive power with the consent of the people. Levellers developed republican england constitution- "people's agreement".

Their main demands are: popular representation, enfranchisement of the British from the age of 21, securing the inborn rights of the British to elect sheriffs, judges and other officials. Defending the principle of legality (equal law for all), Lilburn approached the idea of ​​separation of powers: "it is unreasonable, unfair and destructive for the people that legislators are at the same time executors of the law", and parliament cannot administer justice.

Diggers
(diggers)

During the revolution, the question of the correlation between freedom and property was actively discussed. A peculiar solution was proposed diggers (diggers). Initially, they condemned not only the monarchy, but the entire social structure of England, based on inequality of property and private property. They trusted in the power of preaching and example. Why in 1649 on the hill of St. George, they created a commune and began to work together to dig up communal lands (English, digger - digger). The leader of the movement was Gerard Winstanley(1609 - 1652?). He was the first to formulate the concept of "freedom", which expressed the main difference between socialism and bourgeois ideology:

True republican freedom consists in the free use of land. True freedom is where a person receives food and the means to sustain life.

The program of measures carried out by the revolutionary government and laws in order to create a system of community property - socialism, is set out in his work "Law of Freedom"(1652). For the first time in the history of theoretical socialism, Winstanley writes about the need for a transitional period from a system with private property to a system of community property and revolutionary power over the rich during this period.

Form of government - republic, formed as a result of elections with restriction of voting rights of those in power. The task of the new government is to transfer the lands (communal, wastelands, churches, kings) to the people, where to create communes. Using laws and education, prepare the conditions for the complete eradication of private property, money and the hiring of labor. After that, a "true republican system" will appear and a new constitution England. At the head of the state parliament, re-elected annually by men over the age of 20. Laws passed by Parliament are discussed by the people and may be rejected. Officials are elected for one year. The state not only protects public order, but also manages the national economy. The ideas of the diggers were far ahead of their time: this is the weakness of their movement and the utopianism of their projects.

T. Hobbes: "
share power
states means
destroy it"

A difficult position was taken by the supporter of absolutism, the English philosopher and political thinker Thomas Hobbes(1588 - 16?9). In 1640, Hobbes publishes his first work, The Elements of Law natural and politic, in which he defends the prerogatives of the king, against parliament. When the parliamentary party won, Hobbes fled to France, where he published a treatise On the Citizen. This book brought him fame. Here he defended the benefits of civil peace and the need for absolute power in the person of the king.

In his main job "Leviathan, or Matter, the form and power of the state, ecclesiastical and civil"(1651) he tried to turn the doctrine of the state and law into an equally exact science as geometry, "the figures and lines of which no one disputes."

At the heart of the political and legal doctrine of Hobbes is a peculiar idea of ​​the nature and passions of man. He argues that initially all people are created equal in terms of physical and mental abilities, and each of them has the same "right to everything" with the other. But man is also a selfish, greedy and ambitious being. Envy and enemies surround him. Hence the fatal inevitability "wars of all against all". And this is "the natural state of the human race." In fact, Hobbes reproduced the picture of the emerging capitalist society, and not the discovery of the essence of man.

But fear, the instinct of self-preservation and reason are inherent in man. They give the first impetus to the process of overcoming the state of nature and suggest the conditions for how to carry it out.

Thomas Hobbes

These conditions (prescriptions of natural reason) are natural laws. The main natural law says: it is necessary to strive for peace and follow it. The second natural law is the renunciation of each of his rights to the extent that this is required by the interests of peace and self-defense. The third - people are obliged to fulfill the concluded agreements. Here is the source and beginning of justice. In addition to three, there are 16 more natural (immutable and eternal) laws, T. Hobbes among them the ninth law - against pride, the tenth - against arrogance, the eleventh - impartiality, the sixteenth - on submission to arbitration ("in the event of a dispute, the parties must submit their right to the decision of the arbitrator "). All these laws are united by the general rule: "do not do to another what you would not like to be done in relation to you."

But natural laws are not binding. Such laws are the freedom to do or not to do something. Only force can turn them into an unconditional imperative of behavior - positive law: a command to do or not to do something. The guarantor of peace and the implementation of natural laws is the absolute power, the state, through the issuance of civil laws. The purpose of laws is, like a fence, to give the right direction to the actions of people.

In order to put an end to the state of "war of all against all", people, by mutual agreement, renounce the natural right to "do everything for self-preservation" and transfer it to an individual or a collection of people. This is how the state came into existence.

the state is a single person, for the actions of which a great multitude of people have made themselves responsible by mutual agreement among themselves, so that this person can use the strength and means of all of them in such a way as he considers necessary for their peace and common defense.

Initially, Hobbes considered the source of power to be an agreement between subjects and the ruler, which cannot be terminated without the consent of the parties. However, in the course of the revolution, many facts of violations by the king of his obligations were cited. And then Hobbes formulated a different concept of a social contract: each with each, where the ruler does not take part at all, and therefore cannot violate it. And in this way the grounds for

termination of the contract. By concluding a social contract and passing into a civil state, individuals lose the opportunity to change their chosen form of government, to free themselves from the influence of the supreme power. They are forbidden to protest against the decisions of the sovereign, to condemn his actions.

Hobbes distinguishes states depending on the ways of their emergence. Those that emerged as a result of a voluntary agreement, he refers to those based on the establishment or to political states, and those that appeared as a result of physical force, to acquisition. His sympathies are on the side of the former. He only recognizes three forms of state: monarchy, popular rule, aristocracy, having differences in suitability for the implementation of the purpose for which they were established. Deep sympathies are on the side of an unlimited monarchy: "the right to inherit gives the state an artificial eternal life." But the goal of the state (the security of citizens) is achievable not only under an absolute monarchy:

Where a certain form of government has already been established, there is no need to argue about which of the three forms of government is the best, but one should always ... consider the existing one to be the best.

