...Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher who was born April 5,1588 and died December 4,1679. He attended Oxford University where he studied classics. He was a tutor by profession and also traveled around Europe to meet scientists and to study different forms of government. Thomas Hobbes was the first great figure in modern moral philosophy. He became interested in why people allowed themselves to be ruled and what type of government would be best for England. Hobbes had a pessimistic view of people. His view was that humans were mean creatures who would do anything to better their positions. Also that people could not be trusted to make decisions on their own and a country needed an authority figure to provide direction and leadership. Therefore, he believed in monarchy- a government that gave all power to a king or queen. He said that democracy would never work because people were only interested in promoting their own self-interests. Despite this doubt of democracy, he believed that a contrasting group of representatives presenting the problems of the common person would prevent a king from being unfair and cruel. Hobbes originates the phrase 'Voice of the people' meaning one person could be chosen to represent a group with similar views. Legitimacy of government Hobbes was a dedicated materialist. The views that got him in trouble were related to this, as Hobbes claimed to believe in God...
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...1 Hobbes v. Locke Do you generally believe people are good? If you trust your fellow man so much, then why do you lock your door? This is a form of the question, the great philosopher, Thomas Hobbes would propose to people who believe that the general human state of nature is good. Thomas Hobbes had a pessimistic view of human nature, similar to John Calvin. Hobbes believed that the rapacious nature of man was for everyone to be at war with everyone. By competing in each person’s own self interest, which led to life being poor, solitary, and brutish until the formation of government. In the state of nature, this enables others to be able to come and take that away from you. This is the intersection where Thomas Hobbes and another great philosopher, John Locke, agree. They both believe that a source of social contract is necessary in order to get along in the state of nature. Although Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both developed the social contract theory, a closer examination of each fundamental philosophy reveals a greater contrast in theory than most fail to realize such as the contrast in origins of government, limitations of government, dwellings of sovereignty, and the rights of revolution. The social contract theory was developed by multiple influential thinkers of political philosophy. One of those men was Thomas Hobbes, who lived during the English Civil War. During this war, he witnessed the collapse of absolute government and therefore influenced his ...
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...accept the death penalty. However, social contract theory is properly associated with modern moral and political theory and is given its first full exposition and defense by Thomas Hobbes. After Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are the best known proponents of this enormously influential theory, which has been one of the most paramount theories within moral and political theory throughout the history of the modern West. More recently, philosophers from different perspectives have offered new criticisms of social contract theory. In particular, feminists and race-conscious philosophers have argued that social contract theory is at least an incomplete picture of our moral and political lives. In addition, it might in fact camouflage some of the ways in which the contract is itself parasitical upon the subjugations of classes of persons. . Short Biography for Thomas Hobbes: Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679, lived during the most crucial period of early modern England’s history. To describe this conflict in the most general of terms, it was a clash between the King and his supporters, the Monarchists, who preferred the traditional authority of a monarch, and the Parliamentarians, most notably led by Oliver Cromwell, who demanded more power for the quasi-democratic institution of Parliament. He was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy. He was one of the founders of modern political philosophy. His understanding of humans as being matter...
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...result of modern man slowly losing faith in reason and trust. In addition to, as a substantial factor in arguments that modern man will do anything he to achieve his vision of what “greater human life is or can be”. Through the reflection of the thoughts, experiences, and writings of Thomas Hobbes, one can can begin to question where the crisis arises from. Hobbes argues that “modern man no longer knows what he wants” and has lost “faith in reason’s ability to validate its highest aims” manifesting into a spiraling crisis where modern man creates a destructive path between “greater life” and the trust that binds human society together. Furthermore, argues that are distant...
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...Political Thinkers: Thomas Hobbes and John Locke Abstract The Social Contract theory which dominated the European political thought in the eighteen century has played a very important part in the development of the modern political theory and practice. Being the most important of all the speculative theories, it came into being as a result of reaction against the theory of the Divine Origin. This theory was the first to denounce the influence of the church in the state affairs, provided an explanation for the origin of the state and shows the relationship between those who governs and those who are governed. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are the chief exponents of the Contract Theory. Both of them have established their thesis from the beginning of human habitation, though their ideas and opinions are quite distinct. Hobbes in his theory has only described one contract where Locke has described two. Thomas Hobbes’ “Leviathan” and John Locke’s “Two Treaties on Civil Government” these books are considered as bibles in the evolution of modern states system. Though there are criticisms and debates regarding the social contract theory, but the modern political theories today have evolved from these contract theories which has no doubt. The aim of this assignment is to compare and contrast between Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and explore their contribution in the development of international relations according to the analysis of their works. Introduction Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan...
