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Thomas Hobbes And John Locke's Influence On Modern Society

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In the present assignment, an attempt has been made to evaluate the influence of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke on the modern society. At the same time, the connection between the writings of these philosophers and the things that are actually present has also been explored. Both the philosophers were very enlightened thinkers of the 17th century. At the same time, both of them have very strong views regarding human nature and also the role that displayed by the government in the lives of the people. In this regard, Hobbes believed that by their nature, people were selfish but the perspective of Locke was different. He believed that the human beings are good by nature and reasonable and therefore they can self-regulate themselves. However, as a result of these differences, these two philosophers have different outlooks regarding what should be an ideal government. But despite these differences, both of …show more content…

Thomas Hobbes also had a significant impact on political thought (Sorell, 1996). For example these ideas that the people were selfish and brutal and also his ideas regarding the role of government and resulted in more investigations by other philosophers like John Locke. After the Revolution, the ideas of Thomas Hobbes also had considerable impact on Federalists in their arguments to adopt the Constitution (Hobbes, 1986). Hobbes believed that all the people should have equal rights and therefore no person should have more power as compared to others (apart from the King, who should have absolute power). As a result of the ideas of Hobbes, it was believed that the people cannot survive if a strong central government is not present to protect them. The influence of these ideas can be measured from the fact that even today these ideas are studied and discussed by modern scholars (Tarlton,

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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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The Declaration of Independence and the colonists were influenced by many philosophers in multiple ways. The king also influenced the colonists yet he didn’t have any speech close to speak the mind of the colonists such as the philosophers did. The words that were presented on paper from just a person’s thoughts sent a lot of messages in the 1700’s. Multiple of these thoughts on paper mostly had an effect on opinions. Thomas Hobbes, a philosopher known for his original perspective on the world, was one of the few who impacted the colonists.

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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).

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John Locke also went against Hobbes’ ideas by saying that government can be overthrown. These ideas all show different viewpoints, that government should have all the power, and that it should be split up to keep them from having all the

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During 1787, there was major controversy over the Articles of Confederation. To fix the controversy, the founding fathers of America came up with the Constitution to help resolve the issues. The Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788; it provided a new central government, laws, and certain basic rights for the American people. Many of the ideas in the Constitution were influenced by French Enlightenment thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and John Locke. Thomas Hobbes influenced the American Constitution in many ways.

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It is words that win wars, and throughout history moments have been defined by speeches, proclamations and documents. They shape political policies, rules and inspire change amongst men, they can start and end wars, rally troops and put the fear of god in men. The American revolution was no exception. During the course of the war many important letters, reports and political bills were written on both sides, giving historians and the general public a better understanding of the events and sufferings that formed a country and shaped democracy as we know it today. One of the most influential of these came from the British, a proclamation made by Thomas Gage on behalf of King George III of England.

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In contrast to Hobbes, who argues social bonds form to regulate human nature, Rousseau argues that the formation of the civil state results from and in a “change in man,” that humans must of necessity be denatured in the process of forming society. There are similarities between the two’s philosophies, but it is Rousseau, through his arguments that human nature can be changed, who articulates a political vision more consistent with the claim that humans are asocial by nature. In the beginning, the arguments of both Hobbes and Rousseau are similar. Man in nature is isolated.

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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.

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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 ancient Egyptians had strong beliefs that they never once questioned. One of the most important religious beliefs that they had was the preservation of the human body once a person died, a method called mummification. They believed that mummification was the only way to gain immortality. They thought that in order for their Ba, their personality or spirit, to live on after death they needed their physical body preserved. The afterlife for them was just continuing the lives they had on Earth, only better.

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His negative and pessimistic point of view on humanity led him to draft this version of the social contract. Hobbes, who lived in the United Kingdom, under the rule of a monarch, affected the government of this time by introducing this idea. His social contract defied a democracy, and favored a monarchy. The monarchs and rulers of his time approved of his draft, whereas rulers later on who believed in a democracy strongly disagreed with this

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Thomas Hobbes has been famous for his philosophies on political and social order. In many of his scholastic works, he maintains the position that in the presence of a higher authority the duty of the rest of mankind is to simply obey. The discourse on this essay will focus on his views expressed in his book The Leviathan. In this book Hobbes’ views are fundamentally entrenched in his description that in a society with no higher authority life would be nasty, short and brutish (?) .This essay will engage in discussion by first laying out the conceptual arguments of anarchy and the human state of nature.

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes, two titans of the Enlightenment, work within similar intellectual frameworks in their seminal writings. Hobbes, in Leviathan, postulates a “state of nature” before society developed, using it as a tool to analyze the emergence of governing institutions. Rousseau borrows this conceit in Discourse on Inequality, tracing the development of man from a primitive state to modern society. Hobbes contends that man is equal in conflict during the state of nature and then remains equal under government due to the ruler’s monopoly on authority. Rousseau, meanwhile, believes that man is equal in harmony in the state of nature and then unequal in developed society.

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Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau have become known as three of the most prominent political theorists in the world today. Their philosophies and innovative thinking is known worldwide and it has influenced the creation of numerous new governments. All three thinkers agree on the idea of a social contract but their opinions differ on how the social contract is established and implemented within each society. These philosophers state, that in order for the social contract to be successful people need to give up certain freedoms in order to secure fundamental protections from the state, henceforth the state then has certain responsibilities to their citizens. Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau all believe that before men were governed we all lived in a state of nature.

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Firstly, an absolute monarchy as proposed by Hobbes would require that people relinquish their own rights and to submit to one absolute power, which Locke feels is counterintuitive his understand of humans in the state of nature. A distinctive feature of Locke’s state of nature is perfect freedom for people to carry out their own wills without hindrance. Hence, Locke’s main critique of Hobbes’ absolutism is that people living under a Hobbesian

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