If the state has collapsed, then the right of the deposed monarch is preserved, and the duty of the people disappears: they have the right to seek a new protector - this provision was formulated by Hobbes in the form of one of the natural laws and addressed to the soldiers of the deposed king:

the soldier may seek his protection where he most hopes to obtain it, and may legally bind himself to the allegiance of a new master.

But in any form of state, the power of the sovereign is always absolute, limitless: as extensive as one can even imagine. The sovereign is not bound by anything, including civil law. He himself issues and cancels them, declares war and makes peace, judges and pardons, appoints officials. His prerogatives are indivisible and non-transferable. "To divide the power of the state means to destroy it, since the divided powers mutually destroy each other." The power of the sovereign is in fact his monopoly on the life and death of his subjects.

The freedom of the subjects consists in the freedom to do what is not specified in agreements with the authorities, - wrote Hobbes. - ... The sovereign, therefore, has the right to everything with the only restriction that, being himself a subject of God, he is obliged by virtue of this to observe natural laws.

Absolute power belonged, according to Hobbes, to the field of public, political law. The people in relation to the supreme power have only duties, no rights, and therefore it cannot be rightfully destroyed by people who agreed to establish it. However, in the field of private law, subjects should be given a broad legal initiative, a system of rights, freedoms and guarantees.

Hobbes interprets the lack of rights of the people to the sovereign as the legal equality of people in their mutual relations, which the king guarantees: the inviolability of the contract, protection in court, equal taxes, ensuring private property. Arguing about the relations of subjects among themselves, he substantiated a number of specific requirements in the field of law: a jury trial, the right to defense, proportionality of punishment to a crime, etc.

Civil law is for every subject those rules which the state orally, in writing, or by means of other sufficiently clear signs of its will, has prescribed to him, so that he can use them to distinguish between right and wrong, i.e. between what is consistent and what is not consistent with the rule.

Thus, Hobbes substantiated civil society, the "founder" of which and the guarantor is the authoritarian unlimited royal power, in fact totalitarianism.

On the whole, Hobbes' position was realistic. In particular, he argued that if the government loses the ability to guarantee the safety of its subjects, for which it was created, then it loses the right to their loyalty. This has nothing to do with the idea of ​​resisting unrighteous authority, which can never be justified. But his repeated change of political orientation did not make it noble. According to Leibniz, Hobbes "wrote a monstrous book." After the restoration of the Stuarts and the death of Hobbes, his writings were banned in England, and the Leviathan was publicly burned by Oxford University.

Revolutionary events of 1642 - 1649 ended with the proclamation of England as a republic and the establishment of Cromwell's protectorate. After his death, the Stuart Restoration took place (1660). But in 1688, as a result of the Glorious Revolution, the Stuarts were overthrown, and a constitutional monarchy was formed in England.

J. Locke:
the state is
"any independent
community"

The political and legal results of the revolution were theoretically substantiated by the English philosopher John Locke(1632 - 1704) at work "Two treatises on government"(1690). Locke's concept

J. Locke

summed up the previous development of the methodology and content of the theory of natural law, and the program of its doctrine contained the most important state-legal principles of civil society.

Before the advent of the state, people were in a state of nature - "a state of complete freedom in relation to actions and disposal of their property and personality", dominated by "a state of equality in which all power and all rights are mutual, no one has more than another." Everyone has natural rights, which include property: the right to individuality, to their actions, to their work and its results. Property, according to Locke,

what man has extracted from the objects created and provided to him by nature, he has merged with his labor, with something that belongs to him inalienably and thereby makes it his property.

In the state of nature, all are equal, free and have property, peace and goodwill reign. The laws of nature prescribe peace and security. Natural law presupposes that everyone guards his own interests. But there are no guarantees, there is no inevitability of punishment. In addition, there is no uniform interpretation of natural laws, since "the law of nature is not a written law and cannot be found anywhere except in the minds of people."

And then, in order to guarantee natural rights and laws, people refused to independently ensure them and concluded public agreement. The guarantor was state- a set of people who united into one under the auspices of the general law established by them and created a judicial authority competent to resolve conflicts and punish criminals. The state is formed to achieve the "great and main goal" of the political community - everyone can realize their civic interests: life, health, freedom and property. It has the right to make laws, to use the forces of society for their application, to be in charge of relations with other states. At the same time, Locke emphasizes the moment of consent: "Every peaceful formation of the state was based on the consent of the people."

Building the state, people very accurately measure the amount of authority that they transfer to the state. Unlike Hobbes, Locke does not speak of a total rejection of natural rights. A person does not alienate the right to life, possession of property, freedom and equality. These inalienable values ​​are the final boundaries (limits) of power and actions of the state, which it is not allowed to transgress. Otherwise, and also in the case of tyrannical rule, the people have the right to "revise the agreement."

The main danger to human freedom lies in power privileges. Absolute monarchy, according to Locke, is one of the cases of the removal of the bearer of power from the rule of law. An absolute monarchy is always a tyranny, since there are no guarantees of natural rights, there are no laws over it. And this violates the main principle of Locke: "No one who is in civil society can be made an exception from the laws of this society." Guarantee and embodiment of freedom - equal for all, universally binding and permanent law and the separation of powers.

Advocating for a regime of legality, Locke insisted on the position: whoever does not have the supreme power, he is charged "to govern according to the established permanent law, proclaimed by the people and known to him, and not by impromptu decrees." At the same time, the laws must be followed. This position of Locke anticipated the idea "rule of law".

The implementation of the "main and great goal" certainly requires, according to Locke, that the public powers of the state be clearly delineated and divided among its various bodies.

