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Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes

)]] Thomas Hobbes (April 5, 1588–December 4, 1679) was a noted English political philosopher, most famous for his book Leviathan (1651). Hobbes also wrote numerous other works on political philosophy and other matters, providing an account of human nature as self-interested cooperation. He was a contemporary of Francis Bacon as well as René Descartes and wrote one of the replies to Descartes's Meditations.

Early life and education

Hobbes was born in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England on April 5, 1588. His father, the vicar of Charlton and Westport, was forced to leave the town, abandoning his three children to the care of an older brother Francis. Hobbes was educated at Westport church from the age of four, passed to the Malmesbury school and then to a private school kept by a young man named Robert Latimer, a graduate from Oxford University. Hobbes was a good pupil, and around 1603 he was sent to Oxford and entered at Magdalen Hall (see Hertford College). The principal of Magdalen was the aggressive Puritan John Wilkinson, and he had some influence on Hobbes. At university, Hobbes appears to have followed his own curriculum; he was "little attracted by the scholastic learning". He did not complete his degree until 1608, but he was recommended by Wilkinson as tutor to William, the son of William Cavendish, Baron of Hardwick (and later Earl of Devonshire), and began a lifelong connection with that family. Hobbes became a companion to the younger William and they both took part in a grand tour in 1610. Hobbes was exposed to European scientific and critical methods during the tour in contrast to the scholastic philosophy which he had learned in Oxford. His scholarly efforts at the time were aimed at a careful study of classic Greek and Latin authors, the outcome of which was, in 1628, his great translation of Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, the first translation of that work into English. Hobbes believed that Thucydides's account of the Peloponnesian War showed that democratic government could not survive war or provide stability and was thus undesirable. Although he associated with literary figures like Ben Jonson and thinkers such as Francis Bacon he did not extend his efforts into philosophy until after 1629. His employer Cavendish, then the Earl of Devonshire, died of the plague in June 1628. The widowed countess dismissed Hobbes but he soon found work, again a tutor, this time to the son of Sir Gervase Clifton. This task, chiefly spent in Paris, ended in 1631 when he again found work with the Cavendish family, tutoring the son of his previous pupil. Over the next seven years as well as tutoring he expanded his own knowledge of philosophy, awakening in him curiosity over key philosophic debates. He visited Florence in 1636 and later was a regular debater in philosophic groups in Paris, held together by Marin Mersenne. From 1637 he considered himself a philosopher.

In Paris

Hobbes's first area of study was an interest in the physical doctrine of motion. Despite his interest in this phenomenon, he disdained experimental work as in physics. He went on to conceive the system of thought to the elaboration of which he would devote his life. His scheme was first to work out, in a separate treatise, a systematic doctrine of body, showing how physical phenomena were universally explicable in terms of motion, at least as motion or mechanical action was then understood. He then singled out Man from the realm of Nature. Then, in another treatise, he showed what specific bodily motions were involved in the production of the peculiar phenomena of sensation, knowledge, affections and passions whereby Man came into relation with Man. Finally he considered, in his crowning treatise, how Men were moved to enter into society, and argued how this must be regulated if Men were not to fall back into "brutishness and misery". Thus he proposed to unite the separate phenomena of Body, Man and the State. Hobbes came home, in 1637, to a country riven with discontent which disrupted him from the orderly execution of his philosophic plan. However, by the time of the Short Parliament he had written not only his Human Nature but also De corpore politico, which were published together ten years later as The Elements of Law. This means his initial political doctrine was not shaped by the English Civil War. When in November 1640 the Long Parliament succeeded to the Short, Hobbes felt he was a marked man by the circulation of his treatise and fled to Paris. He did not return for eleven years. In Paris he rejoined the coterie about Mersenne, and wrote a critique of the Meditations on First Philosophy of Descartes, which was printed as third among the sets of "Objections" appended, with "Replies" from Descartes in 1641. A different set of remarks on other works by Descartes succeeded only in ending all correspondence between the two. He also extended his own works a little, working on the third section, De Cive, which was finished in November 1641. Although it was initially only circulated privately, it was well received. He then returned to hard work on the first two sections of his work and published little except for a short treatise on optics (Tractatus opticus) included in the collection of scientific tracts published by Mersenne as Cogitata physico-mathematica in 1644. He built a good reputation in philosophic circles and in 1645 was chosen with Descartes, Gilles de Roberval and others, to referee the controversy between John Pell and Longomontanus over the problem of squaring the circle.

Civil war in England

The English Civil War broke out in 1642, and when the Royalist cause began to decline from the middle of 1644 there was an exodus of the king's supporters to Europe. Many came to Paris and were known to Hobbes. This revitalised Hobbes's political interests and the De Cive was republished and more widely distributed. The printing was begun in 1646 by Samuel de Sorbiere through the Elzevir press at Amsterdam with a new preface and some new notes in reply to objections. In 1647, Hobbes was engaged as mathematical instructor to the young Charles, Prince of Wales, who had come over from Jersey around July. This engagement lasted until 1648 when Charles went to Holland. The company of the exiled royalists led Hobbes to produce an English book to set forth his theory of civil government in relation to the political crisis resulting from the war. It was based on an unpublished treatise of 1640. The State, it now seemed to Hobbes, might be regarded as a great artificial man or monster (Leviathan), composed of men, with a life that might be traced from its generation under pressure of human needs to its dissolution through civil strife proceeding from human passions. The work was closed with a general "Review and Conclusion," in direct response to the war which raised the question of the subject's right to change allegiance when a former sovereign's power to protect was irrecoverably gone. Also he took advantage of the Commonwealth to indulge in rationalistic criticism of religious doctrines. The first public edition was titled Elementa philosophica de cive. During the years of the composition of Leviathan he remained in or near Paris. In 1647 Hobbes was overtaken by a serious illness which disabled him for six months. On recovering from this near fatal disorder, he resumed his literary task, and carried it steadily forward to completion by the year 1650, having also translated his prior Latin work into English. In 1650, to prepare the way for his magnum opus, he allowed the publication of his earliest treatise, divided into two separate small volumes (Human Nature, or the Fundamental Elements of Policie, and De corpore politico, or the Elements of Law, Moral and Politick). In 1651 he published his translation of the De Cive under the title of Philosophical Rudiments concerning Government and Society. Meanwhile the printing of the greater work was proceeding, and finally it appeared about the middle of 1651, under the title of Leviathan, or the Matter, Form and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil, with a famous frontpiece in which, from behind hills overlooking a landscape, there towered the body (above the waist) of a crowned giant, made up of tiny figures of human beings and bearing sword and crozier in the two hands. The work had immediate impact. Soon, Hobbes was more lauded and decried than any other thinker of his time. However, the first effect of its publication was to sever his link with the exiled royalists, forcing him to appeal to the revolutionary English government for protection. The exiles may very well have killed him; the secularist spirit of his book greatly angered both Anglicans and French Catholics. Hobbes fled back home, arriving in London in the winter of 1651. Following his submission to the council of state he was allowed to subside into private life in Fetter Lane.

