ipl-logo

Thomas Hobbes And John Locke Essay

2105 Words9 Pages

NAME: Fatima Gidado

ID NUMBER: BU/15C/LAW/1722

MODULE: History of ideas, Science and Society 1

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION: (i) Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were both social contact and natural law theorists. Discuss. (30 marks)
(ii) Explain the application or usefulness of these to contemporary society and Nigerian society in particular. (20 marks)

Thomas Hobbes was born in London in 1588. He did his college education at Oxford University in England, where he studied classics. Hobbes traveled to other European countries numerous times to meet with scientists and to study different forms of government. At his time outside of England, Hobbes became attracted to why people allowed them to be ruled and what would be the best form of government for …show more content…

We keep the right to life and liberty, and gain the right to just, impartial protection of our property. He states that if a ruler longs for absolute power, if he acts both as judge and member in disputes, he puts himself in a state of war with his people and they have the right and the duty to kill such rulers and their servants. Also civil society leads the state, both morally and historically. Society makes order and permits the state legitimacy. Men have rights by their …show more content…

In order to secure self-protection and self-preservation, and to avoid misery and pain man came into contract. The idea of self preservation and protection are in mans nature and in order to make it work, they voluntary surrender all their rights and freedoms to some authority by this contract who must command obedience. Hobbes was the supporter of absolutism. In Hobbes opinion “ law is dependent upon the sanction of the sovereign and the government without sword are but words and no of strength to secure a man at all”. He is therefore saying that civil law is the real and best law because it is commanded and enforced by the

Show More
Related
965 Words | 4 Pages

Thomas Hobbes was born in England in 1588. Hobbes

Read More
1208 Words | 5 Pages

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).

Read More
1053 Words | 5 Pages

He believed people act selfishly, so they could not be trusted to make their own decisions. Hobbes said that the only purpose of a government was to protect people from their own evil and

Read More
789 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More
531 Words | 3 Pages

“In 1651, Hobbes wrote one of the most influential philosophical treatises in human history, Leviathan or the Matter Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil. Like his rival, John Locke, Hobbes posited that in a state of nature men and women were free to pursue and defend their own interests, which resulted in a state of war in which “the life of man” was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. ”(“Philosopher who influenced the Founding Fathers and the First Principles,”

Read More
624 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More
534 Words | 3 Pages

John Locke and Thomas Hobbes were both social contract theorists, and both natural law theorists. All other natural law theorists assumed that man was by nature a social animal. Hobbes believed in other things. Hobbes was infamous for producing numerous similarly unconventional results in physics and mathematics. John Locke and Thomas Hobbes each advocated divergent tenets of human nature and government during the seventeenth century; John Locke promoted an optimistic view of human nature in which they lived under a government that protected the rights of the people; Thomas Hobbes published his perspective of the human soul as negative, believing the only way to combat its evilness by complete suppression under an absolute ruler.

Read More
1228 Words | 5 Pages

“You may fool me, but you can’t fool God! (Fitzgerald 159)” George Wilson said this while staring at a billboard featuring a pair of eyes that are said to be a physical representation of God in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This quote tells us all that there are irrefutable religious themes in this novel. There are several instances of spiritual imagery that are used, however, there are many more uses of symbolism that are often looked over.

Read More
156 Words | 1 Pages

The three flaws within Thomas Hobbes' theory are that Hobbes’ ideas challenges its own arguments about peace and the State of Nature, the theory fails to acknowledge the people who do not wish to accept the Social Contract, and the Social Contract fails to consider not only the virtue of the citizens, but the Sovereign as well. Hobbes’ Ideas challenges its own arguments about peace and the State of Human Nature. In the pre-Hobbesian version of society, nature and the city were corrupted poor versions of the Garden of Eden. Since there laws or governing power didn’t exist yet, there is no morality or sin because humans act according to the only laws that exists naturally, which are self-preservation and the need to or desire to seek peace.

Read More
493 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
1441 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
838 Words | 4 Pages

Summary Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) theory of social contract, which states that we need moral, legal rules because we want to escape the state of nature which is solitary, poor, brutal, nasty, and short. In this state, a man can kill others, and there are limited resources. This can soon lead to a state of war in which we are constantly disposed to harm others to achieve our goals. So, in this state of war if a person was to possess a beautiful house or property, and had all the comforts, luxuries, and amenities to lead a wonderful life; others could come and harm him and deprive him of his fruit of labor, life, and liberty. Therefore, the state of nature is that of fear, violence, and distrust.

Read More
1140 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More
1740 Words | 7 Pages

Hobbes was an English philosopher, known through out the world as the author of “Leviathan” which is regarded as one of the earliest examples of the social contract theory. His writings were greatly influenced by the

Read More
392 Words | 2 Pages

In Thomas Hobbes’s words, the life of man is, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” He does not hold a high opinion of man’s ability to enjoy life or at least go through it with endurance and perseverance. On the other hand, John Locke had more confidence in human nature. He believed that morality could be approached rather like numbers: obviously and easily. Everyone would know what good meant, just as everyone would know what five or ten meant.

Read More

More about Thomas Hobbes And John Locke Essay

Related Topics

Open Document