Thomas Hobbes• Leviathan (written during the English Civil War) State of

Nature and Social Contract• Used the state of nature to refer to a hypothetical situation of

how life without order and government would be• Saw the state of nature as undesirable in the state of nature,

all men are at war with each other, and lie in constant state of fear of their fellow beings

• Solution: Social contract that all rational people would agree upon the people invest all power in a third party, the sovereign, in exchange for safety and the rule of law.

• Believed that only governments with indivisible and unlimited power would prevent the otherwise inevitable disintegration of society into civil war.

• Citizens had a right to defend themselves if their lives were threatened, but otherwise political obedience was necessary to prevent factional strife or political paralysis.

John Locke• State of nature: A situation in which people coexist, often in

relative harmony, but there is no legitimate political power or judge to settle disputes in a neutral way

• Does not equate state of nature with war State of war is a situation in which people do not uphold the law of reason.

• Humans are rational, independent agents with natural rights• People who were willing to enter into a social contract and

submit to being ruled by a government expected the government to regulate disagreements and conflicts in a neutral manner

• Maintained that the powers and functions of government had to be limited

• Argued against a strong absolutist sovereign, as advocated by Thomas Hobbes, as such a powerful figure would limit individual freedom unnecessarily.

• Felt that total subordination was dangerous and believes that the people has the right to revolt against the government.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau • People were not inherently evil, but could become so under

evil governments• There was no limit to the ability of political action to reshape

society for the better• Before society, humans existed in a state of nature where they

were content, and guided by a natural self-love, desire for self-preservation and compassion for others.

• The creation of a civil society, and development of private property, was the result of division and conflict working against a natural harmony

• Social Contract preserves inequalities and destroys a person’s humanity

• Freedom can be won within the boundaries of law

Immanuel Kant• His essay stated that happiness does not work as a basis for

law no one can define what happiness is for someone else, so a rule based on happiness cannot be applied consistently

• Crucial for state to ensure people’s freedom within the law• State of nature people are free to pursue their own desires • Problem lies in the conflict of interests• State of nature prevents disputes from being settled

peacefully without laws People willingly abandon the state of nature to submit to external public and lawful coercion

• If the government passes a law that you consider wrong, it is still your moral duty to obey it.

• However, although subjects have a duty to obey the law, they also have to take individual responsibility for moral choices Each individual should only follow rules that they believe should apply to everyone

Credits• The Politics Book by DK