Leviathan

crozier In Leviathan, Hobbes set out his doctrine of modern natural right as the foundation of societies and legitimate governments. In the natural condition of mankind, while some men may be stronger or more intelligent than others, none are so strong and smart as to be beyond a fear of violent death. When threatened with death, man in his natural state cannot help but defend himself in any way possible. Self-defense against violent death is Hobbes's highest human necessity, and rights are borne of necessity. In the state of nature, then, each of us has a right to everything in the world. Due to the scarcity of things in the world, there is a constant, and rights-based, "war of all against all" (bellum omnium contra omnes). Life in the state of nature is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" (xiii). But war isn't in man's best interest. According to Hobbes, man has a self-interested and materialistic desire to end war — "the passions that incline men to peace are fear of death, desire of such things as are necessary to commodious living, and a hope by their industry to obtain them" (xiii, 14). He forms peaceful societies by entering into a social contract. According to Hobbes, society is a population beneath an authority, to whom all individuals in that society surrender just enough of their natural right for the authority to be able to ensure internal peace and a common defense. This sovereign, whether monarch, aristocracy or democracy (though Hobbes prefers monarchy), should be a Leviathan, an absolute authority. Law, for Hobbes, is the enforcement of contracts. The political theory of Leviathan varies little from that set out in two earlier works, The Elements of Law and De Cive (On The Citizen). (A minor aside: Hobbes almost never uses the phrase "state of nature" in his works.) Hobbes's leviathan state is infinitely authoritative in matters pertaining to aggression, one man waging war on another, or any matters pertaining to the cohesiveness of the state. It can say nothing about what any man does otherwise – so long as one man does no harm to any other, the sovereign should keep its hands off him (however, since there is no power above the sovereign, there is nothing to prevent the sovereign breaking this rule). A sovereign also maintains equality within the state, since the common people would be "washed out" in the glare of their sovereign, which he likens to the stars in the face of the sun. In essence, Hobbes's political doctrine is "do no harm." His negative version of the Golden Rule, in chapter xv, 35, reads: "Do not that to another, which thou wouldst not have done to thyself." This is contrasted with the Christian golden rule, which encourages actively doing unto others: for Hobbes, that is a recipe for social chaos. Leviathan was written during the English Civil war; much of the book is occupied with demonstrating the necessity of a strong central authority to avoid the evil of discord and civil war. Any abuses of power by this authority are to be accepted as the price of peace. In particular, the doctrine of separation of powers is rejected: the sovereign must control civil, military, judicial and ecclesiastical powers. In Leviathan, Hobbes explicitly states that the sovereign has authority to assert power over matters of faith and doctrine, and that not to do so is a recipe for discord. Hobbes presents his own religious theory, but states that he would defer to the will of the sovereign (when that was re-established: again, Leviathan was written during the Civil War) as to whether his theory was acceptable. Tuck argues that it further marks Hobbes as a supporter of the religious policy of the post-Civil War English republic, Independency. The word "Hobbesian" is sometimes used in modern English to refer to a situation in which there is unrestrained, selfish, and uncivilised competition. This usage, now well-established, is misleading for two reasons: first, the Leviathan describes such a situation, but only in order to criticise it; second, Hobbes himself was timid and bookish in person. Other uses, popular immediately after Hobbes published, carry connotations of atheism and the belief that "might makes right."

Controversies

With Bramhall

Hobbes now turned to complete the fundamental treatise of his philosophical system. He worked so steadily that De Corpore was first printed in 1654. Also 1654 a small treatise, Of Liberty and Necessity was published by Bishop John Bramhall addressed at Hobbes. Bramhall, a strong Arminian, had met and debated with Hobbes and afterwards wrote down his views and sent them privately to be answered in this form by Hobbes. Hobbes duly replied, but not for publication. But a French acquaintance took a copy of the reply and published it with "an extravagantly laudatory epistle". Bramhall countered in 1655, when he printed everything that had passed between them (under the title of A Defence of the True Liberty of Human Actions from Antecedent or Extrinsic Necessity). In 1656 Hobbes was ready with his Questions concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance, in which he replied "with astonishing force" to the bishop. As perhaps the first clear exposition of the psychological doctrine of determinism, Hobbes's own two pieces were important in the history of the free-will controversy. The bishop returned to the charge in 1658 with Castigations of Mr Hobbes's Animadversions, and also included a bulky appendix entitled The Catching of Leviathan the Great Whale. Hobbes never took any notice of the Castigations.