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...on the Constitution Table Write one or two paragraphs in each section. Include citations for your sources. Documents Summary What was its influence on the Constitution? Magna Carta Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, is an English charter, originally issued in Latin in the year 1215, translated into vernacular-French as early as 1219,[1] and reissued later in the 13th century in changed versions. The later versions excluded the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority that had been present in the 1215 charter. The charter first passed into law in 1225; the 1297 version, with the long title (originally in Latin) "The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of the Forest," still remains on the statute books of England and Wales. The 1215 charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his will was not arbitrary, for example by explicitly accepting that no "freeman" (in the sense of non-serf) could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which is still in existence today. Magna Carta was the principal document forced onto an English King by a group of his matters, the feudal barons, in an effort to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was followed and directly influenced by the Charter of Liberties in 1100, in which King Henry I had specified particular areas wherein his powers have a limit. The...
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...Slide 1 - Ideology founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority. - advocates limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, individual liberties including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets Slide 2 Liberalism started as a major doctrine and intellectual endeavour in response to the religious wars gripping Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, up until the cold war • Liberalism as a specifically named ideology begins in the late 18th century as a movement towards self-government and away from aristocracy. It included the ideas of self-determination, the primacy of the individual and the nation, as opposed to the family, the state, and religion, as being the fundamental units of law, politics and economy. • Liberalism first became a powerful force in the Age of Enlightenment, rejecting several foundational assumptions that dominated most earlier theories of government, such as nobility, established religion, absolute monarchy, and the Divine Right of Kings. • The first notable incarnation of liberal unrest came with the American Revolution, and liberalism fully flowered as a comprehensive movement against the old order during the French Revolution, which set the pace for the future development of human history. SLIDE 3 • The early liberal thinker John...
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... All of these subjects have been presented earlier during the enlightenments, the glorious revolution, the English Civil War, and stand in the English Bill of rights which later set the basis for our country today. Without the thinkers that the Scottish enlightenment produced, our modern government wouldn’t be the way that it remains today. If it wasn’t for the English Bill of Rights, the constitution would not exist. All of the causes listed above play a part in the American Revolution, which would later result in the creation of the United States of America. Maybe the most influential character came out of the enlightenment, his name...
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...The pure state of nature or "the natural condition of mankind" was deduced by the 17th century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, in Leviathan. Hobbes argued that all humans are by nature equal in faculties of body and mind. From this equality and other causes in human nature, everyone is naturally willing to fight one another: so that "during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man". In this state every person has a natural right or liberty to do anything one thinks necessary for preserving one's own life; and life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" (Leviathan, Chapters XIII-XIV). In short Hobbes believes is self-preservation, even if something was someonelse's, if you felt the need for it you had the right to fight for it and claim it as your own. Hobbes described this natural condition with the Latin phrase bellum omnium contra omnes (meaning war of all against all), in his work De Cive. Within the state of nature there is neither private property nor injustice since there is no law, except for certain natural precepts discovered by reason ("laws of nature"): the first of which is "that every man ought to endeavor peace, as far as he has hope of obtaining it" (Leviathan, Ch. XIV); and the second is "that a man be willing, when others are so too, as far forth as for peace and defense of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this...
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...liberties and |freedom of religion, reform of justice system and regulated | | |immunities of free and natural subjects.” The document clearly stated that no free man could|officials. The Magna Carta limited the king’s power and created | | |be prosecuted by any means other than the law of the land. |what we know today as parliament. | | |The Magna Carta had been the very first document which proclaimed personal liberties. The | | | |Magna Carta was forced upon an English Emperor by a team of barons. This had been the first |This was used as a template 575 years afterwards towards the | | |try to restrict a king’s power by way of law. It is believed restricted type of social |fifth amendment found in the Bill Of Rights. “No person shall… | | |contract. The Magna Carta (or Great Charter) was written in Latin and was the first |be deprived of...