Higher(but not absolute) power belongs legislature, representative system, elected and responsible to the people. Locke attributed the activities of judges to this power (according to English law, one of its sources is judicial practice). The legislature should not sit for a long time, otherwise there is a great temptation to create laws that are beneficial to itself (the condemnation of the "Long Parliament"). Highlights Locke and federal government:

this includes the right of war and peace, the right to participate in coalitions and alliances, as well as the right to do business with all persons and communities outside the given state.

executive power(government headed by a monarch) has no legislative power. The monarch can dissolve the parliament, impose a veto, has the right to legislative initiative,

but has no right to prevent the convocation of parliament, this is the basis for his deposition:

the first and fundamental positive law of all states is the establishment of a legislative power; in the same way, the first and fundamental natural law, to which the legislature itself must obey, is the preservation of society and every member of society.

On the question of state form Locke was categorically against the absolute monarchical structure of power. Any form of government must grow out of a social contract and have a proper "government structure," he believed. Locke understood that ideal forms do not exist and the emergence of despotic power is always possible. And then popular uprising would be perfectly legal.

Locke's teaching had a great influence on the subsequent development of political ideology. The theories of natural inalienable human rights, the separation of powers, and labor property were especially widespread. Locke is rightfully the founder of liberalism, the first among theorists of parliamentarism, the rule of law.

It can be stated that political and legal thought in the years of the first bourgeois revolutions was formed by collective efforts. The era gave outstanding thinkers, and yet the first among equals were Thomas Hobbes And John Locke. Their positions are opposite. The first is a supporter of the unlimited power of the state, the second is the establishment of the limits of its activities. The main result of the century was the formation of the theory of natural law, the justification of the universal legal equality of people, the introduction into the political and legal theory of the idea of ​​the contractual origin of the state, the list of natural human rights and freedoms, and various ways to overcome political alienation.

9. Western European
Education

Historical and philosophical sciences characterize the Enlightenment as an influential general cultural phenomenon of the era of transition from feudalism to capitalism, unlimited faith in the human mind, the ability to rebuild society on reasonable grounds. The term "enlightenment" is found in Voltaire and other enlighteners, but finally established itself after I. Kant's article "What is Enlightenment?" (1784).

The figures of the Enlightenment wanted to establish on earth the "kingdom of reason", where the harmony of interests of a free person and a just society would triumph. They believed that the course of history is determined by the views of people - "opinion rules the world" and it is worth proving the correctness of some principles and everyone will begin to follow them. The ideas of enlightened absolutism (a modification of the idea of ​​a wise enlightener), enriched by considerations about a reasonable state structure, a system of laws that allow the philosopher on the throne to carry out his noble intentions, enjoyed particular success.

8.1. Political and legal views
French enlighteners

Voltaire: freedom
in equality
before the law

Recognized leader of the European Enlightenment - the great French thinker Voltaire(1694 - 1778). In 1717, for free-thinking poetry, Voltaire was imprisoned in the Bastille, after a second imprisonment he was expelled from France. In 1726 - 1729. lived in London. Returning to France in 1733, he published "Philosophical Letters" in which he sharply denounced the order that prevailed in France, religious intolerance and obscurantism.

Voltaire

He entered the history of political thought as a passionate denunciator of the Catholic Church and religious fanaticism. For enlightened people, Voltaire argues, Christian revelations are not needed. The Church is needed only for the mob and ignorant rulers, so that they observe a moral way of life. From this he draws the famous conclusion: "If God did not exist, he would have to be invented."

Voltaire was a supporter of the philosophy of deism: "Christianity and reason cannot exist simultaneously." Against the Catholic Church, he puts forward the slogan: "Crush the vermin!"

The thinker believed that despotic rule would be replaced by a "kingdom of reason and freedom", where everyone would be granted natural rights - personal inviolability, private property, freedom of the press and conscience. Feudal vestiges will be eliminated: the fettering of creative initiative and private entrepreneurial activity, arbitrariness, serfdom. "Freedom," Voltaire believed, "is to depend only on laws." "To be free, to have only equals around you, such is the true life, the natural life of man."

He saw the example of the political organization "the kingdom of reason" in the parliamentary institutions of England, and although he theoretically preferred the republic, he considered it of little use in practice.

The best laws are in England: justice, the absence of arbitrariness, the responsibility of officials for violating the freedom of citizens, the right of everyone to express their opinion orally and in writing. The two parties follow each other and dispute the honor of protecting public liberty.

He was a supporter of the rule of law, liberal methods of government, separation of powers, social and political inequality:

In our unfortunate world it cannot be that people, living in society, would not be divided into two classes: one class of the rich, who give orders, the other, the poor, who serve.

However, he considered enviable the situation in which freedom is supplemented and reinforced equality. The latter is understood

them strictly in the political and legal sense: the same status of a citizen, the same dependence on the law and the same protection by law.

In 1769 Voltaire wrote a work "About the phenomena of nature", in which he clearly expressed his position on the main conditions "true life" human is observance natural rights the most important of which are freedom, equality before the law and ownership of the products of labor.

Sh.L. Montesquieu:
principle - "soul"
states

Voltaire attached paramount importance to the principles implemented by the institutions of power. For him, these principles were freedom, property, legality, humanism. The influence of his ideas was experienced not only by French, but also by Russian enlighteners. The first person who created a detailed political doctrine in the ideology of enlightenment was Charles Louis Montesquieu ( 1689 - 1755) - an outstanding lawyer and political thinker of France. His main works: "Persian letters"(1721), "Reflections on the Causes of the Greatness and Fall of the Romans"(1734) and "On the Spirit of Laws"(1748). Already the first work ("Persian Letters") is an evil satire on the political regime, on the life and customs of French high society and at the same time a call for a state structure on new "civilian" principles.