With Wallis

Beyond the spat with Bramhall, Hobbes was caught in a series of conflicts from the time of publishing his De Corpore in 1655. In Leviathan he had assailed the system of the original universities. In 1654 Seth Ward (1617-1689), the Savilian professor of astronomy, replying in his Vindiciae academiarum to the assaults by Hobbes and others (especially John Webster) on the academic system. Errors in De Corpore, especially in the mathematical sections, opened Hobbes to criticism from John Wallis, Savilian professor of geometry. Wallis's Elenchus geomeiriae Hobbianae, published in 1655 contained an elaborate criticism of Hobbes's whole attempt to put the foundations of mathematical science in its place within the general body of reasoned knowledge - a criticism which exposed the utter inadequacy of Hobbes's mathematics. Hobbes's lack of rigour meant that he spent himself in vain attempts to solve the impossible problems that often waylaid self-sufficient beginners, his interest was limited to geometry and he never had any notion of the full scope of mathematical science. He was unable to work out with any consistency the few original thoughts he had, and thus was an easy target. Hobbes took care to remove some of the worst mistakes exposed by Wallis, before allowing an English translation of the De Corpore to appear in 1656. But he still attacked Wallis in a series of Six Lessons to the Professors of Mathematics in 1656. Wallis had an easy task in defending himself against Hobbes's criticism, and he seized the opportunity given him by the English translation of the De Corpore to re-confront Hobbes with his mathematical inconsistencies. Hobbes responded with Marks of the Absurd Geometry, Rural Language, Scottish Church Politics, and Barbarisms of John Wallis, Professor of Geometry and Doctor of Divinity. The thrusts were easily parried by Wallis in a reply (Hobbiani puncti dispunctio, 1657). Hobbes finally took refuge in silence and there was peace for a time. Hobbes published, in 1658, the final section of his philosophical system, completing the scheme he had planned more than twenty years before. De Homine consisted for the most part of an elaborate theory of vision, whose fundamental importance in relation to his political philosophy has often been overlooked. The remainder of the treatise dealt cursorily with some of the topics more fully treated in the Human Nature and the Leviathan. Wallis had meanwhile published other works and especially a comprehensive treatise on the general principles of calculus (Mathesis universatis, 1657). Hobbes, now with time on his hands, took it upon himself to re-spark their clash. He decided once more to attack the new methods of mathematical analysis and by the spring of 1660, he had managed to put his criticism and assertions into five dialogues under the title Examinatio et emendatio mat hematicae hodiernae quaIls explicatur in libris Johannis Wallisii, with a sixth dialogue so called, consisting almost entirely of seventy or more propositions on the circle and cycloid. Wallis, however, would not take the bait. Hobbes then tried another tack having solved, as he thought, another ancient problem, the duplication of the cube. He had his solution brought out anonymously in French, so as to put his critics off the scent. No sooner had Wallis publicly refuted the solution than Hobbes claimed the credit of it, and went more astray than ever in its defence. He republished it (in modified form), with his remarks, at the end of a 1661 Latin dialogue which he had written in defence of his philosophical doctrine. The Dialogus physicus, sive De natura aeris attacked Robert Boyle and other friends of Wallis who were forming themselves into a society (incorporated as the Royal Society in 1662) for experimental research. Hobbes saw this as a direct contravention of the method of physical inquiry enjoined in the De Corpore. The careful experiments recorded in Boyle's New Experiments touching the Spring of the Air (1660), which Hobbes chose to take as the manifesto of the new "academicians," seemed to him only to confirm the conclusions he had reasoned out years before from speculative principles, and he warned them that if they were not content to begin where he had left off their work would come to naught. To this ill-conceived diatribe Boyle quickly replied with force and dignity, but it was from Wallis that true retribution came, in the scathing satire Hobbius heauton-timorumenos (1662). Hobbes seems to have been "fairly bewildered by the rush and whirl of sarcasm" and wisely kept aloof from scientific controversy for some years. However, in response to the more personal attacks Hobbes wrote a letter about himself in the third person, Considerations upon the Reputation, Loyalty, Manners and Religion of Thomas Hobbes. In this biographical piece, he told his own and Wallis's "little stories during the time of the late rebellion" with such effect that Wallis did not attempt a reply.

With geometers

After a time Hobbes began a third period of controversial activity, which he dragged out until his ninetieth year. The first piece, published in 1666, De principiis et ratiocinatione geometrarum, was an attack on geometrical professors. Three years later he brought his three mathematical achievements together in Quadratura circuli, Cubatio sphaerae, Duplicitio cubii, and as soon as they were once more refuted by Wallis, reprinted them with an answer to the objections. Wallis, who had promised to leave him alone, refuted him again before the year was out. The exchange dragged on through numerous other papers until 1678.

Later life

As well as his ill-founded and controversial writings on mathematics and physics Hobbes continued publishing philosophical works. From the time of the Restoration he acquired a new prominence, "Hobbism" became a fashionable creed, which it was the duty of "every lover of true morality and religion" to denounce. The young king remembered Hobbes and called him to the court to grant him a pension of £100. The king was important in protecting Hobbes when in 1666 the House of Commons introduced a bill against atheism and profaneness. On October 17 it was ordered that the committee to which the bill was referred "should be empowered to receive information touching such books as tend to atheism, blasphemy and profaneness... in particular... the book of Mr. Hobbes called the Leviathan." () Hobbes was terrified at the prospect of being labelled a heretic, and proceeded to burn some of his compromising papers. At the same time he examined the actual state of the law of heresy. The results of his investigation were first announced in three short Dialogues added as an Appendix to his Latin translation of Leviathan, published at Amsterdam in 1668. In this appendix he aimed at showing that, since the High Court of Commission had been put down, there remained no court of heresy at all to which he was amenable, and that nothing could be heresy except opposing the Nicene Creed, as he maintained Leviathan did not. The only consequence that came of the bill was that Hobbes could never publish anything on subjects relating to human conduct. The 1668 edition of his works was printed in Amsterdam because he could not obtain the censor's licence for its publication in England. Other writings were not made public until after his death including Behemoth: the History of the Causes of the Civil Wars of England and of the Counsels and Artifices by which they were carried on from the year 1640 to the year 1662. For some time Hobbes was not even allowed to respond, whatever his enemies tried. Despite this his reputation abroad was formidable, and noble or learned foreigners who came to England never forgot to pay their respects to the old man. His final works were a curious mixture. An autobiography in Latin verse in 1672. A translation of four books of the Odyssey into "rugged" English rhymes in 1673 led to a complete translation of both Iliad and Odyssey in 1675. In October 1679 a bladder disorder was followed by a paralytic stroke, from which he died, in his ninety-second year. He was buried in the churchyard of Ault Hucknall in Derbyshire, England.

Major Works


- (1628) translation of Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War
- (1650) The Elements of Law, Natural and Political, comprising
  - Human Nature, or the Fundamental Elements of Policie
  - De Corpore Politico
- (1651-8) Elementa philosophica
  - (1651) De Cive
  - (1655) De Corpore
  - (1658) De Homine
- (1651) Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil
- (1656) Questions concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance
- (1668) Latin translation of the Leviathan
- (1681) Posthumously Behemoth, or The Long Parliament

Hobbes in popular culture


- The tiger in Bill Watterson's comic strip Calvin and Hobbes was, in fact, named after Thomas Hobbes; the boy was named after the Reformation theologian John Calvin.

References


- Robinson, Dave & Groves, Judy (2003). Introducing Political Philosophy. Icon Books. ISBN 1-84046-450-X.

External links


-
- [http://www.iep.utm.edu/h/hobmoral.htm Hobbes] at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- [http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/3x.htm Hobbes] at The Philosophy pages
- [http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/hobbes.htm Hobbes] at the History of Economic Thought website.
- [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hobbes-moral/ Hobbes Moral and Political Philosophy] at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- [http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/hobbes.html Brief bio] at Oregon State University
  - [http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/hobbes_life.html A Brief Life of Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679] by John Aubrey
- [http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/hobbes/thomas/h68l/ Leviathan] at The University of Adelaide
-
- [http://atheisme.free.fr/Biographies/Hobbes_e.htm A short biography of Thomas Hobbes]
- [http://www.earlymoderntexts.com A fairly complete and much more easily readable version of Parts 1 and 2 of Leviathan] Hobbes, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas ko:토머스 홉스 ja:トマス・ホッブズ simple:Thomas Hobbes th:โทมัส ฮอบบส์

April 5

April 5 is the 95th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (96th in leap years). There are 270 days remaining.

