Thomas Hobbes' View on Government Essay

Hobbes states that the proper form of civil government must have a supreme ruler governing the people in order to avoid the state of war. He believes that the goal of the people is to escape the state of war, and that they are willing to transfer their rights in order to leave it. “Whensoever a man transfers his right, or renounces it; it is either in consideration of some right reciprocally transferred to himself; or for some other good he hopes for thereby. For it is a voluntary act: and of the voluntary acts of every man, the object is some good to himself.”3 He believes that all men are equal in the state of nature despite any preexisting differences between them because they are ultimately powerful enough to defend themselves and their resources. “Nature hath made men so equal, in the faculties of the body, and mind; so that though there be found one man sometime manifestly stronger in body, or of quicker mind than another; yet

Thomas Hobbes' believed that the social contract of the government and the people was that citizens should let themselves be ruled and that the ruler or assembly should have "ultimate authority." He argues that if there was no government then humans would be out of control and ultimately perish. He also stressed that government was "society's only hope for peace and security" (Fiero 98). Hobbes' ideas about the "Natural Condition of Mankind" was that humans were "selfish, greedy, and war-like" (Fiero 98). This shows that Hobbes' believed that humans needed government in order to live and flourish.

A philosopher named Thomas Hobbes believed that the main purpose of government was order. Thomas Hobbes today would support a monarchy such as Trump. His view of human nature led him to see people as being born selfish, driven by their desires, and acting upon disputes as sovereign people would. This led him to perceive a government best ruled by one. One of his arguments stated that because people living in a never-ending war between each citizen, “every man against every man”, provided Hobbes to assume that people would be in search of a ruler who could provide peace and stability. In Hobbes’s

Thomas Hobbes was an enlightened thinker who lived in the 17th century and through the upheaval that was the English Civil War. While observing the Civil War, Hobbes concluded that people are “naturally cruel, greedy, and selfish” (Ellis 183). Hobbes argued that a strict government was the only way to control people because, without it, they would fight, steal, and oppress each other. He said the only way to keep the people at bay was to have them obey strict laws. His favored government was an absolute monarchy because it “could impose order and compel obedience” (Ellis 183). In an absolute monarchy, the citizens give up all of their rights in order to be protected by their leader.

Thomas Hobbes published his most famous work, Leviathan, during the height of the English Civil War. This was possibly the most violent and chaotic time in all of British history, and is certainly reflected in Hobbes’ writing. He introduces his view on the state of nature, that is, society without government, as a state of war, in which the lives of men are “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” (Hobbes 89) From this state of nature he describes natural laws, which help to form the purpose of government in his eyes. The first, and “Fundamental Law of Nature” is that men “seek peace, and follow it” (92) This fundamental law is also what he believes a sovereign is meant to uphold. He argues that the Sovereign must do everything in their power to preserve the commonwealth. Hobbes strongly advocates for an authoritarian form of government.

Hobbes’ philosophy was centered around his beliefs and learnings mainly. Hobbes’ developed many works that are even used today for reference and reasoning. “Leviathan” is an example of one of Hobbes’ many works that shared his belief on absolute rule. For example, as stated in an article from Britannica Academy the following is stated about Hobbes’ beliefs “Hobbes started with a severe view of human nature: all of man’s voluntary acts are aimed at pleasure or self-preservation. This position is known as psychological hedonism”. This illustrates the fact that Thomas Hobbes believed humanity was far too flawed and selfish to function in the absence of an absolute ruler’s power. He was also opposed to the separation of powers, (as stated in Britannica Academy, Thomas Hobbes: Exile in Paris) “ He was firmly against the separation of government powers, either between branches of government or between church and state.” Therefore he was completely opposed to the idea of democracy as well. However, Hobbes believed that everyone should be equal under the law, except the king of course. As a result of his way of thinking many people at his time disagreed with Thomas and still do. Therefore he didn’t have much of an impact on his country at this time, considering his unique beliefs some even thought his beliefs were ludicrous.

Hobbes believed that only an undivided monarchy could overrule the unruly masses of mankind. Meaning, that there were only a certain amount of people that could overpower the monarchy.

One person should not have all the power and make their own rules. There should be rules, restrictions, and limits on someones power. Hobbes also believed in a strong government, he thought it would bring great competition. His view on a strong government is good, but it should not come in a monarchy way. Hobbes along with conservatives, had some part to the development of liberal political thought.

