Locke both played a major part in philosophy during the 17th century. Their ideas set the groundwork for two of the most well-known political systems today. Absolutism‚ which was based off of the ideas of Hobbes was a political system in which all state/political authority and economic control rested in the hands of a king or queen. In this type of government‚ the sovereign had complete control of an entire empire and they were not accountable to anybody but God. The ethical belief of absolutism was
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According to Hobbes‚ government is needed so that society will not collapse into violence due to humanity’s selfish desires and self-interest. Hobbes believes that humanity’s natural state is motivated by self-interest and will do everything they can to succeed in their endeavors. People will do whatever it takes to fulfill what their idea of ‘good ’is. When everyone acts this way it quickly devolves into chaos‚ war‚ and violence. The only way to overcome the potential war and chaos are the two
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not necessary for a covenant that would restrict the opinions of people‚ since people only reason in terms of morals‚ and moral tend to be the values of the individuals of society. Hobbes believes that the only way to ensure order in society is for the covenant to be established‚ and only through the covenant can there be order. The covenant for Hobbes is justice and order‚ since it was a transfer of rights that ended the constant war between individuals‚ by having them transfer some of their rights
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Animals live in coherence‚ yet do not have a sovereign state. Hobbes then questions why men cannot live in a harmonious state of nature. He explores the relationships between ants to understand why men cannot live in the same manner. The first reason comes from psychology. Ants do not feel envy or hatred and cannot be ‘injured’ from an insult.
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Why are men willing to give up their freedom? Why would men be willing to give up their freedom? At this time‚ men were in a state of nature where they were all Kings and lords over their property. They were free and had absolute power of all their persons and possessions. But with this power‚ their satisfaction of these rights were very unsafe and very unsecure. Their freedom‚ just like every other mans was not promised and was full of dangers. This leads man to be willing to join a society
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authority can the government have over the people. Some similarities are to prevent violence against fellow citizens. For Tomas Hobbes‚ this means curbing the natural state of chaos. For John Locke‚ this means preventing any and all violations of individual rights. Both Hobbes and Lock base their theory on a harmonium naturalis‚ a natural state of humans. This is a situation where everyone is totally free because there is no interference of laws‚ but where man fears death every day. Hobbes called it a war
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Rousseau calls this state the natural state of man‚ the state that everyone should aspire to live in and that brings power to an individual. By exploring the natural state of man we are able to see how Jean-Jacques Rousseau developed a new understanding of the individual. According to Rousseau man should want to live in the natural state. Nithin Coca is a journalist who writes from Colombia University discusses Rousseau’s ideas about the Natural State by saying‚ “Man in his natural state had more equality
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were very interested in the natural world and human nature. They both looked at inspiration and nature as a great source of learning man’s limits in the natural world. They also looked to natural laws‚ the principles that governed nature and society‚ and respected them in all aspects of their lives. Mary Shelly was a Romanticist who took natural laws seriously in her novel Frankenstein which taught us not to challenge the natural world because nature will take whatever course it wants. Rousseau also
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4. Hobbes viewed human nature as being inherently troubled. He believed that our nature made man continually try to become better than everyone else so that there would be “no other power great enough to endanger him” (pg. 208). Hobbes argued that our human nature keeps us at continual war with one another‚ particularly when there isn’t a common authority to keep us all in check. Hobbes also believed that two people would become enemies when they desired the same thing‚ they will aim to destroy the
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Jean-Jaques Rousseau was a pivotal new thinker during the period of Enlightenment. He strayed from the extreme positive and negative views of Hobbes and Locke‚ introducing a new perspective on the concept of the state of nature. The philosophy of how humans act in their most natural state was a common topic‚ but Rousseau’s take‚ theorizing that humans are born evil but corrupted by society‚ offered what seemed to be the most realistic belief. His opinions on effective ruling strategies and the most
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