Events


- 1242 - During a battle on the ice of Chudskoye Lake, Russian forces rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
- 1614 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.
- 1621 - The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth on a return trip to Great Britain.
- 1654 - The Treaty of Westminster, ending the First Anglo-Dutch War, is signed.
- 1690 - Patrizio Cardinal Ficca is eleceted pope and takes the name Patricius I
- 1792 - U.S. President George Washington vetos a bill designed to apportion representatives among U.S. states. This is the first time the presidential veto has been used in the United States.
- 1804 - The first recorded meteorite falls in Possil, Scotland (High Possil Meteorite).
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Yorktown. The battle begins when Union forces under General George McClellan close in on the Confederate capital Richmond, Virginia.
- 1923 - Firestone Tire and Rubber Company starts production of balloon-tires.
- 1930 - In an act of civil disobedience, Mohandas Gandhi breaks British law after marching to the sea and making salt.
- 1936 - Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak: A F5 tornado slams into the north side of Tupelo, Mississippi, killing 233. It is the 4th deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
- 1942 - Second World War: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy Cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
- 1945 - Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip "Tito" Broz signs an agreement with the USSR allowing "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory."
- 1949 - Fireside Theatre debuts on television.
- 1949 - A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, United States, kills 77 people.
- 1951 - Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for performing espionage for the Soviet Union.
- 1955 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
- 1956 - In Sri Lanka, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna won the general elections in a lanslide and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike sworn in as the Prime Minister.
- 1957 - In India, Communists won the first elections in united Kerala and E. M. S. Namboodiripad sworn in as the first chief minister.
- 1969 - Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations are held in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the United States.
- 1971 - In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches insurrection against the United Front government of Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
- 1972 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese forces invade Binh Long Province, launching a second front of the Nguyen Hue Offensive.
- 1973 - Pierre Messmer becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1976 - In the People's Republic of China, the April Fifth Movement leads to the Tiananmen incident.
- 1986 - Bombing of the La Belle Discotheque in West Berlin, Germany, kills three.
- 1991 - ASA Embraer EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, United States, killing all 23 aboard.
- 1992 - Several hundred-thousand abortion rights demonstrators march in Washington, D.C.
- 1992 - Siege of Sarajevo begins when Serb paramilitaries murder peace protestor Suada Dilberovic on the Skenderija Bridge.
- 1993 - The Child Support Act 1991, administered by the Child Support Agency, comes into effect in the United Kingdom.
- 1998 - In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshu and costing about US$3.8 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.
- 1999 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
- 1999 - In Laramie, Wyoming, United States, Russell Henderson pleads guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in order to avoid a possible death penalty conviction for the hate crime killing of Matthew Shepard.
- 2005 - ABC News anchor Peter Jennings announces on World News Tonight that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer. It would be his last on-air appearance.

Births


- 1288 - Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (d. 1336)
- 1472 - Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1510)
- 1479 - Guru Amar Das, third Sikh Guru (d. 1574)
- 1523 - Blaise de Vigenère, French diplomat and cryptographer (d. 1596)
- 1588 - Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (d. 1679)
- 1604 - Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1675)
- 1622 - Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician and scientist (d. 1703)
- 1649 - Elihu Yale, American benefactor of Yale University (d. 1721)
- 1692 - Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (d. 1730)
- 1732 - Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French artist (d. 1806)
- 1784 - Louis Spohr, German violinist and composer (d. 1859)
- 1816 - Samuel Freeman Miller, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1890)
- 1827 - Joseph Lister English surgeon (d. 1912)
- 1832 - Jules Ferry, French statesman (d. 1893)
- 1837 - Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet (d. 1909)
- 1856 - Booker T. Washington, American educator (d. 1915)
- 1871 - Mirko Seljan, Croatian explorer
- 1875 - Mistinguett, French vaudeville performer (d. 1956)
- 1893 - Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (d. 1973)
- 1900 - Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
- 1901 - Melvyn Douglas, American actor (d. 1981)
- 1908 - Bette Davis, American actress (d. 1989)
- 1908 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989)
- 1908 - Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (d.1986)
- 1909 - Albert R. Broccoli, American film producer (d. 1996)
- 1911 - Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (d. 1960)
- 1912 - John Le Mesurier, British actor (d. 1983)
- 1916 - Gregory Peck, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1917 - Robert Bloch, American author (d. 1994)
- 1920 - Arthur Hailey, American writer (d. 2004)
- 1920 - Rafique Zakaria, Indian author and legal expert (d. 2005)
- 1922 - Christopher Hewett, British actor (d. 2001)
- 1922 - Gale Storm, American singer and actress
- 1923 - Michael Gazzo, American actor (d. 1995)
- 1923 - Nguyen Van Thieu, President of South Vietnam (d. 2001)
- 1926 - Roger Corman, American film director, producer, and writer
- 1929 - Ivar Giaever, Norwegian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1929 - Nigel Hawthorne, British actor (d. 2001)
- 1929 - Hugo Claus, Belgian writer
- 1931 - Boris Strugatsky, Russian author (d. 1991)
- 1933 - Larry Felser, American sports columnist and writer
- 1934 - Frank Gorshin, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1934 - Roman Herzog, German politician
- 1935 - Peter Grant, British rock manager, actor (Led Zeppelin,Bad Company) (d. 1995)
- 1937 - Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State (2000-2004)
- 1941 - Michael Moriarty, American actor and political activist
- 1942 - Peter Greenaway, Welsh film director
- 1943 - Max Gail, American actor
- 1945 - Tommy Smith, English footballer
- 1946 - Jane Asher, British actress, writer
- 1947 - Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 14th President of the Philippines
- 1949 - Judith Resnik, astronaut (d. 1986)
- 1950 - Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer (ABBA)
- 1955 - Janice Long, English broadcaster
- 1961 - Lisa Zane, American actress
- 1962 - Lana Clarkson, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1965 - Mike McCready, American musician (Pearl Jam)
- 1973 - Pharrell Williams, American musician and producer (The Neptunes)
- 1976 - Fernando Morientes, Spanish footballer
- 1978 - Stephen Jackson, American basketball player
- 1978 - Franziska van Almsick, German swimmer

Deaths

1168 to 1899


- 1168 - Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (b. 1104)
- 1288 - Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (d. 1336)
- 1419 - Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (b. 1350)
- 1605 - Adam Loftus, English Catholic archbishop
- 1617 - Alonso Lobo, Spanish composer
- 1676 - John Winthrop, the Younger, Governor of Connecticut (b. 1606)
- 1693 - Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, French writer (b. 1627)
- 1695 - George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, English writer and statesman (b. 1633)
- 1697 - King Charles XI of Sweden (b. 1655)
- 1717 - Jean Jouvenet, French painter (b. 1647)
- 1735 - William Derham, English minister and writer (b. 1657)
- 1735 - Samuel Wesley, English poet and religious leader (b. 1662)
- 1765 - Edward Young, English poet (b. 1683)
- 1794 - Georges Danton, French Revolutionary leader (b. 1759)

