1. Thomas Hobbes believed that in a state of nature without government, mankind would be in a state of war against one another due to our selfish and brutish nature. 2. Hobbes argued that the way out of this state of nature is a social contract where people agree to be governed by an absolute monarchy with maximum authority to create social order. 3. John Locke believed that in a state of nature, mankind has natural rights of life, liberty, and property. People voluntarily enter a social contract to form a government to protect these rights, but if a government fails to do so, people have a right to rebel and form a new government.

1. Philosophical
Ideas About
Human
Nature
Emmalee and Regan • Oct.
2021

2. Thomas Hobbes: (1588-1679)
● The English Civil War Largely Shaped his view on the world.
● Hobbes developed a philosophy that emphasized three key
Concepts:
1. The natural state of mankind is a state of war of one man against one
another, as man is selfish and brutish.
2. The way out of the “state of nature” is a “social contract,” to be agreed
upon by the people to be governed and the government.
3. The ideal form that government should take is an absolute monarchy that
has maximum authority, subverting mankind’s natural state and
creating societal order in the process

3. Thomas Hobbes:
● Thomas Hobbes was known for his views on
how humans could thrive in harmony while
avoiding the perils and fear of societal
conflict.
● Hugely influential, Hobbes' ideas form the
building blocks of nearly all Western
political thought, including the right of the
individual, the importance of republican
government, and the idea that acts are
allowed if they are not expressly forbidden.

4. John Locke: (1632-1704)
● For Locke, the overthrow of King James II in the Glorious
Revolution of 1688 showed how governments and people should
behave. He developed a philosophy that emphasized three points:
1. According to Locke, the natural condition of mankind is a “state
of nature” characterized by human freedom and equality. Locke’s
“law of nature”—the obligation that created beings have to obey
their creator—constitutes the foundation of the “state of
nature.” However, because some people violate this law,
governments are needed.
Cont.

5. John Locke:
2. People voluntarily give government some of their power
through a “social contract” in order to protect their
“natural rights” of life, liberty, and property.
3. If a government fails to protect the rights of their
citizens or if they break social contract, the people are
entitled to rebel against the government and create a new
one.

6. Charles Montesquieu: (1689-1755)
● Man is capable of grasping four laws of
nature through direct, practical
experience:
1. First, man desires and seeks
nourishment for his bodily
preservation.
2. Second, man desires peace to sustain his
bodily well-being.
3. Third, man is drawn instinctively to
other people.
4. Fourth, the knowledge derived from
interaction with others moves him to
desire to live in society.

7. Charles Montesquieu:
The overall point that Montesquieu seeks to make by way of this hypothetical history is that nature does, indeed,
have a teaching for man, but that this teaching is as complex as the skein of human passions, that the practical
dictates differ from one situation to another, and that, in politics, there is no one passion to be reckoned on,
no single, all-encompassing imperative to be fulfilled, and no form of government that is always and
everywhere superior.

8. Rene Descartes: (1596-1650)
Descartes asserts that a human would
still be a human without hands or
hair or a face. He also asserts that
other things that are not human
may have hair, hands, or faces, but a
human would not be a human
without reason, and only humans
possess the ability to reason.

9. Rene Descartes:
Descartes's answer derives from an
analysis of the nature of human
cognition generally. Every mental
act of judgment, Descartes held, is
the product of two distinct
faculties: the understanding , which
merely observes or perceives, and the
will , which assents to the belief in
question.