THE

J USTI FI CATI ON
FOR RATI ONAL
HUMAN THOUGHT
Philosophy Manifesto by:
Sergio Ucrs

A COLEGIO MENOR SAN FRANCISCO
DE QUITO PUBLICATION





January, 2014
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Copyright 2014 by Sergio Ucrs
All Rights Reserved




Partial or total unauthorized copying from this Manifesto will be penalized.
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Table of contents:

Chapter I: The Bright Minds of Times Passed p. 1

Chapter II: The Explanation for the Appliance of Rational Thinking p. 3


















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I
The basis for rational thought is logic, something which seems obvious, until we try
to apply this concept. While trying to think rationally we must develop some strategies so
we can apply the logic on real life situations, such as Montesquieu and the division of
powers. We must also be weary of not falling into the misconceptions and fallacies that
institutions and religion might impose in us. Such as Voltaire we must be able to reach our
own conclusions and be able to question authority. Rational thinking may be achieved and
ways to apply it may vary, yet there are some concepts that we as rational thinkers must
understand.
Voltaire is one of the most renowned Enlightenment thinkers. He was a defender
of natural science and detested general superstitions. It is no wonder then that he was an
enemy of the Catholic Church. For his critiques to institutions such as the Church and its
relationship with the State, Voltaire was eventually exiled from Paris and went to England.
He was eventually given permission from the citys authorities to return back to Paris. Yet
he was banned from the court at Versailles. Voltaire would also be remembered by his
hedonistic nature, as reflected on some of his works. On some of his poems he would
support sexual liberty, and this was one of the reasons why he was persecuted. Perhaps
his greatest legacy was his defense for freedom of speech, a new concept of the era which
has had many repercussions in modern times. He would explicitly defend the right of men
to speak their minds on a free manner.
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Another influential personality from this time period which contributed with ideas
that still have repercussions today was Montesquieu. Baron de Montesquieu was one of
the great political philosophers of the enlightenment, regarded as a political philosopher
with liberal ideas. He is more renown about his idea of dividing political power into three
branches, being the legislative branch, de executive branch, and the judicial branch. This
measure had the objective of balancing power between these three bodies and
preventing bodies from gaining absolute power like previous European Monarchies. He
wrote famous fiction works such as Persian Letters and other and non-fiction works such
as The Spirit of the Laws. His literary work was characterized by covering themes such as
despotism. Montesquieu is regarded as one of the liberal figures of the Enlightenment,
but according to his thought, people could only be free under a certain set of laws; for if
humans are given absolute freedom they might harm other fellow human beings.
These two philosophers are examples of a rational way of thought because in a
way they embody most of the reasoning that leads to a comprehensive state of mind. First
there is a parting from religion and what it states, in the case of Voltaire, he was opposed
to it. Then there is that logical thinking characteristic of the Enlightenment, which includes
an emphasis in science and art. These concepts reach to the true enlightenment.



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II
My personal believes are characterized by a logical thinking, hence why I decided
to refer Voltaire and Montesquieu. It is the art of analyzing and rearranging facts in order
to make sense out of them that I find absolutely useful. We are used to believe what we
are told and our history has been mostly written that way. Powerful institutions or states
have decided the humankind course for too long, and they are afraid of rational thinkers.
Since rational thinking became applied into society, various advancements have been
made on several fields including the social and science fields.
Montesquieu, as stated before, created a political system that wanted to end with
absolutism. Perhaps the system of dividing the power into the legislative, the judicial, and
the executive powers worked better in theory than in practice, but its success has been
big enough for it to be implemented in many modern democracies.
Voltaire on his part was someone who preferred logical thinking over faith, which
brings me to my next point. Throughout history, many thinkers have decided to take
religion into account as a key for understanding thought, thats why they will not be
mentioned in this manifesto. Religion is the opium of the masses (Marx), which are
blinded from their own nature. Modern religions seek to suppress our sexual impulses
which are responsible for our survival. These types of impulses are our instincts way of
leading us to reproduce. But our sexual liberty is not the only thing religion preaches
wrongfully about. Many wars have been justified in the name of a god or deity, yet
modern religions claim to preach about love, with so many fallacies and so many
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inconsistencies on the justifications for each, and they claim that we just have to have
faith. Last time humanity was so dependent on faith, many intellectual developments
were stalled and we entered a dark age. It was not until religion was questioned again that
Europe was able to recover from their negligence.
Voltaire was a defender of freedom of speech, which complements Montesquieus
idea of a non-absolute government in which people could actually claim for their interests.
Freedom of speech is a controversial concept, because people tend to justify their violent
ideas by saying that they have the right to say what they want. At the end, everyone has
the right to say what they want, but a strong political system is the key for a strong
educational system, and a strong educational system is able to create individuals with a
better logical sense. This idea might seem utopic and much like Montesquieus branches,
probably seem better in theory than in practice, yet we cant deprive the people from
their right to speak which has allowed the creation of civilization and we cant suppress
mens violent nature embedded so deep in our DNA, but we can disguise it.
At the end of it all we cant be the civilized human race we pretend we are, for as
the rules of nature dictate, only the stronger individuals survive, but men such as Voltaire
and Montesquieu took some of the first steps to ensure that we, as specie, survive. Our
greatest weapon is our intellect and we should be exploiting its potential via artistic
development and rational thinking. That might be the key so that we may hopefully evolve
into a more rational being which understands violence is neither the way nor the means.

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Bibliography
Bok, H. (2010). Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from Standford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/montesquieu/
Shank, J. (2009). Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from Standford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/