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Hobbes vs. Locke: essential concepts

Hobbes vs. Locke: essential concepts. Concepts they share: The State of Nature Natural Rights The Social Contract Where they differ: What drives human behavior? Passion (Hobbes) Reason (Locke) What is the best form of government? Absolute monarchy (Hobbes) Constitutionalism (Locke).

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Hobbes vs. Locke: essential concepts

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  1. Hobbes vs. Locke: essential concepts • Concepts they share: • The State of Nature • Natural Rights • The Social Contract • Where they differ: • What drives human behavior? • Passion (Hobbes) • Reason (Locke) • What is the best form of government? • Absolute monarchy (Hobbes) • Constitutionalism (Locke) Hobbes Locke

  2. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651) • Wanted to construct a “science of politics” based on an indisputable principle • This principle must be based on the strongest element in human nature • The strongest element was passion, not reason • The strongest passion is fear of violent death • This fear gives rise to the natural right of self-preservation • The natural right of self-preservation is the basis of Hobbes’ thought Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

  3. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651) • In a state of nature there is a war of every man against every man • “No arts, no letters, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” • To secure peace men make contracts establishing a sovereign power who is not subject to civil law since by its will it creates the law • Of the three forms of sovereignty (monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy), monarchy is the most effective in securing peace Leviathan (1651)

  4. John Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690) • The state of nature is not a state of perpetual war; • All men are free and equal; no man by nature is sovereign over another man • The law of nature, revealed by reason, governs the state of nature • Natural rights include the right to Life, Liberty, and Estate (property) John Locke (1632-1704)

  5. John Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690) • No one ought to harm another in his life, liberty, or property; if anyone does harm another, the one he harms has the right to punish him • Through a social contract, people create a government to protect their natural rights of life, liberty, and property • The best form of government to protect natural rights is a government of limited powers (constitutionalism) • If a government breaks the social contract, the people have the right to dissolve it Two Treatises of Civil Government (1690)

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