Montesquieu's contribution to political and legal thought is largely determined by his methods of cognition of state and legal phenomena. He rejected the theological picture of the world and actually gave its materialistic interpretation on the basis of laws understood as "necessary relations arising from the nature of things." At the same time, speaking about the qualitative differences between social phenomena and natural phenomena, Montesquieu emphasized the more complex organization of the social world compared to the natural world, rejected the fatal nature of the action of social laws and drew attention to the freedom of will in people's actions. The patterns of the social world receive from him a concentrated expression in the concept of "the common spirit of the people."

Montesquieu's methodology, where the principle of historicism is supplemented by the historical-comparative method, made it possible to create a political and legal theory, in which for the first time in a systematized form the vast factual material accumulated in the 18th century is presented. At the same time, all political and legal material was considered as a kind of whole, the components of which are in a historical relationship.

Sh.L. Montesquieu

and interaction, and where the spheres of political-legal science and theology are consistently delineated. As a result, he concludes that the course of history is determined not by divine will and not by a random combination of circumstances, but by the action of the corresponding laws.

Agreeing with the idea of ​​the state of nature, Montesquieu did not recognize the formation of the state on the basis of the requirements of natural law. He did not accept the concept of a social contract. The emergence of the state (politically organized

society), he considered laws as a historically regular process - result of the war not a contract.

Law, speaking generally, is human reason, in so far as it governs all the peoples of the earth; and the political and civil laws of every people must be no more than special cases of the application of this reason... It is necessary that the laws be in accordance with the nature and principles of the established or established government, whether their aim is to arrange it - which is the task of political laws - or only maintaining its existence - which is the task of civil laws.

Analyzing the patterns of social life through the category of "general spirit of the people", he comes to the conclusion that the spirit of the people (nation) is influenced by physical and moral causes (mores, laws). At the initial stage, when people come out of the state of savagery, the decisive factors are physical factors: climate, soil, size and position of the country, population. The leading role belongs to the geographical factor (position of the country). Based on these circumstances, in the south (people are pampered and lazy) "despotism usually reigns"; in the north, where the climate is severe, and people are hardened and freedom-loving, "moderate forms of government" are characteristic. And "laws are very closely related to the ways in which various peoples earn their livelihood" - this is an accurate and deep definition!

Moral reasons (principles of the political system, religion, morality, customs, way of life, etc.) come into play later than physical ones, with the development of civilization. They crowd out the physical and determine the legislation, "more influence the general spirit, the general character

nations and should be more taken into account when identifying a common spirit compared to physical reasons. " Among the moral reasons, the main one is the organization of the state (political) system.

Thus, Montesquieu concludes that the historical development of society is the result of a complex interaction of objective and subjective causes, and the tendency for the role of the subjective factor in history to increase is a regularity.

reasonable organization states Montesquieu, like other representatives of the ideology of liberalism, associates with the category Liberty. He talks about the political, legal components, and not about the social and identifies it with personal security, the independence of the individual from the arbitrariness of the authorities, civil rights. It is provided by legality: "the right to do everything that is permitted by the laws."

The political freedom of a citizen, he writes, is peace of mind, arising from confidence in one's own security. And in order to acquire this freedom, government must be established in such a way that one citizen does not fear another.

The ideal of freedom was substantiated by the results of the analysis of existing forms of the state. Montesquieu distinguishes between two correct forms - the republic (democracy and aristocracy) - and one incorrect - despotism. Each of them is characterized by certain principles, relationships with citizens. The nature of government is determined by two quantities: the number of people exercising sovereign power, and the way in which power is exercised. Under principle of government Montesquieu understood those "human passions that move him" and called the principle the "soul", the "spring of the state".

Republic- power belongs to the people (democracy) or part of it (aristocracy). Its fundamental principle is political virtue(love of country).

Monarchy- sole government based on laws, the principle - honor, and its bearer is the nobility.

Despotism- the antipode of the republic and the monarchy, the government is implemented on lawlessness and arbitrariness, but rests on fear. In the struggle against despotism, climate and mores are powerless, and human nature will constantly revolt against despotic rule. Montesquieu believed (following the ancient tradition) that despotism

applicable for large states, a monarchy - medium, a republic - small (such as a policy). The latter is also possible on a vast territory, with a federal structure. Thus, the possibility of forming a republic in large states is theoretically predicted.

To achieve freedom, to prevent the degeneration of the monarchy into despotism, it is necessary to properly organize the supreme power, to exercise separation of powers legislative, executive, judicial. Moreover, each of them should belong to different state bodies, have special powers to limit and restrain each other, so that "one power stops the other." He saw the ideal of such a state in England. Montesquieu's triad of power has become a classic formula constitutionalism. He is considered the founder of the geographical school in sociology, representatives of the historical school of law, comparative law, the theory of violence and other areas will turn to his ideas.

Political
radicalism
J.-J. Rousseau

A bright and original thinker in the history of political and legal doctrines was a French thinker and writer Jean Jacques Rousseau(1712 - 1778). His main works in this area are "Discourse on the origin and foundations of inequality between people"(1754) and "On the Social Contract, or Causes of Political Law"(1762). The name of Rousseau is associated with radical trends in the political thought of pre-revolutionary France: the ideas of equality, social justice, popular sovereignty, the legality of resistance to tyranny. The program put forward by him, corresponding to the requirements of the radical poor, the peasants, was called political radicalism.

Rousseau uses the idea of ​​the state of nature as a hypothesis (hence the name of the approach "hypothetical natural state") to present his views on the entire process of human life, including political and legal thought.

According to Rousseau, in the state of nature there is no private property, everyone is free and equal, there was nothing public, not even language. People lived like animals. The inequality here is only physical.

But as knowledge and experience are accumulated, tools of labor are improved, social ties are formed, social formations are born - families, nationalities. Period begins

J.-J. Рycco

the exit of a person from a state of savagery into the public, remaining free - this was "the happiest era."

