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John Locke Social Contract

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Locke believes that all people are born with equal right to freedom. He states that we are all in a state of nature, and the only way to get out of this state, is to surrender yourself to a social contract. He defines a civil society as, “those who are united into one Body, and have a common established Law and Judicature to appeal to, with the authority to decide Controversies between them, and punish Offenders, are in Civil Society” (p324).
According to Locke, you have to consent to give up your rights and freedom and in return you will receive security (P331). The society establishes a judicial power to impart justice. Thus, he sees the commonwealth as legislative power to make laws and executive power to enforce laws with public support, …show more content…

As they majority choose their government, they have the power to dispose it “and so constitute a new Form of Government” (P354). He states that the most important branch of the government is the legislative, as its purpose is “the preservation of society” (P356).
Hobbes like Locke means that we are in a state of nature, and the only way to get out of this state is to agree to enter a social contract. However, according to Hobbes we will always seek to break this contract in order to gain power. Therefore the only way we can ensure peace and security is by consenting to give all the power to one sovereign authority (P120). Hobbes argues that this is more than consenting, “it is a real Unitie of them all, in one and the Person” (P120) and that is the Common-wealth. The Leviathan, the sovereignty, has the power to do whatever to protect the commonwealth. Hobbes does not favour if the Leviathan is one man or an assembly of men. He continues by saying that there are two ways of attaining this Sovereign Power; acquisition which is force, or by institution, which is …show more content…

The subjects, the people, are not allowed to make new contracts or be obedient to anyone other than the Leviathan once they are a part of the commonwealth. If a man disagrees with the Sovereign, he must consent with the majority, if he does not, the only justice is to destroy him (P123).
The people are not allowed to punish the Sovereign; he is the only judge of what is right and wrong. He is the only one with the right to make rules, this is the only way of public peace. Unlike Locke, Hobbes does favour one type of government,

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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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There is no government, no authority whatsoever. Every being is born equal and share the right to do anything for their survival. His political theory was based off his idea that all humans are naturally evil and selfish. Hobbes said that this equality leads to war. “...a war of every man against every man.”

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In a segment of, Of the State of Nature in Document A, John Locke writes, “We must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions...within the bounds of nature.” In, Of the Dissolution of Government, one part of the segment is, “The people are at liberty to provide for themselves.” All of the evidence is from John Locke himself. He wrote both of the books, Of the State of Nature and Of the Dissolution of Government. Both segments of the document include people having the choice to their own

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Thomas Hobbes wrote a famous book, The Leviathan, that explained how he thought humans were selfish and needed the government to keep order. He supported an absolute monarchy that could not be overthrown. Baron de Montesquieu said, “ Again, there is no liberty if the power of judging be not separated from the Legislative and Executive powers,” (Doc. 4). This displays how he wanted Separation of Powers, government division to keep one individual from rising to power.

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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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John Locke was all about the natural rights theory, these rights are given to us without a doubt because we are human, the government does not control these, and Jefferson became tired of fighting for his natural rights from Great Britain. Britain did not give America the same rights as they did their own citizens which is not right since the two where both under the same rule. So, Thomas Jefferson was done with putting up with this, because he believed that Americans had. What Locke meant by this and what Jefferson was trying to get across to Great Britain through the Declaration was that it is a person's right to declare their god given or natural rights and. Jefferson did just that he incorporated this view of Locke’s to justify his ideas

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According to “Biographical Briefing on Hobbes”, Hobbes argued that people are naturally wicked, selfish, and can’t be trusted to govern or make their own decisions because they would act in their own selfish interests if left alone. He believed that all people are equal and that this equality leads to competition and violence. According to Hobbes, governments were created to protect people from their own selfishness and evil. Therefore, he believed in absolute monarchy so that an authority can provide direction and leadership to the country. Hobbes believed that a democracy where citizens are allowed to vote for their leaders would never work (“Biographical Briefing on 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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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.

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For example, Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher who wrote Leviathan, argued that because people live in a “war of all against all,” an absolute government with a supreme ruler was needed to keep everyone in line. Without an absolute monarch, Hobbes believed that the state of nature would only result in complete chaos and violence. Locke, on the other hand, argued against powerful kings and believed that popular consent and majority rule were essential parts of a government. Although people can exist in a state of nature with any ruler, Locke believed that the human desire for self preservation and property will result in a longing for government and stability. Not only this, but Locke believed that the duty of the government is to respect and protect the rights of life, liberty, and property.

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One his theories, stated in his book called Leviathan said that people are not able rule themselves because of how selfish mankind is and they need to be ruled by an iron fist. His political theory was that was also stated in Leviathan was that we should respect government authority under all circumstances to avoid violence. Hobbes was scared of the outcome of the social contract which meant people could get rid of the government if they were unhappy with what they were getting. In order to make well with the social contract he states in Leviathan that people should be completely obedient to the government. His reasoning was that if there was no government, there would be chaos.

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It is also important that there is a kind of reliance that the agreements will be kept. In chapter 17, Hobbes presents a solution for a commonwealth, where people in numbers consent to the single sovereign authority to have complete control over them by repressing some of the freedoms and enforce laws to safeguard order within a state. The Leviathan is described as a single body built up by components of citizens, constructed through agreement to surrender in obedience to this single authority, so as to flee from bringing destruction from one another. However the true liberties as outlined in chapter 21 of the Leviathan are not oppressive and establish the terms in which the authority is absolute only as it instructs its subjects in its proper use. (Carmichael,

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While Hobbes also states that the human nature does not allow for the people to live in peace and to pursue common goals since “here are very many that think themselves wiser and abler to govern the public better than the rest” (Hobbes 3). respectively, there always exists the notion of competition, and if there is no possibility to reach consensus over the issue, there is the need for establishing an authority. This is the reflection of the social contract idea in the work by Hobbes as far as the author is concerned that only through common action and goals the society is able to function without problems and conflicts. Nevertheless, even though, in contrast to Machiavelli, Hobbes suggests the way of getting power that is based on agreement rather than on power and intellectual games, their ideas regarding the need for a strong ruler who would be able to establish the order in the society is rather similar, even though in one case this task is taken by a person himself and in the other case delivered by the

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Firstly, an absolute monarchy as proposed by Hobbes would require that people relinquish their own rights and to submit to one absolute power, which Locke feels is counterintuitive his understand of humans in the state of nature. A distinctive feature of Locke’s state of nature is perfect freedom for people to carry out their own wills without hindrance. Hence, Locke’s main critique of Hobbes’ absolutism is that people living under a Hobbesian

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