Hobbes

1588-1679

- Hobbes believed that the individual should be seperate from the state and the monarchy and should be equal with each other. - Men never justified in resisting a sovereign's power

- Leviathan-State of Nature- Universal laws of nature   

- Men will agree to listen to Sovereign to have civil society if it helps to further their own interests.  

Everything in the universe is produced by nothing but matter and motion

Social Contract and Sovereignty  • Social contract was created in order that man may

escape from the "State of Nature" and ensure his long term safety and security

• People who created such a social contract were bound to submit themselves to the sovereignty of an absolute ruler in order to preserve themselves

• Resisting a ruler was not allowed under a social contract- a bad ruler was better than no ruler at all

•  To break the social contract was to return to the wild and unruly state of nature-given that people cared for their own survival, people would choose the social contract over the chance they might die

 

-Believes that human beings are reasonablethey created social contract to escape from state of nature - Leviathan -state of nature is where humans are all equal but constantly live in fear of being killed by one another, state of perpetual and unavoidable war -  Universal laws of nature

Contributions to Social Contract Theory

This is Hobbes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

State of Nature

Cover of Leviathan

Locke

Katherine, Elizabeth, Devin, Emily, Meredith, Jayme, Colleen, and Katie

Social Contract Views

-citizens have the right to revolt against king         -influential for democratic revolution -Two Treaties on Government        -divine right of kings is bad        -state of nature is state of liberty, complete freedom. implementing a government that is better than the old government.   

 

The State of Nature

-Relatively peaceful if you obtain complete liberty    -people are equal-Although there is complete freedom ia state of nature is not a state of war, despite Hobbe's views. He saw it more grimly than Locke.-Private property is essential to the state of nature. There is no limit on amount of land one can own since it is given out by God, but you have to work for it.

Unique Contribution

-Two Treates on Government-Unique Views on Morality

Rousseau“Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains”

By  Jack, Nike, Molly, Tu, Jake, Meera, Ryan, Sarah

Rousseau's view of the Social Contract and sovereignty

• His ideas are that people were born free, and that at once they became effected by the "progress[es] of civilization". But through proper politics, they restored the freedom of our nature

• "Humans are essentially free, and were free in the State of Nature, but the ‘progress’ of civilization has substituted subservience to others for that freedom, through dependence, economic and social inequalities, and the extent to which we judge ourselves through comparisons with others. Since a return to the State of Nature is neither feasible nor desirable, the purpose of politics is to restore freedom to us, thereby reconciling who we truly and essentially are with how we live together"

SovereigntyThe Social Contract seeks to address: how can we be free and live together? Or, put another way, how can we live together without succumbing to the force and coercion of others? We can do so, Rousseau maintains, by submitting our individual, particular wills to the collective or general will, created through agreement with other free and equal persons. 

Rousseau's Unique Contribution

Naturalized Social Contract • history of man• account of political

evolution over time• from State of Nature to

modern society

Normative Social Contract •  idealized theory• how things should be• how to fix problems

currently plaguing society