1900 to 1999


- 1923 - George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English financier of Egyptian excavations (b. 1866)
- 1928 - Roy Kilner, English cricketer (b. 1890)
- 1964 - General Douglas MacArthur, U.S. general (b. 1880)
- 1967 - Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1890)
- 1967 - Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-born violinist (b. 1891)
- 1969 - Rómulo Gallegos, President of Venezuela (b. 1884)
- 1970 - Alfred Henry Sturtevant, American geneticist (b. 1891)
- 1972 - Brian Donlevy, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1975 - Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese nationalist leader (b. 1887)
- 1976 - Howard Hughes, American aviation pioneer, film director, and eccentric (b. 1905)
- 1976 - Wilder Penfield, Canadian surgeon (b. 1891)
- 1982 - Abe Fortas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1910)
- 1983 - Danny Rapp, American musician (Danny & the Juniors) (b. 1941)
- 1991 - John Tower, U.S. Senator from Texas (b. 1925)
- 1991 - Sonny Carter, astronaut (b. 1947)
- 1992 - Molly Picon, French actress (b. 1898)
- 1992 - Sam Walton, American retailer (b. 1918)
- 1994 - Kurt Cobain, American musician (b. 1967)
- 1997 - Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)
- 1998 - Cozy Powell, British musician (b. 1947)

2000 onwards


- 2000 - Lee Petty, American race car driver (b. 1914)
- 2001 - Brother Theodore, German-born comedian (b. 1906)
- 2002 - Layne Staley, American musician (Alice in Chains) (b. 1967)
- 2005 - Saul Bellow, Canadian-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
- 2005 - Dale Messick, American comic strip artist (b. 1906)
- 2005 - Debralee Scott, American actress (b. 1953)

Holidays and observances


- Mauritius: Ougadi
- Qingming Festival in the Chinese calendar
- Arbor Day in South Korea

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/5 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/4/5 Today in History: April 5] ----- April 4 - April 6 - March 5 - May 5 – listing of all days ko:4월 5일 ms:5 April ja:4月5日 simple:April 5 th:5 เมษายน

1588

1588 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.

Events


- May 12 - Day of the Barricades in Paris. Duke Henry of Guise seizes the city, forcing King Henry III to flee.
- May 28 - The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, begins to set sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel (it will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port).
- July - King Henry III of France capitulates to the Duke of Guise and returns to Paris.
- July 31 - First engagement between the English and Spanish fleets off Plymouth. The English have the better of it.
- August 2 - The English and Spanish fleets meet again off Dorset. (The English fleet is led by Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake.) The English again have the better of it.
- August 6 - Battle of Gravelines: The Spanish Armada is defeated by an English naval force under command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake off the coast of Gravelines, now in France.
- August 7 - The English and Spanish fleets again engage off the coast of Flanders. The English again are more successful.
- August 8 - August 9 - The Spanish are unable to reach the coast of Flanders to meet up with the army of the Duke of Parma. Medina Sidonia decides to return to Spain.
- August 12 - The Spanish fleet sails past the Firth of Forth, and the English cease their pursuit. Much of the Spanish fleet is destroyed as it sails around Scotland and Ireland.
- December 23 - Henry III of France strikes his ultra-Catholic enemies, having the Duke of Guise and his brother, Cardinal Louis of Guise, killed, and holding the Cardinal de Bourbon a prisoner.
- Ahmad al-Mansur, sultan of Morocco, demands that the king of Songhay give a heavy tribute in exchange of a Saharan salt, probably in an intentional provocation. When Songhay's answer is defiant, he declares war and marches his army through Sahara to Songhay
- Russia, regency of Boris Godunov
- William Morgan's Welsh translation of the Bible published.

Births


- April 5 - Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (died 1679)
- April 15 - Claudius Salmasius, French classical scholar (died 1653)
- May 2 - Étienne Pascal, French mathematician (died 1651)
- May 13 - Ole Worm, Danish physician and antiquary (died 1654)
- May 28 - Pierre Séguier, Chancellor of France (died 1672)
- June 9 - Johann Andreas Herbst, German composer and music theorist (died 1666)
- June 11 - George Wither, English poet and satirist (died 1667)
- June 18 - Robert Crowley, English printer and poet
- September 8 - Marin Mersenne, French theologian (died 1648)
- September 10 - Nicholas Lanier, English composer (died 1666)
- December 10 - Isaac Beeckman, Dutch philosopher and scientist (died 1637)
- Robert Abbot, English Puritan theologian (died 1662)
- Johann, Count von Aldringer, (died 1634)
- Johann Heinrich Alsted, German theologian (died 1638)
- John Danvers, English politician (died 1655)
- Robert Filmer, English political writer (died 1653)
- Accepted Frewen, English churchman (died 1664)
- Francis Higginson, colonial American Puritan (died 1630)
- Jan Janssonius, Dutch cartographer (died 1664)
- François de La Mothe-Le-Vayer, French writer (died 1672)
- Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet (died 1665)
- Giuseppe Ribera, Italian painter (died 1656)
- Luke Wadding, Irish Franciscan friar and historian (died 1657) See also :Category:1588 births.

Deaths


- January 5 - Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (b. 1528)
- February 24 - Johann Weyer, Dutch physician and occultist
- March 10 - Theodor Zwinger, Swiss scholar (born 1533)
- April 4 - King Frederick II of Denmark (born 1534)
- April 19 - Paolo Veronese, Italian painter
- June 18 - Robert Crowley, London stationer (born 1517)
- July 17 - Sinan, Ottoman architect (b. 1489)
- August 8 - Alonso Sánchez Coello, Spanish painter
- August 12 - Alfonso Ferrabosco, Italian composer (born 1543)
- September 4 - Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English politician (born 1532)
- November 1 - Jean Daurat, French poet and scholar (born 1508)
- December 23 - Henry I, Duke of Guise, French Catholic leader (born 1550)
- Giorgio Blandrata, Italian physician (born 1515)
- Henri I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (born 1552)
- John Field, British Puritan clergyman and controversialist (born 1545)
- Sonam Gyatso, 3rd Dalai Lama, first Dalai Lama
- Amias Paulet, Governor of Jersey (born 1532)
- Edwin Sandys, English prelate (born 1519)
- Richard Tarlton, English actor
- Bernardino Telesio, Italian philosopher and natural scientist (born 1509) See also :Category:1588 deaths. Category:1588 ko:1588년

1679

Events


- January 24 - King Charles II of England disbands Parliament
- June 22 - the Duke of Monmouth subdues a insurrection of Scottish Covenanters at Birthwell Bridge
- August 7 - The brigantine Le Griffon, which was commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes.
- Battle of Bothwell Bridge
- Habeas Corpus Act 1679 passed in England.
- European explorers discover Niagara Falls.