In his writing, Leviathan , Thomas Hobbes makes many claims about which governments are the best . He claims that the only legitimate form of governments is an Absolute Monarch or an Absolute Assembly . Hobbes refers to these governments as a sovereign, and c laims that the sovereign cannot do anything wrong or cause any wrong doing to its subjects . In this paper, I will argue that though Hobbes claims of a perfect government is false and that he is not practical within his writings .

Thomas Hobbes sees human from a mechanistic view that life is simply the motions of the organism believes that a state of nature in human kind will eventually become a state of war of all against all. He attempted to justify the absolute power of the sovereign on the basis of a hypothetical social contract in which individuals seek to protect themselves from one another by agreeing to obey the sovereign in all matters. The key element in Hobbes’s view on human nature was the importance of desires. He believes Law is the regulation over human kind`s essential selfishness. His works are considered important statements of the nascent ideas of liberalism as well as of the longstanding assumptions of absolutism

John Locke (1689) and Thomas Hobbes (2010) share a common underlying concern: establishing a social contract between the government and the governed. To be legitimate, government must rest in the final analysis on the “consent” of the governed, they maintain. They also share a common view of humanity as prone to selfishness (Morgan, 2011 p. 575-800). Given the modern era, Hobbes views of the state of nature and government seem antiquated; no longer do the masses wish to be subservient to anyone man without question. Lockean principals are now the base for today’s modern, just, prosperous and free states.

Hobbes’s view of human nature is that once a man gets a taste of power they will always want more power and he believes that a society cannot exist without a higher power. Hobbes view of the state of nature as a way man would survive if no government existed. Life in this state would be

It is hardly adequate to argue that Hobbes commits himself to upholding that it is permissible for a political authority to do anything he likes over his people. Instead, what one finds in him is a statement such as, “It is a weak Soveraign, that has weak Subjects; and a weak People, whose Soveraign wanteth Power to rule them at his will.” As indicated above, a close reading of his texts as a whole reveals striking obstacles to interpret him as recommending a despotic rule of the commonwealth. Although the idea of ruling despotically looks very Hobbesian, it is not quite very supported by a close reading of Hobbes’s overall political philosophy. His overall argument indicates, rather, that the sovereign cannot command anything except what

Thomas Hobbes was a firm believer of structure, he believed that people needed a ruler in order to achieve peace. In the 1640’s, Hobbes was a witness to an act of violence, he witnessed the execution of King Charles Ⅰ. After the execution, his political philosophy was shaped by the chaos. Hobbes had one major concern, his main concern was the problem of social and political order: how humans can live together in peace and avoid the danger and fear of civil conflict. In order to solve his primary concern he posed alternatives: people should give their obedience to an unfathomable sovereign. If not a “state of nature,” will oppose on the people and this will closely resemble a civil war. Due to the fact that Hobbes believed humans were selfish and aggressive naturally, it only makes sense for him to believe in a strict government. However, Hobbes thought that human beings in the state of nature, desired to obtain as much power as they can, and since there is no laws against people harming others to attain what they truly yearn, people are able to be curl towards one another to gain power. Therefore, Hobbes understood the state of nature to be a constant battle, where humans live in fear in one another. Hobbes notion was that man living in fear of one another would soon seek peace among each other, peace can only be attained by coming together as a community, as a social contact. By forming a social contract, essentially the society is allowing for a government, where the

First, Hobbes addresses the purpose of government. This is important (make stronger)because without a clear definition, governments inevitably fail. A ruler’s primary objective must be to preserve life and maintain peace at all costs. In the absence of government, men revert to the “state of nature”. The state of nature refers to when men are ruled only by their fleshly desires, and violence, death, and chaos ensue. Authority is necessary to keep these passions in check. In order to do this, government must enforce the laws of nature, which demand that men maintain peace. According to Hobbes, “A law of nature, lex naturalis, is a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving the same, and to omit that by which he thinketh it may be best preserved.” (Hobbes, 80) Hobbes also states the reason that men create a commonwealth, namely, “of getting themselves out from that miserable condition of war which is necessarily consequent, as hath been shown, to the natural passions of men when there is no visible power to keep them in awe, and tie them by fear of punishment to the performance of their covenants, and observation of those laws of nature.” Government must not oppress the people, but free them from the state of nature enslaving them.