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Hobbes and monarchy as the best form of government
The form, role and power of government according to hobbes
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After being stranded on an island with no sign of rescue or grownups, the schoolboys need some form of government or leader to rule them all. The first day they discover they are not alone, the boys elect Ralph, one of the older boys, to lead them. He believes they need authority, in place of the grownups. Otherwise, chaos will break out, as it does later on. Golding’s Lord of the Flies serves as a perfect illustration of Hobbes’s philosophy on the brutish, selfish nature of man and, therefore, the need for a strong government.
Hobbes believed that without a strong government, people experience continual fear and danger of violent death and lives that are solitary, poor, brutish, and short.” This quote is important because many people who are not ruled usually lead to destruction and mayhem. According to hobbes “appointing a diverse group of representatives to present the problems of the common people to the leviathan. These representatives would only have the power to present opinions, since all final decisions would be made by the leviathan.” i imagine that hobbes presumes that the citizens will take advantage of anyone who is seen as a “good” person, this idea can provide the people with a voice and still be able to make the right
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).
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.
Humans, according to the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, are selfish by nature. In his landmark work, Leviathan, he explains the importance of a strong government in society. According to Hobbes, without a strong system of government people would revert into a primitive state; war would run rampant, the natural law would not be abided, and those once tamed by society would become evil. William Golding based his novel, Lord of The Flies, on a similar idea. In this novel, many characters digress from civility into savagery.
However, Hobbes’s also states that "The obligation to the sovereign is understood to last as long and no longer than the power last by which he is able to protect them can be relinquished by no covenant" (Machiavelli 124). This suggests that a sovereign’s power in a natural Commonwealth comes from his ability to protect the people from the “state of nature”. The subjects of a natural Commonwealth do not necessarily need to fear a ruler to believe that he possesses the ability to protect them from their true fear, a return to the “state of nature”. This indicates that while fear of a ruler might be a useful tool for a ruler to use to enforce his authority, it is not absolutely necessary for the preservation of a political
Thomas Hobbes He liked to study various types of government. He thought that the government of a monarchy was better than democracy because he had no doubt that they were naturally wicked and were not to be trusted to govern. He believed that it was better to have a governor like a king that would know how to act like a leader and rule a country.
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
should rule over the state is reasoned. Hobbes begins by explaining what a commonwealth is and its role in the community. He defines a commonwealth as the "multitude so united in one person" (Hobbes, 120). The definition sets the framework for the notion that the states should come together and have one voice, hence the federal government speaking on the behalf of all the states. This role of the commonwealth, or common power, is to protect the public from foreigners or outsiders (Hobbes, 119).
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.
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,
After giving much thought on what I wanted to do in the future, I found University of California at Los Angeles to be an excellent stepping stone for my aspiration as a computer scientist. I’ve come to a decision to apply to UCLA because I wanted to follow in my brother’s footsteps as a computer scientist, and what better way to start, by applying to the same college that my brother attended and graduated. With the encouragement from my brother supporting me behind my back, I strongly believe that UCLA will widen my horizon, improve me as a person, and hope to have a glimpse of what my brother had experienced when he took his first step into the campus. My strongest traits to push through my aspirations is my confidence, passion, and hardwork.
Throughout the graphic novel, Persepolis, the author Marjane Satrapi uses the thematic idea of family to represent that when a country goes to war, the ones that care about you should always be there for you, no matter the circumstance. Satrapi prioritizes family during the war, because during the violent Iranian Revolution, the lives of others, especially the enemy, become an afterthought. People like Marji need their family during this time of struggle because without them, nobody can guide and assist her, therefore, she will get lost on her path to becoming a mature adult. Family is the one thing in life that is unchangeable, and in the graphic novel Persepolis, it is essential for every character to love and care for their own. To begin,
Thomas Hobbes proposed that the ideal government should be an absolute monarchy as a direct result of experiencing the English Civil War, in which there was internal conflict between the parliamentarians and the royalists. Hobbes made this claim under the assumption that an absolute monarchy would produce consistent policies, reduce conflicts and lower the risk of civil wars due to the singular nature of this ruling system. On another hand, John Locke counters this proposal with the view that absolute monarchies are not legitimate as they are inconsistent with the state of nature. These two diametrically opposed views stem from Hobbes’ and Locke’s different understandings of human nature, namely with regard to power relationships, punishment, and equality in the state of nature. Hobbes’ belief that human beings are selfish and appetitive is antithetical with Locke’s contention that human beings are intrinsically moral even in the state of nature, which results in Locke’s strong disagreement with Hobbes’ proposed absolute monarchy.
For Hobbes, dividing capacities to judge between different bodies is tantamount to letting the state of nature straight back in. " For what is it to divide the power of a commonwealth, but to dissolve it; for powers divided mutually destroy each other." (Leviathan, xxix.12; cf De Cive, xii.5) Beyond the example of England in the 1640s, Hobbes hardly bothers to argue the point, although it is crucial to his entire theory. Always in his mind is the Civil War that arose when Parliament claimed the right to judge rules of taxation, and thereby prevented the King from ruling and making war as he saw fit, and when churches and religious sects claimed prerogatives that went against the King's
