Social Values In Transition: 1789-1815, Alternate Visions Essay, Research Paper

Saint-Simon wanted to see scientists at the top of the political structure. He proposed the idea of a scientific priesthood of the Religion of Newton. Later he added industrialists and artists to the religion believing that emotions must be satisfied as well as reason.

Francois Marie Charles Fourier wanted to liberate human nature. His theory was: What makes men happy? Their passions. What makes them miserable? The inhibition of their passions. Therefore the legislator must create a society in which men and women can indulge their passions to the full yet safely and harmoniously. Even destructive passions could be employed as butchers.

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. In it he states, ? 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, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Government is instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government. That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to abolish it, and to institute new Government . . . . . ?

Robert Owen built a model industrial community with decent housing for the worker?s, schools, sanitation, and non-profit making stores. In the factories he owned the working conditions were measured against the prevailing standards. They were almost humane. He was trying to improve the worker?s lot, while making a nice profit in the meantime. Owen may be regarded as the founder of co-operative socialism.

Thomas Malthus argued that any attempt to feed the starving masses only increased the masses and their misery. He believed that mathematical laws presided over human affairs. However when he applied them to the procreative process, the results were glum. In his opinion the gap between the supply of food and the number of people to be fed was bound to increase, for population increased at a geometrical ratio and food at a arithmetical ratio. There was a bright side however; there would be wars, famines, epidemics and so on. But that would not be enough. This problem would never be solved.

Jeremy Bentham proved mathematically that the industrialist?s self interest best promoted the working man?s happiness. The premises of his theory, that the greatest good is the greatest happiness of the greatest number had not originated with him. The novelty of his system lies in his proposition that moral value is a function of the quality and quantity of pleasure. Usefulness and goodness therefore are identical: what gives the most pleasure to the most people is the most useful and therefore the best.