Thomas Hobbes State Of Nature Analysis

Thomas Hobbes is a political philosophy from the age of enlightenment. He is considered the founder of modern political philosophy. The work that he is most known for is Leviathan. This work was completed in 1651, and in it he discusses his view on the role of government in human lives based on his view of human behavior. Through this thought process, Hobbes comes to the conclusion that if humans seek peace, forfeiting your rights to a ruler, and keeping covenants, society will be taken out of a “state of nature.” This belief though does not escape the criticism of an unfair ruler though. An unfair ruler could create covenants that do not benefit society for the sake of taking it out of the state of nature, but to benefit himself. In

Authoritarian rulers fail to prevent humans from returning to that state. An example of this would be the revolution within the United States. When the U.S. was still English colonies, the colonist felt that King George was creating laws that were unfair to them, and only benefit him and the home country of England. So they started a war, reverting to the state of nature, based on their right of nature, that Thomas Jefferson outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Once the colonist broke free from George they set up a democracy, which divides the power among difference leadership within the government. This prevents a singular ruler from creating unjust rules of law. On top of that these officials are elected by the people, so it is in their best interest to create covenants with the people that are fair for all that. Otherwise these officials will no longer be in office. A representative democracy is the best way to keep society out of the state of nature, and still preserve individuals’ rights. The flaws that exist in the argument presented in Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes stem from the fact that a singular leader cannot be trusted to create just covenants. While that one individual can remove society from the state of nature, their own human nature will trigger members of society to invoke their right of nature. Thus taking society back into the undesired state of nature. The best way to prevent this cycle is creating a representative democracy where a multitude of people have power, making it more likely for the laws covenants that are created to be just for all of