A paper on fear as a defining element to incline man to peace.

1. Course code & type of exam: GOVT 2015 Mid-term paper
Date submitted: Tuesday 29th March 2016.
Question: ‘The Passion to be reckoned upon is Fear.’ Critically evaluate the claim that
Hobbes’ social contract is fear based rather than rational.
The social contract theory is an age-old theory that seeks to understand man’s
behavior by creating an entity (the state of nature) that legitimizes authority, that is the
formulation of a civil society. The state of nature is an artificial entity that served to
denote hypothetical conditions that man would have lived in prior to the civil society.
The theorists who rally around this social contract theory are John Locke, Jean Jacques
Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes. Although all theorists agree that there existed something

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to inclined man to the civil society, their explanations of what were the catalyst of change
differs.
John Locke (1632- 1704) presents the state of nature in his book ‘Two Treatise’
published in 1689. In Locke’s Social Contract Theory he believed that man was born
equal and he was not subject to man but was only subjected to God. Locke believed that
human behavior was driven by the instructions of God, which was generic (it was passed
from parent to child). Locke advocated that man had a right to liberty, life and property
but he argued because people tend to be biased in their own cases rights of others would
be fringed upon. This he uses to legitimize authority into the hands of a sovereign.
Persons entering into this contract then transferred some of their rights to the sovereign
body in exchange for comfort, enjoyment of his property and stability. Locke advises that
the ruler has to seek his people interest but if he does not the ruled have then and only
then a right to revolt/rebel.
Rousseau (1712 – 1778) addressed that state of nature in his most famous work
‘The Social Contract’ written in 1762. Rousseau believed that the state of nature was
organic and natural unlike Hobbes and Locke’s belief that it was man made. Rousseau
believed that in the state of nature man is totally free. He is spiritually and mentally free
because he is not enslaved by any want or desire and he is also physically free because
his body is not subjected to restriction. He asserted that those who shared a common
interest the outcome received when they work together would be much greater than that
derived from working alone and hence societies were form. “Man is free but everywhere
he is in chains”. Rousseau then explains the formulation of a community legitimizes a

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sovereign by stating that civil liberty comes with restriction, respecting others rights,
interest and ability to control your interest and desires without creating conflict.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) most influential work was the ‘Leviathan’ published
in 1651. Like Machiavelli before Hobbes, he sought to separate politics from religion.
The ‘Leviathan’ (whose name is derived from the biblical notion of the Leviathan) was
used to explain Hobbes’ idea of the social contract. The Leviathan was concerned with
the structure of society and stood for the unity of the representer and not the represented.
Hence to look at Hobbes’ theory of the social contract particular attention would be paid
to the Leviathan. This essay would then attempt to evaluate whether or not Hobbes’
social contract theory is fear based or rational.
Hobbes was an English philosopher best known for his contribution to political
philosophy. He was born to a disgraced villager and owed his educational opportunities
to his wealthy uncle. Hobbes went on to study at the University at Oxford after which he
became a tutor to a son of the noble Canvendishes family and later he was the tutor of
King Charles II. This meant that although Hobbes was not born into a family that had
wealth, power and influence the circles in which he entered afforded him the ability to be
associated with power, wealth and influence. His experiences and knowledge gathered
there would set the basis for his social contract theory.
Hobbes view of the state of nature was philosophical as opposed to historical.
This meant that he used a philosophical way to explain coexistence without the presence
of law. In his state of nature government and law enforcement was absent. Man is greedy
by nature and does what is necessary, however he can in his capacity to achieve his
desire(s). This is so because the state of nature is a war of which “every man is against