And then the development of civilization was associated with the regression of freedom (the appearance and growth of social inequality). First - property inequality. It is associated with the emergence of private ownership of land, contrary to the state of nature. The latter has been replaced civil society:

The first who, having fenced off a plot of land, came up with the idea of ​​declaring: "This is mine!" and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society.

In such a society, there is a constant struggle between the rich and the poor.

Society came to a state of the most terrible war: the human race, mired in vices and despair, could no longer turn back, nor abandon the ill-fated acquisitions it had made.

Then came political inequality. In order to protect themselves and their property, the rich drew up a "cunning plan": supposedly to protect themselves from mutual strife, they proposed to establish public authorities and laws. So the state was formed and people were divided into ruling and subject. The adopted laws abolished natural freedom, secured property, and for the benefit of a few "condemned since then the entire human race to labor, slavery and poverty." The state arose on a contractual basis by "clever usurpation." A situation has arisen where "a person is born free, but everywhere he is in chains."

The last redistribution of inequality comes with the degeneration of the state into despotism. There are no laws in despotism, all people are equal - they are nothing before a tyrant, they are equal in their lack of rights. The people were in a state of nature. The circle is closed.

Rousseau's doctrine of the origin of inequality was unparalleled. This is a completely new doctrine, where an attempt is made to trace the emergence and development of society, to explain the internal dynamics of this process. The thinker's reasoning about the progressive development of society due to the deepening of social inequality contains elements of historical dialectics.

According to Rousseau, rights do not exist in the state of nature. People have neither rights nor morals (animals). Thus, in Rousseau, natural law and natural law are devoid of legal meaning, but act as a natural for a person, that is, an exclusively moral category. As for the second state of nature (despotism), there is no law here either, since everything is determined by force.

In a despotic state, everything rests on force and, therefore, the use of force against a tyrant is natural and legitimate, he cannot complain about violence, since "violence supported him, violence overthrows him: everything goes its natural way." As long as the people endure and obey, this is good, but, having cast off the tyrant, it will do even better. Such is Rousseau's logic in substantiating the justification of the violent revolutionary overthrow of absolutism.

Rebellion against a despot, according to Rousseau, is legitimate only according to the laws of the despot, but in itself does not lead to the formation of legitimate power. The basis of law can only be treaty And agreement- political law (based on the contract).

The original contract created a situation where there is a government and laws in society, but there is no law, legal relations between people. Therefore, Rousseau correlates the idea of ​​the contractual origin of power not with the past, but with the future, with the political ideal. The transition to a state of freedom presupposes the conclusion of a genuine social contract, when, instead of imaginary rights based on force, a person acquires civil rights, including property, protected by society. In this way, individual rights acquire a legal character.

The consequences of the social contract, according to Rousseau, are as follows:

Immediately, instead of individuals entering into contractual relations, this act of association creates a conditional collective whole. This Whole receives as a result of such an act its unity, its common self, its life and will. This juridical entity, thus formed by the unification of all others, was once called the Civic Community, but is now called the Republic, or Political Organism: its members call this Political Organism the State when it is passive, the Sovereign when it is active, the Power when compared him with those like him. As for the members of the association, they collectively receive the name of the people, and individually are called citizens, as participating in the sovereignty and served as subject to the laws of the State.

The concept of the social contract substantiated by Rousseau expresses, on the whole, his ideal ideas about the state and law.

As a result of an agreement of equals, a republic, where the individual, submitting to society, becomes free, since he is not subject to anyone in particular. "... I call the Republic any State governed by laws, whatever the manner of governing it," Rousseau noted. Sovereignty belongs to the people: it exercises legislative power, and freedom is when citizens are under the protection of the law and they themselves accept it. The idea of ​​the sovereignty of the people, the principle of equality and freedom- the core of Rousseau's political system.

popular sovereignty has two characteristics: it is inalienable and indivisible. Therefore, Rousseau is against a representative body: the decision is made by the whole people (men), since it is not bound by previously adopted laws, it can always change the decisions made, even the terms of the original contract. In connection with the above arguments against the idea of ​​separation of powers, Rousseau countered it with the idea of ​​delimitation of functions and subordination of the executive power to the sovereign.

Rousseau reveals the mechanism for identifying the interests of a sovereign people with the help of concepts: the will of all(volonte de tous) - the sum of interests and general will(volonte generate) - is formed by subtracting mutually exclusive interests. The general will is the point of intersection of the will of the citizens.

The idea of ​​these reasoning lies in the search for a solution to the political problem - the coordination of the interests of the individual - class - society. With this approach, if the laws are an expression of the general will, then there is no need for coordination - the body will coordinate everything itself.

Under the rule of the people, it is only possible republic, and the form of organization will be determined by the number of persons involved in government - monarchy, aristocracy or democracy. The detailed organization of the social system is the business of a particular republic. Private property is possible in a republic (Rousseau is the ideologist of the peasantry), but it must be small and based on individual labor.

Rousseau's doctrine is a turning point in the history of political and legal doctrines of the 18th century, and his authority was so great that in fact there are no subsequent thinkers who would not turn to his ideas.

Utopian
socialism
Morelli

In pre-revolutionary France there are theories of state and communal socialism, where a society based on collective property is theoretically substantiated. The author of the first one was Morelli(1715 -?). He expounded his teachings in "The Code of Nature, or the True Spirit of Her Laws" And "Exemplary Legislation, According to the Intentions of Nature", and also in a utopian poem "Basiliade".

