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Comparing Thomas Hobbes and John Locke

Comparing Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Revolutions Day 1 Notes. So where are we…. England in the mid-1600s. Chaos is everywhere. People are unhappy with the shape of their nation. Disagreements about religion, liberties (freedoms), and properties are all over.

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Comparing Thomas Hobbes and John Locke

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  1. Comparing Thomas Hobbes and John Locke Revolutions Day 1 Notes

  2. So where are we… • England in the mid-1600s. • Chaos is everywhere. People are unhappy with the shape of their nation. • Disagreements about religion, liberties (freedoms), and properties are all over. • England is trying to figure out how government should be run.

  3. So who are Locke and Hobbes • Both men had a tremendous impact on revolutionary thought in England, America, and France • Both believed in a social contract, or an agreement between individuals and their government about rights in society. • What they disagreed about was what should be written in that contract…

  4. Thomas Hobbes • Supported monarchies (kings) • Said people are inherently selfish and evil. • He wrote about this political philosophy in his book, Leviathan. • Said people chose a ruler and should trust his decision making, or else their natural selfishness would result lawlessness and conflict.

  5. According to Hobbes • The only right people have is to protect their own lives. • All rights to everything else are trusted to the king. • All people are inherently savages, and cannot be trusted in decision making as a group.

  6. Are people inherently savages?

  7. Hobbes’s Impact • Influenced supporters of the monarchy in Europe. • Said the world is a place where only the strong survive unless order is forced by a ruler. • People should give up individual liberty for public safety.

  8. Think about it…. • In revolutions are people safe? • But are there always alternatives to revolutions? • Sometime is it the only answer?

  9. John Locke • Said people have rights that are above that of the good of society. • They include life, liberty, and property. • Governments and leaders only exist to protect these rights. • The basis for the Declaration of Independence!

  10. Locke’s Impact • Claimed there was no such thing as absolute power. • Parliament, the lawmaking body in England, listens to Locke. • Establish Habeas Corpus, or protection against unfair arrest and imprisonment. • English Bill of Rights guarantees basic protections in England for the first time in the late 1600s.

  11. Locke’s main point… • A ruler who denies people their basic rights is a tyrant and can justly be overthrown. • Think of examples we have talked about this semester!

  12. Meanwhile in France… • People are beginning to take notice of England. • They rebel against the powerful kings that have ruled for hundreds of years… • The rich are too rich, and the poor are getting poorer…. • The time is right for Revolution….

  13. Influence on today’s society by Locke or Hobbes? • Constitution? • Supreme Court? • President? • Wartime laws? • School?? • Mr. Kehoe’s Class????

  14. In wartime, should people give up individual freedom for security?

  15. What about in times of peace?

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