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John Locke Vs Hobbes Essay

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The theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke have a very close structure. Their basis is the existence of a natural state, a public contract, the election of a sovereign and the creation of a civil status. But the different consideration of these four components is what makes a fundamental difference between the two theories. Hobbes’ theory is an authoritarian one, aimed at the one-man government. While Locke develops his ideas towards a more liberal policy, he is not accidentally seen as one of the founders of liberalism. The natural state is a major factor in both theories.

Nature, according to Thomas Hobbes, has created all people on Earth equal in physical and mental abilities. This, along with the freedom of man to do everything he thinks is needed to achieve his goals, is the foundation upon which Hobbes’ state of nature is built. Natural law is …show more content…

This freedom is limited by the natural law, whose basic idea is the self-preservation and preservation of humanity. In the natural state there is equality between people and no one has more power then the others. The state of complete freedom is not a state of permissiveness. People do not have the right to destroy themselves or anyone else except in certain circumstances - when someone violates the natural law. Each individual person is the judge and executor of the sentences. A penalty is fair when it complies with the violation that has been committed. Unfortunately, people often aggravate or mitigate the punishment. It is this human defect that is a real prerequisite for the emergence of a state of war. In Lockes’ theory, unlike Hobbes, the state of war is not related only to the natural state. The state of war is the use of force without right. For Locke, this is a real danger for both the natural state and the civilian. The means available to the people in the natural state can hardly end the war- cause of civil

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DeAndre’ Royster Simple,and Exclusive The natural state of mankind before forming a government. Hobbes and Locke both believed in a state of nature. They also both believed in a social contract. Hobbes wanted a government to protect people from each other.

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John Locke and Thomas Hobbes were early English philosophers who each had very different views on the roles of the government and the people being governed. Their interpretations of human nature each had a lasting and vast impact on modern political science. Locke believed that men had the right to revolt against oppressive government. “‘Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”

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Hobbes and Locke had opposing views and interpretations of men and their state of nature. Hobbes was around during the time that an absolute monarchy was the acceptable type of government for society. This was most acceptable to Hobbes because he believed that if society would leave man in his own state of nature he would be brutish. Also he believed that a government with

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Hobbes and locke were two philosophers who two different ideas on the world and human behavior as a whole. Hobbes mainly believed that without any form of government people will always be trying to fight for power. On the other hand, Locke believed everyone is born peaceful but can be corrupted by society. Hobbes and Locke both had very different views on different human nature, the purpose of government, and both had a big influence on many different countries.

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(6) The view of men and the starting point for Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau are respectfully different. Similarly, difference can also be seen in their reason for the state or a natural judge. Hobbes states that without the subjection to a common power, men are in a state of war due to their selfish human nature. However, for Locke and Rousseau, the state exists for the preservation and protection of the natural rights of its

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On Tyranny Timothy Snyder wrote a book called “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” mainly to inform Americans on how to withstand from the rise of tyranny in America today. He starts the book off with an opening line, “history does not repeat, but it does instruct” (Snyder 6). In reference to the opening line, readers will learn how to prevent the fall of democracy, along with overcoming the rise of tyranny through ‘twenty lessons’ based on the mistakes made in the twentieth century. These historical lessons are mostly taken from European’s history of fascism, communism, and Nazism. As an expert in European history, the author, Timothy Snyder uses examples based on the Soviet Union and the German Nazis to show how “history can familiarize, and it can warn” (Snyder 7).

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However, Locke believed that humans had a natural sense of morality, and also that people had the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. Hobbes and Locke then used their opinions on basic human nature to define why people form a government, which they describe as a “social contract,”

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Hobbes believes in an unsafe, truculent environment that individuals cannot wait to escape due to their constant feelings of doubt and being unsafe. Contrary, Locke believes that humans have a genuine obligation to themselves as well as their society to be honest, equal and tolerant of one

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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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Both Locke witnessed the history of their mother country and devised ways to cure the all political systems of the world, with as little bloodshed as possible. Hobbes came before Locke and was considered a founder of political philosophy, as at the time, nobody dwelt on the ideas of government; it was just the divine right of the king to rule because he was god’s chosen man and no questions asked. Though historians like to believe Locke and Hobbes were at each other’s throats with their contrasting ideas, Locke was greatly influenced by the teachings of Hobbes as a fellow political thinker. Though they were not in concurrence with their specific political views, they are both remembered as revolutionary philosophers who changed the way people thought about

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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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The mutual thread between Hobbes’s state of nature and Locke's state of nature is that Hobbes and Locke both speak of the dangers of a state of nature. Both men refer to men as equal in this state; Hobbes says that "nature hath made men so equal in the faculties of mind and body ... the difference between man and man is not so considerable" (Hobbes, Leviathan 80-81]. Similarly, Locke describes the nature of nature as "a state of perfect freedom, where naturally there is no control or jurisdiction of one over another" [Wootton, 288]. Despite this equality, however, both men warned of the danger that the state of nature.

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Hobbes viewed state of nature as a state of war. According to Hobbes, in a state of nature, there is no right to property because no one affords another that right. He stated that property and possessions would inevitably cause men to become enemies. Hobbes believes that people have equal physical and mental ability to harm, and that people will do so for three reasons - competition, difference, and glory. " so that in the state of nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrel, first, competition; secondly, difference; thirdly, glory" (Hobbes 2008, p.85).

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This state of nature was the conditions in which we lived before there were any political governments to rule over us and it described what societies would be like if we had no government at all. In this essay I will compare the opinions given by each philosopher regarding their understanding of the state and the law. I will also discuss how their theories have influenced our understanding of the law today. Thomas Hobbes – Regarding the State and Law Firstly I would like to begin my discussion with Thomas Hobbes.

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