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...How successful were Hobbes and Locke in their attempts to justify the existence of Human Rights? In this essay, the main distinctions of Hobbes and Lock’s work will be discussed and how their work contributed to the existence of human rights. Other predominant thinkers, such as Bentham and Marx will be brought in to critically evaluate Hobbes and Lock’s attempts on human rights. Finally a conclusion will be drawn upon these points to state whether Hobbes or Locke was Successful to justify the existence of human rights or whether there were any flaws in their thinking. “Human rights are the rights that everyone has, and everyone equally, by virtue of their very humanity. They are grounded in an appeal to our human nature.” (R.T Vincent, human rights and international relations, page 13). Human rights are a concept that has been constantly evolving throughout human history. They had been intricately tied to the laws, customs and religions throughout the ages. One of the first examples of a codification of laws that contain references to individual rights is the tablet of Hammurabi, which was created 4000 years ago, it is considered barbaric by today's standards, the system of 282 laws created a model for the legal system. This kind of model and legally binding document protects the people from arbitrary persecution and punishment. The...
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...Hobbesian social control theory was a ideological invention that came about during the pre 1750s. The social control theory is a view that a person’s moral and political obligations are dependent upon a ‘contract’ or an agreement among that to form a society in which they live in. However, social contract theory is rightly associated with modern moral and political theory and is given its first full exposition and defence by Thomas Hobbes. After Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are the best known proponents of this enormously influential theory, which has been one of the most dominant theories within moral and political theory throughout the history of the modern West. More recently, philosophers from different perspectives have offered new criticisms of social contract theory. In particular, feminist’s philosophers have argued that the social control theory is an incomplete picture of people’s moral and political lives and may camouflage some on the ways that people live and their classes. Hobbes manages to create an argument that makes civil society. Naturalism is a theory that has developed from the ideas of Spinoza that holds that all phenomena can be explained mechanistically in terms of natural causes and laws. Naturalism states that the universe is a vast "machine," that doesn’t have general purpose and is different to human’s needs and desires. Naturalism does not deny the existence of God, however naturalism makes God...
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...Research Paper on John Rawls Roy Love Pol 462-01 Dr. Rose Tuesday, April 17, 2012 INTRODUCTION The philosopher and political thinker that I am doing my research paper on is John Rawls. John Rawls is world renowned as an American philosopher and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy. He was a student, professor, and an icon that achieved kleos apthiton to the highest regard. Mr. Rawls worked on many projects and wrote many books that we still use and reference today. Some of his works include: Justice as Fairness (2001), A Theory of Justice (1971), Political Liberalism (1993), and The Law of Peoples (1999). The most famous and influential work was the Theory of Justice, which was one of his first pieces of work; many say that book was his masterpiece. His work was so famous with the millions that read his work, that his work was nicknamed ‘Rawlsianism’. His work has been echoed through the ages and is quoted without people knowing who they are quoting. For example, the term veil of ignorance is used to describe the morality of an issue, like slavery. I have heard professors and others use that term without ever knowing where it came from. John Rawls has been the receipted of many awards, and according to the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, he helped a whole generation of learned Americans revive their faith in democracy itself (B. Clinton 1999). One of his famous students, Samuel Freeman, wrote a book in 2007 that will show some insight on...
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...rested on the idea that by concentrating power in a single head or centre, the state itself could be sufficiently controlled and its environment sufficiently managed to achieve self-sufficiency or at least a maximum of self-sufficiency in a world which would inevitably be hostile or at best neutral toward each state's interests and in which alliances would reflect temporary coalitions of interests that should not be expected to last beyond that convergence. The old maxim: "No state has friends, only interests," typified that situation. The first powerful nation-states were monarchies, advocates of the divine right of kings to protect central authority and power. After a series of modern revolutions, first in thought, led by people like Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, and Rousseau, and then in practice as articulated in The Federalist, kings were stripped of their exclusive powers and new power centres formed, presumably based upon popular citizenship and consent but in fact with the same centralized powers, only vested in representative assemblies and executive officers speaking in the name of the state. Only in a few...
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...Unlike the vast majority of English words the definition of moral philosophy is immensely disputed upon. The only agreeable definition, by Socrates, is vague in its explanation. There are however, numerous competing theories which seek to better explain what it means to live morally. The Social Contract Theory, developed in the seventeenth century, is one such theory. Although unique in its explanation, the theory ultimately lacks in its overall evaluation. Philosopher Thomas Hobbes’s argued in favor for the theory saying morality should be defined as “the solution to a practical problem that arises for self-interested human beings” (Rachels, EMP, 83). The problem he is referring to is a society without government institutions also known as “the state of nature”. Hobbes believed the state of nature would be undesirable for everyone because all humans have the same needs. There are basic needs...
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