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every man”. Therefore “… if two men desire the same-thing, which nevertheless they
cannot both enjoy, they become enemies; and in the way to their ends, endeavor to
destroy or subdue one another” (Hobbes 76).
Hobbes argues in the Leviathan, that man’s behavior can be assessed in a tri-part.
That is there are three ways in which man’s behavior can be explained in the context of
the state of nature. The “first, competition; secondly, diffidence; third, glory”. According
to Thomas Hobbes competition makes men invade, deceive and fight for their gain,
whatever it may be. Diffidence, the second, is what man uses to defend himself against
his enemies. Thirdly, Glory, of which man’s behavior serves for him both to be held in
high esteem and for the use of protective services. This means that if he is able to make
others fear him then he acquires the certainty that no one will challenge him.
In the state of nature man can do as he pleases for the “preservation of his own
nature”. In such a condition “everyman has a right to everything, even one another’s body
… as long as this natural right of every man to every thing endureth, there can be no
security to any man…” (Hobbes p. 80). As a result of the laws of the state of nature man
seeks an alternative institution in which he can be secure.
This alternative institution is/ was called the Civil Society. In the Civil Society
Hobbes gives full authority to the sovereign. He believes that the sovereign must have an
absolutist style of power. Hobbes calls the sovereign of Civil Society the ‘Leviathan’.
Therefore the need for security then forces man into a contract. That is “the mutual
transferring of rights” (Hobbes p. 82). In the Social Contract the only thing that divides
the state of nature from the civil state is that in the state of nature man does whatever he
wants for his preservation but in he civil state man must conform to the rules that all must

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live by. When men give their rights to the sovereign this meant that they are “obliged, or
bound, not to hinder those to whom such right is granted, or abandoned, from the benefit
of it: and that he ought, and it is duty, not to make void that voluntary act of his own: and
that such hindrance is injustice, and injury” (Hobbes p.81).
If men violate their contract they are subjected to punishment. Punishment as
defined by Hobbes in chapter XXVIII page 190 is an evil that is carried out by the
Leviathan (public authority) for having committed a breach of the law by one person unto
another. Although man did not hand the sovereign the power to delegate punishment he
alone is fit to do so because he is seeking the interest of all persons who live in Civil
Society. The Leviathan divides punishment into six parts. The first Corporal punishment
is where punishment enforces physical pain unto the body of the culprit. Second is
Capital Punishment. That is death, which can come about “simple of by torture”. Any
punishment that does not result in the death of the offender is corporal punishment.
The third is Pecuniary, which involves payment. The offender is forced to either
pay money or to give up his assets. An example of these assets is land. Forth is Ignominy,
which is punishment, inflicted upon the offender for dishonorable acts. Imprisonment is
the fifth. This simply is the denial of ones liberty. Lastly, Exile. This is used when man
commits an offense that is horrible enough that he is banished from the society. It is these
laws that forces man to peace simply because of fear. Men are taught that whatever the
state does is just under Hobbes’ philosophy therefore they do not question the sovereign.
Rules such as Capital Punishment i.e. death and Pecuniary inclines man to peace because
joining the civil society meant, being secured against horrible deaths and enjoyment

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one’s property. These two laws especially but also with the assistance of the others forced
man to behave.
Peace is not a characteristic of the state of nature. For Hobbes, fear is the defining
element of human existence. Fear of harm, fear of war, and fear of death forces man to
join the Civil Society to gain the peace that did not exist in the state of nature. Man is
greedy by nature and as a result Hobbes deems that contract that men enter into for civil
society a self-interested contract. That is men enter for their own gain, a gain of stability,
a gain of peace, a gain of order but most importantly a gain of a lengthy life.
As a result man enters into a contract in which they are obliged to certain laws
and this contract is what forces peace in the Civil Society. Punishment is encouraged in
the civil society “… because the bonds of words are too weak to bridle man’s ambition,
avarice, anger and other passions” (Hobbes, 84). Then, it is fair or realistic to believe that
Hobbes’ social contract theory is fear based rather than rational, for the mere fact that the
level of peace man enjoys in the civil society is because man is afraid of the
repercussions he may face if he if deviant.
References
Bertram, Christopher. Ed.“Of the social contract & other Political Writings”. Penguin
UK, 2012.
Evers, Williamson M. “Social Contract: A Critique”. Vol.1 No.3. Pergamon Press 1977.

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Hobbes, Thomas. “Leviathan or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Common-wealth
Ecclesiasticall and Civil”. St.Paul’s church-yard 1651.
Lloyd, Sharon A. and Sreedhar, Susanne, "Hobbes's Moral and Political Philosophy",
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Spring 2014 Edition.