Hobbseian Philosophy
Overview
Hobbseian Philosophy
Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher and scientist, was one of the key figures in the political debates of the Enlightenment period. He introduced a social contract theory based on the relation between the absolute sovereign and civil society.
Learning Objectives
- Investigate how Hobbseian philosophy impacted European thought and politics.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Thomas Hobbes: seventeenth-century English writer and philosopher
Leviathan: work published by Hobbes that investigates the social contract
Social Contract: Hobbes' theoretical idea about the rights and laws of the state vs. those of the individual
Natural Rights: Hobbes' theoretical ideas about the individual in their “natural state”
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes was one of the founders of modern political philosophy and political science. He also contributed to a diverse array of other fields, including history, geometry, the physics of gases, theology, ethics, and general philosophy.
Background
The Enlightenment has been hailed as the foundation of modern western political and intellectual culture. It brought political modernization to the west by introducing democratic values and institutions, as well as the creation of modern, liberal democracies. Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher and scientist, was one of the key figures in the political debates of the period. Despite advocating the idea of sovereign absolutism, Hobbes developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought: the right of the individual; the natural equality of all men; the artificial character of the political order (which led to the later distinction between civil society and the state); the view that all legitimate political power must be “representative” and based on the consent of the people; and a liberal interpretation of law that leaves people free to do whatever the law does not explicitly forbid.
Portrait of Thomas Hobbes.
The Leviathan and Social Contract
Hobbes was the first modern philosopher to articulate a detailed social contract theory, which appeared in his 1651 work Leviathan. In his book, Hobbes set out his doctrines of: the foundation of states, legitimate governments, and creating an objective science of morality. Because Leviathan was written during the English Civil War, much of the book is occupied with demonstrating the necessity of a strong central authority to avoid the evil of discord and civil war.
Beginning from a mechanical understanding of human beings and their passions, Hobbes considers what life would be like without government, a condition which he calls the “state of nature.” In that state, each person would have a right, or license, to everything in the world. This, Hobbes argues, would lead to a “war of all against all.” In such a state, people fear death and lack both the things necessary to living and the hope of being able to work to obtain commodities. So, to avoid such a state, people agree to a social contract and establish a civil society. According to Hobbes, society is a population beneath a sovereign authority, to whom all individuals in that society give up some rights for the sake of protection. Any power exercised by this authority cannot be resisted because the protector’s sovereign power comes from individuals surrendering their individual power for protection. The individuals are thereby the authors of all decisions made by the sovereign. There is no doctrine of separation of powers in Hobbes’s discussion. According to Hobbes, the sovereign must control civil, military, judicial, and ecclesiastical powers.
Illustration of The Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes.
Natural Rights
Hobbes also included a discussion of natural rights in his moral and political philosophy. His conception of natural rights extended from his conception of man in a “state of nature.” He argued that the essential natural (human) right was “to use his own power for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own Life […].” Hobbes sharply distinguished this natural “liberty” from natural “laws.” In his natural state, man’s life consisted entirely of liberties and not at all of laws, which leads to the world of chaos created by unlimited rights. Consequently, if humans wish to live peacefully, they must give up most of their natural rights and create moral obligations to establish a political and civil society.
Hobbes objected to the attempt to derive rights from “natural law,” arguing that “law” and “right” are opposites. “Law” refers to obligations. “Right” refers to the absence of obligations. Since by our (human) nature, we seek to maximize our wellbeing, natural or institutional rights are superior to law. People will not follow the laws of nature without first being subjected to sovereign power. This marked an important departure from medieval natural law theories, which gave precedence to obligations over rights.
Attributions
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Boundless World History
"Enlightenment Thinkers"
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/enlightenment-thinkers/