Hobbes believed that “it is not possible for people to have both freedom and peace, since the state of freedom is a state of unlimited greed and war.” (Document C). i believe that hobbes is right about how there are many selfish people and if it came down to you or them, who would you choose? It is most likely that one chooses to save themselves because at a certain time it comes down to survival. Hobbes thought that we should have a ruler such as a king or queen because “democracy- allowing citizens to vote for government leaders- would never work.
Hobbes argued that once an individual is a part of an absolute monarchy, they no longer have the rights to branch away from the government. He created the idea that people who are a part of this absolutist society cannot fight against the authority because it provides protection for the people. Locke had another viewpoint which regarded the protection of the people, but he saw it in a civil society. Locke explained that the social contract was the result of men who had the equal rights as a natural concept of life. He preached that all men have rights and freedom to express their opinions and protection of their property.
He believed that people formed an agreement between each other and the government, in which they gave up some rights, so that they could live in a safe and orderly way. In his book “Leviathan”, Hobbes says, “…that a man be willing, when others are so too, as far forth as for peace and defence of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things;” This states that man is willing to give up some rights to live in a safe society. I think that this concept of the social contract can be related to the British monarchy. The colonists gave up some of their rights to the King, so as to have order and structure in their
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
Therefore, individuals would have to sacrifice their freedom for security and safety which is called the social contract. From many people Thomas Hobbes theory has been compared to the famous novel, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
According to Hobbes, a sovereign, whether the sovereign was placed into power by violence or force, is the only way to secure law and order. For him, if a citizen obeys the sovereign for fear of punishment or in the fear of the state of nature, it is the choice of the citizen. According to Hobbes, this is not tyranny; it is his idea of a society that is successful, one that does not have room for democracy. As a realist, Hobbes has a fierce distrust of democracy and viewed all of mankind in a restless desire for power. If the people are given power, law and order would crumble in Hobbes’ eyes.
Both social contract philosophers defended different views about moral and political obligations of men living in the state of nature stripped of their social characters. The state of nature illustrates how human beings acted prior to entering into civil society and becoming social beings living under common legitimacy. The state of nature is to be illustrated as a hypothetical device to explain political importance in the society. Thomas Hobbes, propounded politics and morality in his concept of the state
He believes that the human condition, the traditions, experiences, and knowledge acquired by humans, is far to complex to be described by science and therefore avoids he commonly held views of political science from the Enlightenment Era. However, Thomas Hobbes, as he writes in Leviathan (1651) believed that all political phenomenons could be reported systematically as he equated all humans to machines, predictable by consistently acting in their self interest. [PG 3] Burke’s criticism that can be applied to Hobbes lies on three fronts; that the understanding human condition cannot be derived through logic; that consent, explicit or tacit, does not exist after the first social contract; and that a rebellion is neither possible nor effective when in a social contract. Thomas Hobbes’ prefaces his discussion of the social contract by giving credence to what he understood as science.
Hobbes, the English philosopher, believed that from the start of the conception of a human, they are naturally narcissistic. In addition Hobbes believed that all humans are equal, and due to this equivalence, humans are constantly in a struggle of power between one another, “...general inclination of all mankind a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death”. Since humans are constantly locked in a struggle for power with each other, the state of life is one of competition and violence. Humans will go to great lengths to assert their dominance over another, and this drive power leads to the constant violence between humans, “...they are in that condition which is called war, and such a war as is of every man
Hobbes developed the ‘social contract theory’, which is the idea that civilians give up some of their freedom and liberty for protection from the leader. This concept, which was used during Hobbes’s time, is still a part of the government today. Hobbes brings down this concept in his world famous book, Leviathan. A picture of a ‘giant’ monarch holding onto a tiny world is used to describe his version of the social contract. The drawing depicts the trade of freedom for safety.
Summary Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) theory of social contract, which states that we need moral, legal rules because we want to escape the state of nature which is solitary, poor, brutal, nasty, and short. In this state, a man can kill others, and there are limited resources. This can soon lead to a state of war in which we are constantly disposed to harm others to achieve our goals. So, in this state of war if a person was to possess a beautiful house or property, and had all the comforts, luxuries, and amenities to lead a wonderful life; others could come and harm him and deprive him of his fruit of labor, life, and liberty. Therefore, the state of nature is that of fear, violence, and distrust.
Thomas Hobbes has been famous for his philosophies on political and social order. In many of his scholastic works, he maintains the position that in the presence of a higher authority the duty of the rest of mankind is to simply obey. The discourse on this essay will focus on his views expressed in his book The Leviathan. In this book Hobbes’ views are fundamentally entrenched in his description that in a society with no higher authority life would be nasty, short and brutish (?) .This essay will engage in discussion by first laying out the conceptual arguments of anarchy and the human state of nature.
Hobbes was an English philosopher, known through out the world as the author of “Leviathan” which is regarded as one of the earliest examples of the social contract theory. His writings were greatly influenced by the
Locke’s vision of continual consent to governmental rule is much more appealing than Hobbes’s tyrant. Even though his views on human nature seem too good to be true, Locke’s philosophy is alluringly practical. If you do not agree with your government, simply leave and find another government you do agree with. Additionally, Locke’s plan protects the citizens by giving them leave to make their own decisions. Hobbes’s view is doubly flawed: his opinion on human nature forces his government to fail morally.
The modern state Christopher Pierson focuses on a normative illustration of the modern state – how it should be. The following discussion tries to summarize the essence of three features. (Monopoly) control of the means of violence Thomas Hobbes came up with his idea of the ‘Common Power’ – the Great Leviathan – owning all the means of violence and ruling over the people. Engels talks about power as ‘arisen out of society but placing itself above it’, meaning that the people give all their power to a higher institution and accepting its rule over them. Weber, in his attempt to define the state, mentions ‘monopoly…of physical force’ claimed by a human community.