Births


- January 24 - Christian Wolff, German philosopher (d. 1754)
- March 18 - Matthew Decker, English merchant and writer (d. 1749)
- August 22 - Pierre Guérin de Tencin, French cardinal (d. 1758)
- October 16 - Jan Dismas Zelenka, Bohemian composer (d. 1745)
- October 18 - Ann Putnam, Jr., American accuser in the Salem witch trials (d. 1716)
- Firmin Abauzit, French scientist (d. 1767)

Deaths


- January 1 - Jan Steen, Dutch painter
- March 16 - John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1616)
- March 26 - Johannes Schefferus, Alsatian-born humanist (b. 1621)
- May 3 - James Sharp, English archbishop (assassinated) (b. 1613)
- May 26 - Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1636)
- June 15 - Guillaume Courtois, French painter (b. 1628)
- July 11 - William Chamberlayne, English poet (b. 1619)
- August 6 - John Snell, English royalist (b. 1629)
- August 24 - Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz, French churchman and agitator (b. 1614)
- September 17 - John of Austria the Younger, Spanish general (b. 1629)
- October 12 - William Gurnall, English writer (b. 1617)
- October 26 - Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, British soldier, statesman, and dramatist (b. 1621)
- December 4 - Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (b. 1588)
- December 31 - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)
- Lady Anne Finch Conway, English philosopher (b. 1631) Category:1679 ko:1679년

English people

:This article is about the English as an ethnic group. For information about residents or nationals of England, see demographics of England. The English people are an indigenous European ethnic group originating in the lowlands of Great Britain and are drawn from a composite population descended from a combination of Romano-Celts and Angles, Saxons and Jutes.

History

The English as an ethnic group can trace their heritage back to the Anglo-Saxons (or Old English), who between the 5th and 7th centuries, after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire, came to occupy most of lowland Britain (although a lack of documentation from the Dark Ages means few individuals can prove such descent). The name of the area known as England derives from this settlement. The tribes participating in this conquest of Britain include the Angles, the Jutes, the Saxons, the Franks, and the Friesians. At one time it was widely believed that the Anglo-Saxons supplanted the Celtic populations. Recent genetic studies are contradictory. One suggests the Anglo-Saxons may have established political and cultural dominance over the Celts and intermarried with them. In particular, analyses performed upon the mitochondrial DNA of modern day English suggest that any continental admixture from the period of Germanic invasions would have been almost exclusively derived from the male line, suggesting a process of intermarriage between male invaders and female indigenous Celts. However, a recent Y chromosome analysis of people from the British Isles, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Friesland and the Basque Country has revealed that some areas of England have a higher Germanic (Danish/German/Frisian) component in the male line of descent than others. Germanic Y chromosomes are at their highest concentrations in York and Norfolk, here the Germanic male sex chromosome occurs in about 60% of men, with indigenous Y chromosomes comprising about 40%. The research connot distinguish between Danish (the presumed source of Danish-Viking settlers to East and Northern England), North German (Anglo-Saxon) and Frisian (Anglo-Saxon) Y chromosomes. The study cloncludes these data are consistent with the presence of some indigenous component in all British regions. See Anglo-Saxons for more detail. A further settlement of Danes occurred during the 9th century in northern and eastern England. Some British ethnic groups, notably the Cornish and the Cumbrians have a noticeably less diluted connection to the pre-Anglo-Saxon ancient Britons; As a result of this, some Cornish claim not to be English but Cornish. A further influence on the English language is from Scandinavian culture, particularly in the north of England. This is most pronounced in York, formerly the Danish settlement of Jorvik. These groups had a noticeable impact on the English language, for example the modern meaning of the word dream is of Scandinavian origin. Additionally place names that include thwaite and by are Scandinavian in origin. English language The Anglo-Saxons established several kingdoms, commonly referred to as the Heptarchy. These were united in the early 9th century under the overlordship of Wessex, forming what would eventually become the modern nation state of England. These kingdoms were then subjected to a series of raids, conquest and settlement by Vikings originating from Denmark from the 9th century onwards. The Treaty of Wedmore gave the Danes dominion over territory north and east of a line between London and Chester called the Danelaw and represented the beginning of a of period of acceptance and assimilation of the Danes. Most notably, this period saw the rise of Alfred the Great. The only king in English history to receive 'the great' appended to his name. Alfred was king of the region of Wessex which effectively held off the Danish conquest of what would later become England. Wessex grew from a relatively small kingdom in the South West to the complete annexing of all remaining Anglo-Saxon kingdoms not in the Danelaw. The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought English and Danish rule to an end, and began a diminished period, both culturally and socially for the native inhabitants. The new Norman French elite began a scorched earth policy against the rebellious Anglo-Danish population north of the Humber during the winter of 1069-70, which became known as The Harrying of the North. The English existed as a subject class for about 300 years with the aristocracy speaking French until a full assimilation was made by the time of Chaucer , in the late 1300s. By this time a large number of French words had been added to the English language. During Britain's centuries as a major colonial power, people migrated from all over Britain's sphere of influence to England, leaving a small, but noticeable mark on English culture. Also, and sporadically for much of its history as a recognisable political entity England has had a significant Jewish population.

Culture

Contribution to humanity

The English have played a significant role in the development of the arts and sciences. Prominent individuals have included the scientists and inventors Isaac Newton, Francis Crick, Abraham Darby, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin, Frank Whittle and Tim Berners-Lee; the poet and playwright William Shakespeare, the novelists Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and George Orwell, the composer Gustav Holst, and the explorer James Cook (for a complete list of famous English people see List of English people). English philosophers include Francis Bacon, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Paine, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, Michael Oakeshott and Roger Scruton. The English language is now the world's unofficial lingua franca, and the jury system (used in a few non-anglo-saxon countries in the world) is an English innovation. English common law is also the foundation of legal systems throughout the English speaking countries of the world, and the English Parliament had an influence on the operation of most democratic governments created after 1651. The English have, through overseas colonisation in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, created several major world nations. These include what are now called the United States of America, Canada (the English part), Australia, and New Zealand, and also the language and institutions of such diverse nations as Jamacia, South Africa, Belize, and a number of others.