Starting from the theory of natural law, Morelli portrayed the state of nature as golden age, when people were free and subject laws of nature(property was common, labor was obligatory, and the fathers of families ruled). There was no social contract. And people's exit from the state of nature (rejection of the laws of nature) was the result of a "heap of mistakes." At some stage, due to overpopulation, people faced difficulties. And instead of clarifying responsibilities, reviewing areas of activity, someone divided the property. Private property arose, "a general plague - a private interest - this debilitating disease of everyone." And then many "hard and bloody laws against which nature never ceases to resent" were adopted. And as long as private property exists, the transformation of democracy into an aristocracy, and then into a monarchy and tyranny, is inevitable. Consequently, political transformations and the search for the right forms are meaningless.

Since by freedom Morelli understood "the unhindered and fearless use of everything that can satisfy natural (legitimate) desires", then first law, in his opinion would read:

In society, nothing will be owned or owned by anyone, except those things that he will really use for his needs and pleasures or for his daily labor.

To the "basic and sacred" laws he included the right to work, the right to life, the right to receive food and support.

In addition to the "basic and sacred," the "Code of Nature" contains other laws (118) that regulate in detail the issues of economic activity, life, education, and science. Regulation pursued the goal of preventing mistakes, because there is only one truth, but there are many errors, moreover, the interests of society were placed above the individual.

Form of organization power includes a nationwide structure, where the rulers are at the head of the nation and provinces, and the cities and

tribe - heads. All positions are filled in order of priority. The production structure represents the councils of cities, which include masters and foremen of production.

An original system of punishments was proposed. So, for murder or an attempt to destroy sacred laws, to introduce private property, life imprisonment was provided for in a special cave in the cemetery.

The way to restore the laws of nature is in education, so that people understand the harm of private property.

Communal
socialism
J. Mellier

Priest Jean Mellier ( 1664 - 1729) at work "Will" outlined theory of communal socialism. at the heart of his teaching is a peculiar understanding of natural law as the right of the working people, directed against the united monarch and the nobility and, with the help of the church, robbing and ruining the people. The modern state was formed as a result of deceit, when tyrants, priests, nobles and officials climbed onto the "back of the working people". Private property gave birth to greed, and at the expense of it the most cunning, evil and unworthy were enriched. Therefore, private property, justified by the church, is a delusion.

Based on the logic of reasoning, Mellier's program honestly indicated who the revolution should be directed against: the tribal nobility, officials, those who do nothing but have fun.

The basis of the projected society is made up of communities (in a village, in a city, in a small town), where everyone is engaged in useful work and has everything equally good. About governance in such a society, Mellier wrote:

All this should take place not under the guidance of persons who want to tyrannically command others, but exclusively under the guidance of the most wise and well-intentioned persons striving to develop and maintain the well-being of the people.

The philosophical and religious aims of Mellier's "Testament" were published in 1762, and the provisions containing the whole complex of revolutionary and communist ideas were published only in 1864.

revolutionary
Jacobin teachings

The political and legal doctrines and programs of the ideologists of the Enlightenment were embodied in the French Revolution (1789 - 1794), during which a natural delimitation of political forces was observed. The program was most clearly developed by the Jacobins, who represented the interests of the petty bourgeoisie, the peasantry

David. Death of Marat

and urban lower classes. The leaders of the Jacobins were Maximilian Robespierre(1758 - 1794) and Jean Paul Marat(1743 - 1793). They understood that for the final elimination of feudalism in France, the defense of the gains of the revolution and the establishment of democracy, it was necessary to carry out a series of revolutionary transformations. Based on this, Robespierre expressed the idea of two governments, constitutional - to ensure a peaceful life of the republic on the basis of laws and revolutionary - to win freedom in the struggle. "Revolution is the war of freedom against its enemies; the Constitution is the regime of victorious and peaceful freedom."

Future constitutional arrangement France was represented by the Jacobins in the form of a democratic republic. The Jacobin constitution of 1793 (Robespierre's draft) provided, in particular, that the acts adopted by the legislative assembly must be submitted for approval by the electors.

Initially own was not among the natural and inalienable human rights, however, in the Declaration of Rights adopted by the Convention, property (along with equality, freedom and security) is classified as a natural and inalienable human right, and the government was established to ensure them.

Robespierre and Marat were supporters of terror, although they emphasized that terror should be launched "with the most urgent needs of the fatherland."

History of Political and Legal Doctrines: Textbook for Universities Team of Authors

Chapter 9 POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES OF THE AGE OF RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION

Chapter 9 POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES OF THE AGE OF RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION

1. General characteristics

The Renaissance and the Reformation are the largest and most significant events of the late Western European Middle Ages. Despite the chronological belonging to the era of feudalism, they, in their socio-historical essence, were anti-feudal, early bourgeois phenomena that undermined the foundations of the old medieval world. A break with the dominant, but already turning into an anachronism, feudal way of life, the establishment of fundamentally new standards of human existence - that was the main content of the Renaissance and the Reformation. Naturally, this content changed and developed, acquiring in each of the countries of Western Europe specific features, national and cultural overtones.

When they talk about the Renaissance, they mean the period of the crisis of the Roman Catholic Church and the orthodox religion it defends, the formation of an anti-scholastic type of thinking, humanistic culture, art and worldview.

The Reformation, on the other hand, was a movement against the feudal system, clothed in a religious form and bourgeois in social nature, an uprising against the Catholicism that defended this system, a struggle against the exorbitant claims of the Roman Curia.

The Renaissance and the Reformation are characterized by such common moments as the breaking of feudal and the emergence of early capitalist relations, the strengthening of the authority of the bourgeois strata of society, a critical revision (in some cases, denial) of religious teachings, a serious shift towards secularization, "secularization" of public consciousness.

