Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
Hobbs was an English philosopher who had a very negative view of the nature of society. He based his research on the idea that humans naturally fear death and chaos. He argued that humans are born evil and therefore need to be controlled, that our nature is both selfish and competitive and without control there would be anarchy or “every man against every man” (p.13). He suggested that humans seen the natural world as chaos and was in need of order, and social order was then created by human beings and therefore could only be changed by human beings (p.13). Hobbes argued that human beings are governed by a selfish need for power and this desire for power continues until death. On the grounds of these beliefs Hobbes
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Locke suggested that the nature of humans is in fact not competitive but rather social and cooperative (p. 14). Locke portrayed a much more positive view on society than did Hobbes. However despite differences in opinions Locke’s theory, like Hobbes’s was based on the rights of individuals and the need to curtail the powers of the sovereign (p.14). In contrary to Hobbes “Locke postulated that individuals were in a “State of perfect Freedom” and a “State also of Equality” before the formation of the state” (p. 14), this freedom and equity is then transferred into society. Locke felt that humans were naturally born good and rather than have a government that controls us, we need a government to take care of us and preserve these things such as safety and public good, and if we have a government that fails to do this, we should get ride of them. “Making a contract with others means that individuals “give up Equality, Liberty and Executive Power they had in the State of Nature, into the hands of Society” (p.15). The works of both Hobbes and Locke were influential with both American and French revolutionaries, however Montesquieu further criticized their