Cesare Beccaria was named the first socialist who significantly questioned the state’s right to execute and imprison the citizens. This desire emerged after witnessing many citizens’ cruel and brutal deaths and a man accused of committing sodomy. The male was called Lisette and was viciously dealt with by the state. He got killed and burnt in front of the crowd, and the state ruled this act to be in line with the rule of law. This sent the message that instills fear in people so that they kept off from committing sins. Around this time, Beccaria was in his early twenties and had done law and thus knew the decree. Additionally, he was a son of a prominent aristocrat from Milanese. The knowledge of law made Beccaria productive in his mission in the world of enlightenment philosophy. He had different philosophies that led to many judicial system reformations and how punishments were instilled among the wrongdoers. These philosophies by Beccaria were recognized worldwide and mostly throughout Europe. Individuals can analyze Beccaria’s proposals and discuss how they are inspired by reason and what advantages society would gain by adopting them.
One of the Beccaria philosophies was his mission which stated that the greatest happiness was the pleasure shared amongst the greatest number of people. This mission was and is still beneficial since it favors most people’s joy: the citizens other than the few persons in power. Around this time, policies and decisions were made by the few elites that shared power. This was one of Beccaria’s setbacks in accomplishing his mission (Beccaria, 2009). These people never supported his ideologies and even wanted Beccaria not to proceed in accomplishing his mission. However, the fact that Beccaria was a son of a renowned aristocrat in Milanese and he had knowledge in matters concerning the law, he was able to bring the renovation. When happiness is about the big group, this is favorable to everyone, even the few people in power. The individuals in control are mostly concerned about their gains and formulate principles that favor them and continue harassing the many citizens. Thus, the approach involving happiness was a major aspect encouraged by Beccaria.
The other philosophy was to apply political economy principles to rationalize and humanize how the state used coercion on matters concerning punishments and crimes. This time, cruel and arbitrary use was the most used instrument practiced by the state to terrorize people and make them submissive for them. The government did this to avoid any attempts of rebellion from the people. Application of principles of the political economy toward these cruel harassments would significantly help society since different people could air their voices without fear of execution and persecution by the state.
When individuals are terrorized and have no power, the whole nation is colonized by a small group of elites who have total control of the rule of law. This serves as a setback for any nation that needs to grow since even people who could bring great revolution to the economy cannot do so due to fear imposed on them by the state (Beccaria, 2009). Moreover, great talents, great wisdom, and great skills in society cannot come out and impose their impact on society. For any nation to experience growth, there must be this freedom that everyone exercises some activities as long as they are under the rule of law and do not violate the protocols. These helped him since the state could not do anything to him regardless of the revolution he was bringing.
Beccaria used philosophy to revolutionize the way different societies in Europe thought about rules and regulations. He was never interested in what the policy stated, but his approach was censorial and concerned about the decree’s contribution to society. He argued that rule of law as a social institution instrument had always been taken for granted and should be a charitable social order tool. This philosophy brought substantial political, social and institutional reform. The few people in power were fond of using the law to make policies and create institutions that saw them as different favors. Instead of using the rule of law as a benevolent instrument for the social order, they used it to benefit themselves. That is why they were not supportive of anyone who tends to encourage reforms.
The rule of law should be more beneficial to the people and not only to the rulers. The statute’s primary goal is to maintain order in society and ensure that people enjoy their rights and freedoms without fear of contradictions. In this case, the rulers took advantage of their powers to threaten people and impose fear on them, and Beccaria was against this. Any society should adopt such philosophies from such a great philosopher, which will benefit the society. For instance, issues policies will not favor those in power since they will involve improving the communities. All people will also be valued regardless of their positions in society. Thus, the approaches can largely help people to live together and avoid engaging in various unethical behaviors.
Reference
Beccaria, C. (2009). On crimes and punishments and other writings. University of Toronto Press.