Being in their socio-historical meaning anti-feudal, pro-bourgeois phenomena, the Renaissance and the Reformation in their highest (more precisely, the highest) results surpassed the spirit of the bourgeoisie, went beyond it. Thanks to this, such patterns of socioculture have come to life that have become organic and permanently relevant components of the entire subsequent progressive development of civilized mankind. A well-known set of political and legal values ​​and ideas is also included in a number of such remarkable examples.

In the process of developing the latter, the figures of the Renaissance and the Reformation constantly turned to the spiritual heritage of antiquity, intensively used it. Of course, the Western European Middle Ages also knew this kind of treatment. However, the very fragments of ancient culture that were selected and transferred to the context of the modern feudal Middle Ages, and most importantly, the methods, motives and goals of their use were significantly different than in the practice of the Renaissance and the Reformation.

The ideologists of the Renaissance and the Reformation did not just draw the ideas they needed about the state, law, politics, law, etc. from the treasury of the spiritual culture of ancient civilization. Their demonstrative appeal to the era of antiquity was primarily an expression of rejection, denial of the political and legal orders and doctrines of feudal society that dominated and sanctioned by Catholicism. It was this attitude that ultimately determined the direction of the search in the ancient heritage for state-study ideas, theoretical and legal constructions (models) needed to solve new historical problems that confronted the people of the Renaissance and the Reformation. This attitude also determined the nature of the interpretations of the relevant political and legal views, and influenced the choice of forms for their practical application.

In the struggle against the medieval conservative-protective ideology, a system of qualitatively different socio-philosophical views arose. Its core was the idea of ​​the need to affirm self-worth of the individual, recognition dignity and autonomy of every individual, providing conditions for the free development of man, giving everyone the opportunity to achieve their own happiness on their own. Such a humanistic attitude of the emerging system of socio-philosophical views prompted us to find prototypes in the ancient worldview that were consonant with the aforementioned attitude, “working” for it.

In the worldview of the Renaissance, it was believed that the fate of a person should be determined not by his nobility, origin, rank, confessional status, but exclusively by his personal prowess, activity, nobility in deeds and thoughts. The thesis that one of the main components of the dignity of an individual - citizenship, disinterested proactive service to the common good. In turn, the idea of ​​a state with a republican structure, based on the principles of equality (in the sense of the elimination of estate privileges and restrictions) and justice, began to be summed up under the concept of the common good. The guarantees of equality and justice, the guarantee of individual freedom were seen in the publication and observance of laws, the content of which is consistent with human nature. As part of the revivalist worldview, the old concept of the social contract was updated. With its help, both the reasons for the emergence of the state and the legitimacy of state power were explained. Moreover, the emphasis was placed on the meaning of the free expression of one's will by all people organized in the state, usually good by nature.

The situation was somewhat different in the ideology of the Reformation. True, it recognized a certain value of earthly life and the practical activity of people. The right of a person to make decisions on important issues for him was recognized, partly due to the certain role of secular institutions. Such and similar provisions allow us to say that pre-Christian and non-Christian authors had some influence on the political and legal thought of the Reformation. However, its main source was Holy Scripture, the Bible (especially the New Testament).

Returning to a general assessment of the socio-historical significance of the political and legal ideas of the Renaissance and the Reformation, it is necessary to clarify what specific content is meant when these ideas are attested as early bourgeois. Firstly, "early bourgeois" means the denial of the feudal-medieval economic order, political and legal institutions, spiritual values ​​from the standpoint of a society that is higher on the historical ladder - from the standpoint of the bourgeois system. Secondly, it presupposes the coincidence on a number of points of the vital interests of heterogeneous social groups that were subjected to exploitation, oppression, harassment, and restrictions in the feudal era. Thirdly, “early bourgeoisness” presupposes the underdevelopment (or absence at all) of those specific economic, political, social and other relations that mature and become dominant with the victory of the bourgeois mode of production, the bourgeois way of life. The originality and greatness of many ideas of the Renaissance and the Reformation, which accompanied and accelerated the beginning of the emergence of a new era in world history, lies precisely in the fact that they are still open to the perception of universal human sociocultural values ​​and favoring them.

This text is an introductory piece. From the book History of Political and Legal Doctrines: A Textbook for Universities author Team of authors

Chapter 5 POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES IN ANCIENT GREECE 1. General characteristics Statehood in Ancient Greece arises at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. in the form of independent and independent policies - individual city-states, which included, along with the city

From the book History of political and legal doctrines. Textbook / Ed. Doctor of Law, Professor O. E. Leist. author Team of authors

Chapter 6 POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES IN ANCIENT ROME 1. General characteristics The history of ancient Roman political and legal thought covers a whole millennium and in its evolution reflects significant changes in socio-economic and political-legal life

From the author's book

3. Political and legal ideas of the Reformation In the first half of the XVI century. in Western and Central Europe, a broad social movement unfolded, anti-feudal in its socio-economic and political essence, religious (anti-Catholic) in its ideological

From the author's book

Chapter 11 POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES IN THE HOLLAND IN THE 17TH CENTURY 1. General characteristics Holland is the first country in Europe where, during a long national liberation struggle against the domination of feudal-monarchical Spain (second half of the 16th - early 17th centuries) to power

From the author's book

Chapter 12 POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES IN ENGLAND IN XVII

From the author's book

Chapter 13 POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES OF THE AGE OF EUROPEAN ENLIGHTENMENT 1. General characteristics Enlightenment is an influential general cultural movement of the era of transition from feudalism to capitalism. It was an important part of the struggle which the then young bourgeoisie and

16th century - a century of great spiritual, cultural, political, religious changes and upheavals in the life of Europe. In a number of countries (France, Spain, Austria-Germany, England, Russia, etc.) large and strong noble monarchies took shape. In the process of overcoming feudal fragmentation, large feudal lords were deprived of their former power and privileges. Centralized absolutist states contributed to the formation and consolidation of nations, claimed to unite and represent the nation, people, country. At the same time, the political authority of the Catholic Church, which until then had been the only unifying force in Western and Central Europe, was falling. Even more damage was done to its spiritual monopoly, religious and theological authority. Religious movements demanding the restoration of the apostolic church in the 16th century. took on a mass character, engulfed almost all of Western Europe, and escalated into religious wars in a number of countries. These wars often merged with attempts by large feudal lords to restore their former power and independence, or with popular movements against noble privileges, the estate system, and the feudal dependence of the peasantry.