Language

All English people traditionally speak the English language, a member of the West Germanic language family. The only other language traditionally spoken is Cornish, a Celtic language originating in Cornwall spoken by about 3500 people. More recently immigrants from the British Commonwealth and elsewhere have brought other languages to England which are used privately as a home language. Such languages include Bengali, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic and Chinese.

Religion

Ever since the break with the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, the English have been predominantly a Protestant people, a historical legacy that many scholars have argued resulted in the development of a relatively liberal political culture. Today, most English people practicing organized religion are affiliated to the Church of England or other Christian denominations such as Roman Catholicism and Methodism. At the 2001 Census, a little over 37 million people in England & Wales professed themselves to be Christian. Jewish immigration since the seventeenth century means that there is a fully assimilated Jewish English minority mostly in urban areas. 252,000 Jews were recorded in England & Wales in the 2001 Census; however this represents a decline of about 50% over the previous 50 years, caused by emigration and intermarriage, and the long-term future of the community is a matter of some concern to community leaders. The gradual assimilation of migrants from India and Pakistan since the 1950s means that there is a growing group of people who are culturally English and practise Islam (818,000), Hinduism (467,000), or Sikhism (301,000). The 2001 census also revealed that 15% of the population claim no religion.

Sport

England, like the other nations of the United Kingdom, competes as a separate nation in many international sporting events. The English Football (soccer), Cricket and Rugby teams have contributed to an increasing sense of English identity. Supporters today (2005) carry the cross of St George, whereas twenty years ago only the British Union Jack would be seen.

Symbols

Union Jack The English flag is a red cross on a white background, commonly called the Cross of St George adopted after the crusades. Saint George, famed as a dragon-slayer, is also the patron saint of England. The three golden lions or leopards on a red background was the banner of the kings of England derived from their status as Duke of Normandy and is now used to represent the English national football team and the English national cricket team. The Tudor rose and the English oak are also English symbols. "God Save The Queen" is widely regarded as England's unofficial national anthem; however, other songs are sometimes used, including "Land of hope and glory" (used as England's anthem in the Commonwealth Games), "Jerusalem" and "I Vow to Thee, My Country."

Identity

England and Wales were united in the Acts of Union in 1536 and 1543, in 1707 England and Wales formed a union with Scotland, and in 1800 Ireland was joined to the existing union to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, although most of Ireland achieved independence in 1922 as the Irish Free State. A new 'British' identity was developed through the nineteenth century, to some extent overlaying regional identities. The English, along with the other peoples of the British Isles found their old identities undermined in favour of a new British national identity. The 1990s saw the beginning of a gradual reclamation and reformation of English identity. For several decades nationalist movements had existed in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Cornwall but England had no counterpart. Partly in response to devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the rise in general of nationalism in the Celtic fringe some English people now question what it is to be English and its relationship with being British. Some English nationalist parties have been created, their following however remains small, but are growing as many English people are beginning to resent their loss of identity. see English nationalism.

References

# The [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html#people CIA World Factbook] reports that in the 2001 UK census 92.1% of the UK population were in the White ethnic group, and that 83.6% of this group are in the English ethnic group. The UK Office for National Statistics[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/uk.asp] reports a total population in the UK census of 58,789,194. A quick calculation shows this is equivalent to 45,265,093 people in the English ethnic group. However this number may not represent self-defined ethnic group. The number who described their ethnic group as English in the 2001 UK census has not been published by the Office for National Statistics. #The [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=D&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_QTP13&-ds_name=D&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false 2000 US census] shows 24,515,138 persons claiming English ancestry. This figure is likely to be an underestimate of the true number with English ancestry as some people will not have been aware of their English ancestry, or will have chosen not to mention it. According to [http://www.euroamericans.net/euroamericans.net/english%20census.htm EuroAmericans.net] the greatest population in a single state was 2,521,355 in California, and the highest percentage was 29.0% in Utah. # The [http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/B85E1EB3A2BC274ACA256D39001BC337?Open Australian Bureau of Statistics] reports 6.4 million people of English ancestry in the 2001 Census. Up to two ancestries could be chosen. Recent increases in the number who identify as Australian suggest that this number is an underestimate of the true number with English ancestry. [http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/B85E1EB3A2BC274ACA256D39001BC337?Open]. #[http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/highlight/ETO/Table1.cfm?Lang=E&T=501&GV=1&GID=0 2001 Canadian Census] gives 1,479,520 respondents stating their ethnic origin as English as a single response, and 4,499,355 including multiple responses, giving a combined total of 5,978,875. # The [http://www.stats.govt.nz/census/2001-ethnic-groups/default.htm 2001 New Zealand census] reports 34,074 people stating they belong to the English ethnic group. The 1996 census, which used a slightly different question[http://www.stats.govt.nz/census/change-in-ethnicity-question.htm], reported 281,895 people belonging to the English ethnic group. #[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VRT-48PV5SH-12&_coverDate=05%2F27%2F2003&_alid=339895807&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6243&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000049116&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=949111&md5=9edf5ce1c39d4139af4c01733282fa82 A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles]; Cristian Capelli, Nicola Redhead, Julia K. Abernethy, Fiona Gratrix, James F. Wilson, Torolf Moen, Tor Hervig, Martin Richards, Michael P. H. Stumpf, Peter A. Underhill, Paul Bradshaw, Alom Shaha, Mark G. Thomas, Neal Bradman, and David B. Goldstein Current Biology, Volume 13, Issue 11, Pages 979-984 (2003). Retrieved 6 December 2005.

See also


- Anglosphere
- English language
- Anglo-Saxon
- Culture of England
- Immigration to the United Kingdom
- Population of England - historical estimates

External links


- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations] Articles on England and the English
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Information on England
- [http://www.walkingtree.com/ Mercator's Atlas] Map of England ("Anglia") circa 1564.
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1689955.stm Viking blood still flowing]; BBC; 3 December, 2001.
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2076470.stm English and Welsh are races apart]; BBC; 30 June, 2002.
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/64.asp UK 2001 Census] showing 49,138,831 people from all ethnic groups living in England.
- [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/04/23/ncen23.xml Tory MP leads English protest over census]; The Telegraph; 23 April 2001.
- [http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=%5CForeignBureaus%5Carchive%5C200104%5CFor20010423f.html On St. George's Day, What's Become Of England?]; CNSNews.com; 23 April, 2001. Category:Ethnic groups of the United Kingdom Category:Germanic peoples Category:Ethnic groups of Europe

Political philosophy

Political philosophy is the study of the fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, property, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should take and why, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown - if ever. Two key aspects are the political economy by which property rights are defined and access to capital is regulated, and the rules of truth and evidence that determine judgements in the law. Each theory of criminal justice is derived in part from some such view of these.

