reason

What is the raison d'etat ( reason for the existence of the state)? Compare and contrast the views presented by theorists on the purpose, role, and existence of governments: Jean Bodin, Jacques Bossuet, James II, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. Discuss how political views reflected evolving views on human nature, humanity's place, and the Glorious Revolution.

The concept of human liberty and the purpose of the state in Western Civilization have evolved over time. Jean Bodin, the French philosopher and jurist, was one of the first philosophers to advance the idea that as well as the loyalty the populace owed to the sovereign, the sovereign likewise had an obligation to educate the population in kind. Bodin wrote in his Six Books of the Commonwealth (Republique): "those who have written on the duties of magistrates and other similar books are wrong to support the idea that the Estates of the...
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