Along with the struggle of religious movements, rationalistic criticism of the religious worldview intensified and developed. By the end of the XV century. the culture of the Renaissance (Renaissance), which originated in the Italian city-states as early as the 14th century, spread to other countries of Western Europe.

The turbulent processes of that era led to profound changes in the ideology of Western European society.

In the XVI century. natural science, philosophy, realistic art have achieved success; however, the originality of this era was that the social forces that fought against feudalism and the church that sanctified it had not yet broken with the religious worldview. The general slogan of the mass anti-feudal movements was a call for church reform, for the revival of true, original Christianity, distorted by the clergy. In the peculiar conditions of the XVI century. Holy Scripture became an ideological weapon in the struggle against the Catholic Church and the feudal system, and its translation from Latin into the vernacular became a means of revolutionary agitation and propaganda. With the texts of Scripture, the reformers substantiated the demand for the revival of the apostolic church; the peasantry and urban rank and file found in the New Testament the ideas of equality and the “millennium kingdom”, which did not know the feudal hierarchy, exploitation, and social antagonisms. The Reformation, which began in Germany, covered a number of countries in Western and Central Europe.

In the same century, the culture of the Renaissance became common to all Western European countries. The background and basis of the Renaissance was humanism - the desire of a number of scientists, philosophers, politicians, artists to replace the study of the texts of the Bible, the decrees of the Councils and the writings of the Church Fathers, traditional for medieval scholasticism, with the study of man, his psychology and morality. Representatives of humanism opposed church-scholastic learning ( studio divina) secular sciences and education ( studia humana). The secular (humanitarian) sciences did not study God with his hypostases, but man, his relationships with other people and aspirations, using not the scholastically applied syllogism, but observation, experience, rationalistic assessments and conclusions. Humanism naturally led to a sharp increase in interest in the ancient heritage. If the Reformation appealed to primitive Christianity, which did not know the hierarchy and complex rituals of the Catholic Church, then humanism is organically connected with the revival of ancient (pre-Christian) antiquity, when philosophy and science were not servants of theology, and human nature was not interpreted as the center of evil and sinfulness. An additional incentive to study the ancient heritage was the flight to Western Europe after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (1453) of hundreds and thousands of educated Greeks; having settled in different countries, they taught the Greek language and created the first translations of the best works of the classics of ancient Greece.

Humanism XV-XVI centuries. did not become a movement that embraced the broad masses of the people. The culture of the Renaissance was the property of a relatively small layer of educated people from different countries of Europe, connected by common scientific, philosophical, aesthetic interests, who communicated using the common European language of that time - Latin. Most humanists had a negative attitude towards religious movements, including reformation ones, whose members, in turn, recognized only the religious form of ideology and were hostile to deism and atheism.

The term itself revival(Renaissance) was borrowed from Cicero (I century BC), who meant by it the cultural development of man. For the first time, the concept of rebirth was used by the Italian writer D. Boccaccio (author of The Decameron), saying that Giotto (Italian artist) revived ancient art, and this concept became the term defining the whole era thanks to the art historian Vasari. The biggest culturological myth has been fixed in the term revival. The creators of this myth sought to prove that the roots of European civilizations go back to antiquity, and not to the wild barbarism of the Middle Ages. In contrast to antiquity about medieval culture, the figures of the Renaissance spoke down, the culture of the revival was formed as a denial, as a rejection of medieval culture. Medieval culture could not disappear without a trace, first of all, the Renaissance was not a non-religious culture, since its figures were believers, and the plots and themes of their works bore the influence of medieval religion. Renaissance culture is a synthesis of ancient physical beauty and medieval Christian spirituality (the desire to convey the inner world of a person).

In this era, the ideology of a new class is being formed, and at the first stages this ideology was progressive.

Principles:

- "Natural conformity" - a materialistic interpretation of the laws of nature.
- Anthropocentrism - man is the crown of nature.
- Rationalism - a person learns the world around him through reason.

Gradually, bourgeois ideology leads to the gradual destruction of the medieval concept to the emergence of a new doctrine of the intrinsic value of the human person, of the unlimited possibilities of man, these ideas will form the basis of humanism - a doctrine that will become the value basis of the Renaissance. The cornerstone will be Dante's Divine Comedy, a transition from the old to the new. The earthly destiny of a person, the manifestation of his personal beginning, the ability of a person to accomplish an earthly feat on his own (Dante's words). Humanism was based on the principles of bourgeois ideology + a joyful perception of the world, the demand for the fullness of life. Humanists believed that in a person it is not his origin that is important, but his personal qualities (mental enterprise, self-esteem, will), the ideal humanists considered a universal person, a creator person. The possibilities of man are unlimited, for the mind of man is equal to the divine mind, and man is a mortal god. Educated people in the Renaissance were honored in the same way as saints were honored. The humanists brought freedom of judgment, independence in relation to authorities, and a bold critical spirit into the spiritual culture. Man acted as the creator of his own destiny, humanism did not just become an ideology, that is, the principle of culture - it was a world social movement that embraced not only the third estate (bourgeoisie), but even the highest religious spheres - politicians, is affirmed by the masses. Humanists open circles, give lectures at universities. The criterion of fidelity humanists considered experience, therefore, the theoretical justification of utopian socialism, social pragmatism.