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Hobbes Vs Aquinas Research Paper

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Numerous philosophers had their own particular perspective of natural law including Thomas Hobbes and St. Thomas Aquinas. Natural Law initially began in Ancient Greece and was an imperative part in government. Natural Law is said to exit within all of us with the ability of reason. Contradicting to Aquinas, Hobbes says that in order to do good, we must be forced to do good by the state. Aquinas says natural law exists in your conscience. They both depict how we should function as a society with their opposing perspectives on natural law.
Thomas Aquinas was a Catholic Priest and one of the most influential Philosophers. Aquinas, born in the 13th century, was inspired by Aristotle’s ideas on happiness and goodness. Thomas Aquinas was …show more content…

Aquinas says “we do have a natural property right over external things, since we have reason and will that can turn such things to our benefit”. He thought that it was important to have private property under natural law and believes private property does not contradict natural law because it promotes tranquility and obligations.
Thomas Hobbes was a political philosopher born in the 17th century. Thomas Hobbes did not believe law and morality came from religion such as Aquinas. This is seen today as the separation of church and state. To Hobbes, law and morality came from the government, many viewed him as an atheist because of this. Hobbes saw humans as self-centered and believed a government was needed to protect people from their own selfishness. Thomas Hobbes lived in a dark time, this may be why Hobbes did not think that human beings were naturally moral. He thought that society needed a leader to provide …show more content…

And both believe that human beings will agree to this law for the most part. However, Aquinas’ is based on religion and Hobbes is based on sovereign. Aquinas believes we obey laws because of God and in the pursuit of happiness and for goodness. Hobbes believes we obey laws in the pursuit of self interests and because of fear. They both agree that humans recognized the need and agree to the laws. Hobbes, like Aquinas, believes that laws are generally made and enforced to better society. The same goal is in mind, however it is basically Religion vs. Government. Aquinas believes Natural Law is unchanging, contraducting Hobbes, who believes Natural Law can change over

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Hobbes believed that man must escape their state of nature to be protected. Within this social contract the ruler had absolute power over the people which lead to their words and opinions never being heard. Hobbes believed that for the government to function properly, the people must obey the absolute monarchy and accept that their opinions are not being accounted. Hobbes explained, “And therefore, they that are subjects to a Monarch, cannot without his leave cast off Monarchy, and return to the confusion of a disunited Multitude; not tranferre their Person from him that beareth it…” (Hobbes in Perry, 22).

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Hobbes believed if there was no government every man will fight against one another for power. To stop the fighting the people form a government to make peace. “To this war of every man against every man, this also is consequent; that nothing can be unjust” (doc 2). This quote is saying that without laws or any form of government people will fight each other. And

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The two texts I’ll be comparing is The Bracelet By Yoshiko Uchida, and What a Character By The World Almanac. The Bracelet is a historical fiction that follows a little girl named Ruri. It tells us the reader that Ruri is being moved from her home because of the pearl harbor bombing. And is gifted a bracelet from here friend Laurie Madison which she loses when she moves.

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Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher in the 17th century, who was best known for his book Leviathan and his political views on society. Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, who was a student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle, explored justice, beauty, and equality, and among many other topics. There are many common topics available to compare and contrast Thomas Hobbes and Plato, although one point that has to be made clear is that, they share similar ideologies. Between Plato and Hobbes, there are many differences, however one of these differences is the result in how each writer perceives human beings and their roles within the state and society, and both have radically opposing views on human nature in general. While Plato and Hobbes

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Hobbes believed that natural state of humans was violent and therefore needed order and control to ensure a just and equal society (Robinson 2016, 4). However Hobbes believed that a sovereign could maintain power without deceit and manipulation. Hobbes believed in the social contract which is when people could have a moral understanding about right and wrong to avoid the chaotic violent human nature. Hobbes believed in the idea of utilitarianism which would “maximize the most good and minimize the pain” (Robinson 201, 4). This would ensure that the sovereign was doing things for the right reasons and not to better himself but to better society as a

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Hobbes (1660) stated, “…every man is enemy to every man” (p.1909). He truly believed that the government had to rule completely and that the people had no say in the actions taken by the government. According to Cohen (2011), Hobbes believed that “The Hobbesian natural laws command our submission to a sovereign power” (p.462). On the contrary, Locke believed in Democracy,

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Whereas Hobbes states that based on his idea of human nature, which is humans are born evil, that one ruler should be given absolute power. While Hobbes makes various points he does conclude that people should surrender their freedom to this power because the ruler keeps them safe. This including the right to complain about the ruler’s policies. Locke’s ideal government is one that doesn’t give absolute power to one person but rather power to a group of power. This making it less likely for a ruler to abuse their power or corrupt the government.

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They began to see that people have rights that must be protected even from government” (iCivics 1). On the other hand, Hobbes thought that the whole purpose of the government was to have one ruler that would have total authority over everyone. The author explains, “Hobbes believed a single sovereign, or ruler, should have total authority over the people. He believed in a monarchy led by a king. That’s because he thought that government would work best if all the power rested in one place” (iCivics 1).

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Therefore, a person must find their ritual principle in order to stay in control with their nature. On the other hand, when it came to Hobbes his solution was different from what Tzu believed. Hobbes thought there had to be laws in order to take control of the situation and to keep everything in order. Austin describes, Hobbes therefore opposed revolution in any form, not because he thought kings ruled by divine right but because he believed that authoritarian government was necessary to keep human beings’ worst impulse under control” (94).

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When comparing the two different accounts of English philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke we must take into consideration a number of things such as the age in which they lived and the time in which they produced their philosophical writings. We will however find out that these two philosophers actually have a couple of things in which agree on even though most of their opinions clash. On one side we have Thomas Hobbes who lived in the time of the English Civil War (1642-1651) who provides a negative framework for his philosophical opinions in his masterpiece Leviathan and who advocates for philosophical absolutism . On the other side we have John Locke, living during the glorious revolution (1688-1689) he presents a positive attitude in his book The Second Treatise of Government and advocates for philosophical and biblical constitutionalism. It is important that we know that the state of nature describes a pre- political society prior to the social contract.

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