Finally, read your classmates’ posts. A complete assignment includes your written response?to at least one post besides your own–part of your score is based on

Hobbes’ Leviathan versus Locke and the God-given Rights of Man

Hobbes believed that the Leviathan, a clearly defined and compelling force, was necessary for justice to exist. Hobbes contends that without social connection, life would be a dreadful nightmare and that human-to-human engagement is therefore crucial to human affairs. He asserts that individuals are essentially dishonest from the outset of his model of social order. Overall, Hobbes believed that people are greedy and dishonest and cannot be trusted to their individual freedoms. According to Hobbes, people recognize that forging a social agreement with each other is the one and only way to prevent a conflict via the use of their faculties of reason.

Basically, Hobbes thinks that a social compact is better for man's selfish profit than an attrition-based battle between men. Hobbes believed that without strong discipline, such as that provided by authoritarian leadership, individuals are incapable of regulating themselves or cooperating for the good of everyone. In this regard, I think Hobbes has a pessimistic view of society; he appears to think of humans as mere animals who are just concerned with advancing their own interests at the expense of others. Furthermore, the success of western countries that rely on democratic ways of maintaining order rather than harsh authoritarian control shows how ridiculous and absurd the notion that justice can only be attained when the Leviathan attains control over people’s lives.

Overall, I think Hobbes' theory is untrue and unnecessarily restrictive since individuals may coexist peacefully in less restrictive social settings. However, it is difficult to see how Hobbes in his personal life rejects the concept of a monarchy and divine authority while favoring tyranny as a means of establishing rule of law rather than democratic methods. The dangers of Hobbes’ thinking is that this type of government control usually results in a complete dictatorship or an authoritarian government where people will ultimately suffer. This idea of tyranny results in human suffering and the suppression of free thought and progressive ideas.

Although Locke's social contract theory and Hobbes's share certain similarities, Hobbes would have rejected many aspects of Locke’s theory altogether. Both Hobbes and Locke contend that people's ability to reason allows them to see the wisdom of creating a state through a social contract. They also contend that in order for the state to be legitimate, individuals must freely choose to be bound by the contract rather than being forced to do so. One major difference between them is how they view the world without organized society. Hobbes believed that being in the natural state was like being at war where morals were nonexistent, and the only laws were those that served one's own survival and self-interest.

Locke, on the other hand, believed that the state of nature is much less vile and brutal since natural moral rules are in place and function to guide people's behavior. He believed that people who live in a natural environment are free, are essentially equal, and for the most part at peace with one another. According to Hobbes, unless the state is founded, justice and rights typically do not exist. In exchange for safety and tranquility, people give the Leviathancontrol over their lives and freedoms so that the Leviathan can treat them anyway he pleases.

Locke, however, contends that regardless of whether a government is there to protect them, people have intrinsic, God-given rights. The most important of these is the right to property, which includes your own body, anything you alter through labor, and any land. These liberties are unalienable; they cannot be given up to the state or any other organization. Humans establish the government and give it considerable authority in exchange for it defending their rights and liberties. Locked believed that “the state works for its citizens rather than the citizens working for the state.”

Personally, I believe that Locke’s theories are more realistic and more widely accepted that the concepts brought forth by Hobbes. Hobbes and his idea of the Leviathan seem like a more unforgiving and more cruel view of humanity. Alternatively, “Locke theorized that regardless of whether a government is there to protect its people, people have intrinsic, God-given rights that should not be determined or controlled by a tyrannical authority like the Leviathan.” Where Hobbes seems to have a more unforgiving attitude towards the nature of his fellow man, Locke seems to appear far more humanistic and more empathetic to humanity as a whole. It appears that Locke believed that individual rights were endowed by God while Hobbes appealed more to the dark nature of humanity as an excuse to argue for their enslavement.

References

Vaughn, L. (2019). Philosophy here and now: Powerful ideas in everyday life (pp. 250-259, 290-298, 365–381). Oxford University Press.

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