Thomas Hobbes argued that in a state of nature without government, life would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" due to competition and diffidence between individuals. To escape this state, people agree to a social contract establishing an absolute sovereign, such as a monarch, with supreme authority to enforce laws and keep the peace. Hobbes believed strong centralized power was necessary due to inherently selfish and violent human nature.

1. THOMAS HOBBES
POLITICALTHEORY
Prepared by Raizza Corpuz

2. Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679)
■ Wrote Leviathan, explaining the creation and preservation of an
authoritative government
a. Within Leviathan, Hobbes discusses the nature of man, the state of
nature, the social contract, the laws of nature, political power, liberty
and law, and the sovereign power
b. It is the most logical, systematic treatise in British political theory
c. Concerns the structure of society. He argues for a social contract and rule by
a sovereign.

3. ■ Hobbes neglected the concept of sovereignty
-He rejects Cartesian dualism and believes in the mortality of soul.
■ -rejects free will in favor of determinism, a determinism which treats freedom as
being able to do what one desires.
■ -He says that men in a state of nature, that is a state without civil government, are in
a war of all against all in which life is hardly worth living.
■ -The way out of this desperate state is to make a social contract and establish the
state to keep order and peace.
■ -Because of his view of how nasty life is without the state, Hobbes subscribes to a
very authoritarian version of the social contract.
■ -He believed that humans were basically selfish creatures who would do anything to
better their position.
-People should not be trusted to make their own decisions.
■ -despite his distrust of democracy, Hobbes believed that a diverse group of
representatives presenting the problems of the common person would prevent a
king from being cruel and unfair.

4. The Nature of Man
■ He believed that the state power was a “mortal god to which we owe under the
immortal God our peace and defense”
■ Man desires power overall; riches, knowledge and honor are but different forms of
power
■ That which men desire, they are also said to love; and to hate those things for which
they aversion. Because the constitution of a man's body is in continual mutation, it is
impossible that all the same things should always cause in him the same reaction
■ The passions that most of all cause the difference of wit are the desire of power, of
riches, of knowledge, and of honour

5. ■ All of these can be reduced to the first, desire of power, for the rest are but several sorts of
power
■ There is a general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after
power, that ceases only in death
■ This is not only because man wants more and more power, but also because he cannot
assure the power and means to live well
■ Kings, whose power is greatest, turn their endeavors to assuring power at home by laws,
and abroad by wars
■ Competition of riches, honor, command, or other power, inclined to contention, enmity,
and war: because the way of one competitor, for attaining his desire, is to kill, subdue,
supplant, or repel the other

6. The State of Nature
■ All men are created equal
■ 3 causes of quarrel: Competition, Diffidence (Quietness), Glory
■ Defines war as: the time during which man lives without a common
power , All other times are peace

7. ■ Nature made men equal, in the faculties of body and mind; as that though there be
found one man stronger in body or quicker in mind than another
■ For as to the strength of body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest,
either by secret machination, or by confederacy with others that are in the same danger as
himself
■ Therefore if any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both
enjoy, they become enemies; and in the way to their end endeavor to destroy, or subdue
one another
And because of this, there is no way for any man to secure himself
There are three principal causes of quarrel
The first is competition
The second is safety
The third is glory or reputation

8. The Social Contract
■ All men should be able to live without anything impeding their natural liberties
■ The right of nature is the liberty each man has to use his own power as he chooses, for
preservation of his own life
■ Liberty is the absence of external impediments
A Law of Nature is a general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to
do, which is destructive to his life, or takes away the means of preserving it
■ One general rule of reason is "that every man ought to endeavor peace as far as he has
hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek, and use all helps
and advantages of war"
■ The mutual transferring of rights, is that which men call Contract.

9. Laws of Nature
■ We are obligated to transfer our natural liberties to our
rights
Men perform their covenants made
■ Men will follow through with their promises
■ The laws of nature are immutable and eternal; for
injustice, ingratitude, arrogance, pride, iniquity,
acceptation of persons and the rest, can never be made
lawful; For it can never be that war shall preserve life, and
peace destroy it

10. Political Power
■ Greatest of human powers is: that which is compounded by the
powers of many men
■ He states the laws of nature: Justice, Equity, Modesty, Mercy
And do unto others what you would have them do unto you
■ He details a sovereign and a commonwealth
■ He supports monarchal sovereignty because it keeps society stable

11. ■ The greatest of human powers, is that which is compounded of the powers of most men,
united by consent, in one person, natural, or civil, that has the use of all their powers
depending on his will; such is the power of the commonwealth
■ A commonwealth is when a multitude of men are made one person, when they are by one
man, or one person, represented
■ The only way to erect such a common power, as may be able to defend the multitude from
the invasion of foreigners, and the injuries of one another, and thereby secure them, is to
confer all their power and strength upon one man, or upon an assembly of men
■ The commonwealth has power over everything
■ A sovereign power, whether monarchy or commonwealth is basically infallible

12. ■ The care of the sovereign is to make good laws
1. A good law does not mean a just law, for all laws are just
2. A good law is one that is needful, for the good of the people
Therefore a law that is not needful is not a good law
*** A law may be conceived to be good, when it is done for the
benefit of the sovereign; though it be not necessary for the people;
The good of the sovereign and people cannot be separated

13. Liberty and Law
■ States that subjects should remain faithful until the
sovereign loses the power to protect his subjects

14. The Sovereign Power
■ Sovereign’s power should be supreme
All subjects must follow civil laws
Civil law:Those rules which the commonwealth hath
commanded him, by word, writing, to make use at, for the
distinction of right, and wrong; that is to say, of what is contrary,
and what is not contrary to their rule
■ Subjects have to follow the rules of the sovereign in order to have
a stable society

15. Leviathan
■ The basis for agreement between men was not their common possession of reason
■ Any valid explanation of society and government must take account of the real nature of
man
■ Man was the creator of his own society
■ Man was motivated by his appetites, desires, fear, and self-interest, seeking pleasure and
avoiding pain
■ Since the powers men had were essentially equal, there was a natural strife as men sought
to satisfy their desires

16. ■ To escape this intolerable situation, where every individual lived for
himself, and to obtain peace and order, men agreed to form a
society
■ Men surrendered their rights of self-assertion in order to set up a
power capable of enforcing its authority
■ They gave up their rights to defend themselves, made a social
contract and created a sovereign order was secured by this
sovereign

17. Summary
■ English Philosopher
■ Influenced by the English Civil War & Charles I Execution
■ 1651 – Published Leviathan (Sea Monster)
■ Argued that natural law made absolute monarchy the best form of gov’t
■ Humans were natural selfish and violent
■ People couldn’t make their own decisions
■ If they did life would be “nasty, brutish, and short”
■ Only a strong ruler (Leviathan) could give people direction