Comparison Of Thomas Hobbes And John Locke

A famous American politician and writer known as Theodore Roosevelt once stated, “Wide differences of opinion in matter of religious, political, and social belief must exist if conscience and intellect alike are not to be stunted, if there is to be room for healthy growth.” This quote provides a secure base for the discussion of the political thought and different principles of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Both of these men, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, founded their original thoughts off of a man named William Blackstone. William Blackstone was not only a judge and professor of law, but he was the core originator in which all political thoughts of the Seventeenth Century branched off of. He composed a book known as Commentaries on the Laws of England. Within this text, William argued the political stability that could be achieved by a revived emphasis on common English law. It was through this work that Mr. Hobbes and Mr. Locke provided their own responses to the English revolutions in the Seventeenth Century.
All can agree that Thomas Hobbes was quite an accelerated thinker for his time period, especially when it came to politics.
He published a work known as Leviathan, in which he argued that before organized society all humans practiced self-preservation. This basically meant every man for himself under certain conditions. This egotistical view came to terms in a life or death situation. Hobbes knew that even though many people seemed grateful and giving to others, that when it came down to it, man would simply do anything necessary to ensure his own survival. To assist this issue, Mr. Hobbes believed that people made a sort of social contract that eventually formed a state. Hobbes titled this state “that great LEVIATHAN,” which basically stated that people within it agreed to withstand under an absolute ruler with unlimited
power. John Locke, on the other hand, did not completely see eye-to-eye with Thomas Hobbes. Locke, yet another great author, wrote Two Treaties of Government. It was in this work, published in 1690, that he stated clearly his views against the rule of one person. Furthermore, Locke thought that in previous ages, there was a state of equality and that everyone was born with natural rights. Some of his ideas, such as the fact that people meant the landholding aristocracy, were actually stated and used in the American Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. As bizarre as it sounds, Hobbes and Locke did indeed agree on one thing, and it was the simple fact that it was hard for people to protect their natural rights. This sparked the birth of a government that would act as a security to these rights. In conclusion, this indifference between these two view points lead to many great things throughout history.