Hobbes Vs Locke

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Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, authors of Leviathan and the Second Treatise of Government respectively and two of England’s premier political philosophers of the seventeenth century, set out to describe the nature of man and the origins of his sociability. The social contract, as it is called now, was described by both of them with many similarities, but containing dramatic key difference which stemmed from their exposure to the culture and society that was current in England during their time. Hobbes, born in 1588 and Lock, born in 1632, developed in the same country with similar values, but were exposed to different societal changes; for example, thought Locke was influence by them, only Hobbes truly experienced the English Civil Wars. We…show more content…
In both Locke and Hobbes’ opinions, the protection received from the sovereign exceeds the profits of the rights of the basic human condition (Hobbes, 89). Both also state that when the power no longer serves to protect their life, as in the case of an attack outside of police jurisdiction in Locke and in Hobbes, a direct threat to one’s life. Small associations and familial bodies cannot be considered a commonwealth in Hobbes’ terminology until they conglomerate with explicit consent (Hobbes, 106). In contrast, Locke’s origins of society, though based in a consent of associations are not merely political (Locke, 46). Civil associations, those of man and wife, parent and child, master and servant, as well as many other account for the beginnings of society, whereas in Hobbes’ the peoples appeal to a sovereign to control them, thus entering directly into political associations. In Locke, these gradual civil associations lead to a change in the temperament of man; his habituation to regular contact with his fellow man results in a rise of competitive sentiments. Thus the progress of man develops and extends to the point at which political associations, those with the consented power to rule, are necessary to keep in check the passions arising from the need for honor and image within the community In Hobbes, this transition into governed society via the social contract results in the loss of liberty, property, life, and almost sure oppression since the sovereign ruler’s whims constitute the relative reality and “there can happen no breach of covenant on the part of the sovereign; and consequently none of his subjects, by any pretense of forfeiture, can be freed from his subjection.”; however; an oppressed life that is considered to be significantly

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