Term Papers on Human Nature And The Declaration Of Independence

Term Paper Title	Human Nature And The Declaration Of Independence
# of Words	1548
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	6.19

Human Nature and the Declaration of Independence

by Jake Repp

      I would like to show that the view of human nature that is shown in The
Declaration of Independence  is taken more from the Bible and that that view is
in disagreement with two of the three esays given in class. The Biblical
perspective of man is that he was created by a divine Creator with a specific
plan in mind and made in the image of his Creator. Men are entitled to the
pursuit of happiness but also required by the Laws of Nature and Nature's God to
be the just attendants of the land and of the governed. The Nature of man is
sinful so that they must be governed but those who govern must be accountable to
God just as the founding fathers were. God is Sovereign over men as the final
Judge.

     The Declaration of Independence  is a document co-written by the
founding fathers in order to declare their independence of the Crown of Britain.
They belived this to be within their rights indowed upon them by their Creator.
Believing that they were under religious persecution and certain forms of
"absolute tyranny" from Britian the founding fathers felt it was necessary to
break the bonds that connected them to the monarchy. Not only did they feel they
had the God given right to do that but they also based their arguments on the
workings of governments of the time and  contemporary theories of government of
writers and political-social thinkers of their time.

     The three essays that were given to us in class, Politics  by Aristotle,
Of  Commonwealth by Thomas Hobbes, and Of the Limits of Government  by John
Locke are all very intersting essays on how government is supposed to funtion.
Although the founding fathers probably read all three of these essays and
simialar philosphical thought went into the writing of The Declaration of
Independence  I think that the only essay of the really used by the founding
fathers was Of the Limits of Government  by John Locke. Unfortunately the
version of this essay given to us in class was truncated and consisted actually
of two different essays written by John Locke. .  Thomas Hobbes [1588-1679] is
the founder of the theories of Hobbism which calls on absolute monarchy in order
to deal with what he calls inherently selfish, aggrandizing nature of humanity.

     Aristotle[384-322 B.C.] was a Greek philosopher who studied under Plato.
Aristotlelian logic (Aristotle's deductive means of reasoning) especially
sylogism_ dealt with relationship between proposistions in terms of their form
instead of their content. By using this kind of deductive reasoning with a major
premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion; for example, All human beings are
mortal, the major premis, I am a human being, the minor premise, therefore, I am
mortal, the conclusion Aristotle found all of his truth. I can't connect
Aristotle's view of human nature with that of the Founding Fathers and since an
omnipotent deity was not feasible for Aristotle (since he couldn't see it and
therefor couldn't belive in it) he comes to a different conclusion that  doesn't
agree what  the founding fathers said. Aristotle's begins by analyzing the
political structure starting at what he see's as the most basic of human unions
(man and woman). Aristotle writes,

     "In the first place there must be a union of those who can not exist
without each other; namely of male and female, that the race may continue (and
this union which is formed not of deliberate purpose, but because, in common
with other animals and with plants, mankind have a natural desire to leave
behind an image of themselves)..."

     The first difference between The Declaration of Independence  and
Politics  is seen when you compare this quote with one from The Declaration of
Independence ,

     "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights..."

     The founding father's saw the deliberate purpose of a Creator in nature
where Aristotle sees mankind on par with plants ...

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