Locke And Hobes: An Analysis

John Locke presenting many ideas relating to Government, one strong belief he possessed was the fact that a good democratic Government had to exist through the permission of the people being ruled. Seeing that people are born natural free and have control over their political and social state of mind, they had to surrender some of their rights to the government for that government

Where Hobbes’ believed the state of nature and a state of war to be one and the same, Locke saw them as two separate entities, and sees the state of war as a smaller occurrence. Locke believed that nature is at peace until one man attacks another. In this state of war it is suitable for the person being attacked to defend themselves from the transgressor.

Locke is best known for his philosophical ideals regarding the rights of humankind- all individuals have the right to life, liberty, and property.

The ideas presented by Hobbes and Locke are often in opposition. Hobbes views humanity much more pessimistically; viewing men as evil according to natural law and government a way to eliminate natural law. Locke takes a much more optimistic stance; viewing government a means to preserve the state of nature and enhance it as men are naturally peaceful and equal. Discarding the differences in ideology, their ideas were radical for their time. The interest they took in natural law, man's natural characteristics, and the role of government, provided inspiration for, and was the focus of many literary works for the future.

First, for Hobbes, the nature of nature is perpetually in a state of war. According to Hobbes, the chief reason why men given up their authority to the sovereign is to seek peace, and avoid the “fear of death. By contrast, while Locke does speak of states of war as well, for him they are a subset of the state of nature, and not the entire equation. Locke specifically states that “men living together according to reason…is properly the state of nature. But force, upon the person of another…is the state of war. Thus, by this reasoning, Locke’s state of nature is a much kinder place than Hobbes’, where man’s life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. In addition, another difference between the theories of the two men is that Hobbes speaks hypothetically of states of nature, whereas Locke points out times when state of nature actually exists. Locke believes that all rulers are in a state of nature, and governors as well. The key difference between Locke and Hobbes in this area is the specifying of the existence of a state of nature, the greater negativity of Hobbes, and Locke’s use of examples in contrast to Hobbes’

John Locke liked freedom, he thought that freedom was good for the government. “...(W)e must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose [manage] of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature….” (Doc A) This states that Locke wants freedom but their comes consequences. To have this freedom men needed to create a government with a legislature and an executive. Locke’s main idea was people had rights.

John Locke argued for individual freedom. If we had individual freedom we would have a strong government. Locke said it was necessary to a good government. Locke wrote “People are naturally free and have the right to maintain their freedom.”(Document A) To keep this freedom people needed to construct a government that has both an executive and a legislature. To Locke a government created by the people was the best government in his futuristic sense of

Summarize both thinkers view and how they are similar and different. Three quotes from each.

In order to understand Locke’s vision for a perfect government, he first wanted to define the driving force behind men. Locke believed that there were three primary natural rights a man had: the right to life, liberty, and property. In life, Locke. being a man of God, believed that men are all created equally and no one should outrank the highest authority, God. In the matter of liberty, “a man…is absolutely free to dispose of himself or his possessions, but he isn’t at liberty to destroy himself, or even to destroy any created thing in his possession…” (3), meaning men should do everything they can to protect each others rights. Locke states, “…because we are all equal and independent, no-one ought to harm anyone else in his life, health, liberty, or possessions (3). This was the basis for Locke’s social contract theory, that men have natural laws to protect and preserve their liberties and in exchange for a government that would protect these laws, some

One of Locke’s ideas was that humans were born with a blank slate and humans are influenced highly though the environment, people, and experiences. He thought individual rights were based

John Locke said, “… the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the people, who have a right to resume their

I agree with Locke ideas. Because Locke had a positive view of human nature, regarded them in a state of nature as creatures of reason and basic goodwill and Locke criticized abolitionism a government that must be responsible for and responsive to the concerns of the governed, enter the contract to preserve the natural rights of life, liberty, and property; the people have the right to overthrow any government who doesn't do their

John Locke is one of the most influential enlightenment thinkers. The English philosopher, political theorist and physician is known best as “the father of liberalism”. He believes that the human nature is, in general, good. He believes that we are rational, reasonable and cooperative beings. Locke states that humans follow a set of natural laws despite the culture, language or race. Examples of these natural laws include no stealing, no harassment and helping those in need. Locke believes that we need to appoint a specific group of people in power who will address the group’s general needs. Since Locke believed that we are rational and reasonable the government should be rather limited.

Hobbes believed that people are horrible and evil, and that before society everything was nice and great. Locke believed the opposite of that, he thought people were nice, caring and reasonable and before society the world was horrible and violent.

Locke’s thought on having a king, laws, and a civil society under a social contract was so all men can enjoy and protect their rights. Where all men obtain the right to life, all humans have the right to live and life shouldn't be taken away from another human being. The right to liberty, protecting an individual's freedom and unreasonable detention. The right to property, a citizen in which Locke thought a human's labour was his own, anything created or made should remain that individuals as well and the right to rebel against unjust rulers and laws.