Montesquieu   1689-1755
 

Born Charles de Secondat, near Bordeaux, France
Admitted to the French Academy in 1722
Inherited the title Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu
or Baron Charles-Louis de Secondat de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Monte was a philosopher & jurist who was educated at Bordeaux & became an advocate, but turned to scientific research & literary work. He settled in Paris in 1726, then spent some years traveling & studying political & social institutions. His best-known work is the comparative study of legal and political issues, The Spirit of Laws (1748), which was a major influence on 18th century European political thought.

Montesquieu was a high judge in France but he was very critical of the regime which he served. In his youth he had been a member of the "First Floor Club" in Paris, a secret society strongly opposed to absolutism and clerical orthodoxy. He remained faithful to the club's principles but became rather moderate in his judgment on the advantages of other political systems.

His Persian Letters (1721), a thinly veiled satirical criticism of French life, made a great sensation. His Reflections on the Causes of the Greatness and the Decadence of the Romans (1734) is considered one of the most important monuments of modern historical literature. The very spirit of Roman civilization is grasped and brilliantly illustrated by Montesquieu, however much scholars of later times may object to his treatment of details. Montesquieu's major work, The Spirit of Laws (1748), was the result of fourteen years of strenuous study into political history and comparative legislation, of reading sources and observing life by traveling through many countries of Europe, and above all, of a stay in England where he arrived on Lord Chesterfield's yacht.

Montesquieu admired England, though not uncritically. Its institutions, in his opinion, guaranteed and realized the highest possible degree of freedom, and he derived this view from the application of the principle of checks and balances. This view is not shared by modern constitutional historians or jurists, least of all concerning the England of Montesquieu's days. But his work has been of lasting value to the development of methods of analyzing political, social and legal conditions and their connection. Next to John Locke, Montesquieu was the most influential champion of liberalism in the 18th century. Some ideas put forth by Montesquieu have had an influence on Classical Liberalism.

From: Adventures in Philosophy 
http://radicalacademy.com/adiphilpolitics3.htm

The Chart on the Dialectical Tree shows how each synthesis becomes a thesis, w/ new social relations, which create contradictions in the form of a antithesis, indicating that dialectical relations constantly continue to evolve 

Each attempt at control sews the seeds of its own destruction. 

Pollution was an advantage for businesses but people organized against it. 

Assembly line allowed for greater control of workers. 
But working together made people more likely to organize 

Thomas Hobbes

1588  -  1679

Born in Westport (now part of Malmesbury), England
Ed at Oxford
Served as secretary to Sir Francis Bacon
Tutor to William Cavendish
    who became Earl of Devonshire
H traveled widely w/ Cavendish, exposed to
    European philosophers & scientists
During the English Civil War, 
H fled to the continent
He tutored the Prince of Wales, later Charles II
Returned to England while Oliver Cromwell was still in power
Yet, H was still able to make peace w/ Charles II 
    when he became king in 1660

Hobbes' most famous work: 

The Leviathan:  The Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil Society (1651)  written during the English Civil War

Rousseau also seems to be correct on the Origin of the State: 
True democratic societies did not arise until Rousseau's time 
Before that nearly all govts were dictatorial 

So we cannot be positive 
& no one has organized a society w/o these features