History of political philosophy

The classical period

Political philosophy most broadly concerns the nature and forms of power; more specifically, it involves the principles for proper governance. As an academic discipline, Western political philosophy has its origins in ancient Greek society, when city-states were experimenting with various forms of political organization including monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. The first classic work of political philosophy is Plato's The Republic, which was followed by Aristotle's Politics. Roman political philosophy was influenced by the Stoics, and the Roman statesman Cicero wrote on political philosophy. Independently, in China, Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, and the Legalist school, all sought to find means of restoring political unity and stability; in the case of the former three though the cultivation of virtue, in the last by imposition of discipline. In India, Kautilya developed a viewpoint which recalls both the Legalists and Machiavelli. Classical Chinese and Indian civilization resembled Greek in that there was a unified culture divided into rival states. In the case of China, philosophers found themselves obliged to confront social and political breakdown, and seek solutions to the crisis that confronted their entire civilization. The early Christian philosophy of Augustine of Hippo was by and large a rewrite of Plato in a Christian context. The main change that Christian thought brought was to moderate the Stoicism and theory of justice of the Roman world, and emphasize the role of the state in applying mercy as a moral example. Augustine's The City of God is an influential work of this period that refuted the thesis, after the First Sack of Rome, that the Christian view could be realized on Earth at all - a view many Christian Romans held.

Islamic period

The rise of Islam based on both the Qur'an and the political philosophy of Muhammad drastically altered the power balances and perceptions of origin of power in the Mediterranean region. Early Muslim philosophy emphasized an inexorable link between science and religion, and the process of ijtihad to find truth - in effect all philosophy was "political" as it had real implications for governance. This view was challenged by the Mutazilite philosophers, who held a more Greek view and were supported by secular aristocracy who sought freedom of action independent of the mosque. By the medieval period, however, the Asharite view of Islam had in general triumphed and all philosophy was henceforth subordinated to theology - a situation that persisted until the rise of modern Islamic philosophy.

Medieval period

Medieval political philosophy in Europe was heavily influenced by Christian thinking. It had much in common with the Islamic thinking in that the Roman Catholics also subordinated philosophy to theology. Perhaps the most influential political philosopher of the medieval period was St. Thomas Aquinas who helped reintroduce Aristotle's works, which had been preserved in the interim only by the Muslims. Aquinas's use of them set the agenda for scholastic political philosophy, and dominated European thought for centuries. The most influential work, however, was that which ended this period, that being Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince, 1532. It is that work, and The Discourses, a rigorous analysis of the classical period, from which modern political philosophy is largely derived.

The Enlightenment

During the Enlightenment, new theories about human psychology, the discovery of other societies in the Americas, and the changing needs of political societies (especially in the wake of the English Civil War and the French Revolution) led to new questions and insights by such thinkers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke - known by most for his influential theory of the social contract. These theorists were driven by two basic questions: by what right or need do people form "states," and what is the best form for a "state." These large questions involved a conceptual distinction between "state" and "government." Basically, "state" refers to a set of enduring institutions through which power is distributed and its use justified. "Government" refers to a specific group of people who occupy these institutions, and exercise particular policies. This conceptual distinction continues to operate in political science, although some political scientists, philosophers, historians and cultural anthropologists have argued that most political action in any given society occurs outside of its state, and that there are societies that are not organized into states which nevertheless must be considered politically. Political and economic relations were drastically changed by these views as the guild was subordinated to free trade, and Roman Catholic dominance of theology was increasingly challenged by Protestant churches subordinate to each nation-state and which preached in the "vulgar" or native language of each region. In the Ottoman Empire, these reforms did not take place and these views did not spread until much later. Also, there was no contact with the New World and the advanced civilizations of the Aztec, Maya, Inca, Mohican, Delaware, Huron and especially the Iroquois, who gave a great boost to Christian thought and in many cases actually inspired some of the institutions adopted in the United States: for example, Benjamin Franklin was a great admirer of some of the methods of the Iroquois Confederacy, and much of early American literature emphasized the political philosophy of the natives.

Industrialization and the early modern age

The industrial revolution produced a parallel revolution in political thought. Urbanization and capitalism greatly reshaped society. During this same period, the socialist movement began to form. In the mid-19th century, Marxism was developed, and socialism in general gained increasing popular support, mostly from the urban working class. By the late 19th century, socialism and trade unions were established members of the political landscape. In addition, the various branches of anarchism and syndicalism also gained some prominence. World War I was a watershed event in human history. The Russian Revolution of 1917 (and similar, albeit less successful, revolutions in many other European countries) brought communism - and in particular the political theory of Leninism, but also on a smaller level Luxembourgism (gradually) - on the world stage. At the same time, social democratic parties won elections and formed governments for the first time, often as a result of the introduction of universal suffrage. In response to the sweeping social changes that occurred in the years after the war, ultra-reactionary ideologies such as fascism began to take shape. In particular, the rise of the Nazis in Germany would later lead to the Second World War. All political thought was deeply affected by the Great Depression, which led many theorists to reconsider the ideas they had previously held as axiomatic. In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal. In Europe, both the extreme left and the extreme right gained increasing popularity.

Contemporary political philosophy

After World War II the peace movement became the dominant mode of political philosophy in the Western world, due largely to fear of nuclear war. Opponents tended to line up on either side of the arms race debate. Communism remained an important focus especially during the 1950s and 60s. Zionism, racism and colonialism were important issues that arose. In general, there was a marked trend towards a pragmatic approach to political issues, rather than a philosophical one. Much academic debate regarded one or both of two pragmatic topics: how (or whether) to apply utilitarianism to problems of political policy, or how (or whether) to apply economic models (such as rational choice theory) to political issues. The rise of feminism and the end of colonial rule and of the political exclusion of such minorities as African Americans in the developed world has led to feminist and multicultural thought becoming significant. Some scholars date the emergence of contemporary political philosophy to 1962, since many important things happened in that year:
- The Cuban Missile Crisis which brought the arms race debate to a head and forced the peace movement to action which has never actually ceased;
- Rachel Carson published her Silent Spring which signalled the beginning of the modern ecology movement and environmental movement;
- Milton Friedman published influential works that laid the foundations of neoliberalism against which the above struggle to this day. Soon after, there was a major revival of academic political philosophy as a result of the publication of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice in 1971. Rawls used a thought experiment, the original position in which representative parties choose principles of justice for the basic structure of society from behind a veil of ignorance. Rawls also offered an effective criticism of utilitarian approaches to questions of political justice. Robert Nozick's book Anarchy, State, and Utopia responded to Rawls from a libertarian per