Thomas Hobbes in his book “Leviathan” argues that an absolute monarchy is the best form of government. He provided several reasonings in defending his views; laws obeyed, the interest of the people achieved, consistent laws and social utility maximized. In this paper, I will look at the advantages and disadvantages of having a monarchy, and I will support his argument that monarchy is necessary for society and why it is the best form of government.
In a monarchy, the sovereign can be self-motivated, and Hobbes agrees that the self-interest motivates a monarch just like everyone else leading to corruption and unfair distribution of wealth in a society. Hobbes asserts “when the public interest happens to conflict with the private, he usually
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Thus, the people have no say in their interest, which can only be achieved in a democracy. Therefore, the result of selecting the advice by the monarch does not fulfill what the society needs, and he could unfairly represent the rights of the people. For instance, Trump and his administration have a fixed position on immigrants, and Muslims enterings to the United States and the laws that he comes up with that hurts the states and neglects the public opinion on such topic. Nevertheless, Hobbes points out that the sovereign has his people that he appoints and that he believes that they will serve with full loyalty and commitment towards the society. Hobbes states “he can hear the opinion of men who are knowledgeable about the matter in question--men of any rank or status-- and as long in advance of the action and with as much secrecy as he like” (Hobbes 87). Thus, with the selected people Hobbes believes that that advice and opinions that the monarch is going to receive are going to be eligible and beneficial for the society as they know what is best for
Looking at his quote it comes to me that Hobbes truly believed that we the people needed a
Hobbes believed that “it is not possible for people to have both freedom and peace, since the state of freedom is a state of unlimited greed and war.” (Document C). i believe that hobbes is right about how there are many selfish people and if it came down to you or them, who would you choose? It is most likely that one chooses to save themselves because at a certain time it comes down to survival. Hobbes thought that we should have a ruler such as a king or queen because “democracy- allowing citizens to vote for government leaders- would never work.
There is no government, no authority whatsoever. Every being is born equal and share the right to do anything for their survival. His political theory was based off his idea that all humans are naturally evil and selfish. Hobbes said that this equality leads to war. “...a war of every man against every man.”
Hobbes’ approach hinges on this understanding. “[R]eason
Hobbes believed that natural state of humans was violent and therefore needed order and control to ensure a just and equal society (Robinson 2016, 4). However Hobbes believed that a sovereign could maintain power without deceit and manipulation. Hobbes believed in the social contract which is when people could have a moral understanding about right and wrong to avoid the chaotic violent human nature. Hobbes believed in the idea of utilitarianism which would “maximize the most good and minimize the pain” (Robinson 201, 4). This would ensure that the sovereign was doing things for the right reasons and not to better himself but to better society as a
Thomas Hobbes wrote a famous book, The Leviathan, that explained how he thought humans were selfish and needed the government to keep order. He supported an absolute monarchy that could not be overthrown. Baron de Montesquieu said, “ Again, there is no liberty if the power of judging be not separated from the Legislative and Executive powers,” (Doc. 4). This displays how he wanted Separation of Powers, government division to keep one individual from rising to power.
Hobbes believed that man must escape their state of nature to be protected. Within this social contract the ruler had absolute power over the people which lead to their words and opinions never being heard. Hobbes believed that for the government to function properly, the people must obey the absolute monarchy and accept that their opinions are not being accounted. Hobbes explained, “And therefore, they that are subjects to a Monarch, cannot without his leave cast off Monarchy, and return to the confusion of a disunited Multitude; not tranferre their Person from him that beareth it…” (Hobbes in Perry, 22).
It is related to the organization of politics and the consequences of each action. Hobbes believed that the government should act as a third party that is meant to protect its people. Today, we have organizations such as interest groups, bureaucracies, judiciaries, legislatures, regulators, media, and technology, that will help the citizens to communicate their needs to the political leaders. Citizens should be allowed the opportunity to fight to change the social security benefits criteria to fit
His negative and pessimistic point of view on humanity led him to draft this version of the social contract. Hobbes, who lived in the United Kingdom, under the rule of a monarch, affected the government of this time by introducing this idea. His social contract defied a democracy, and favored a monarchy. The monarchs and rulers of his time approved of his draft, whereas rulers later on who believed in a democracy strongly disagreed with this
Throughout European history, there are many examples of many different kinds of governments and rulers, though one of the most controversial forms of government was that of the absolute monarchy. In an absolute monarchy, only one ruler exists, and they hold absolute power over any and all forms of government. This form of government was also somewhat religiously-oriented, as some advocates of absolutism believed that God specifically selected and exercise His power through these leaders. Despite the belief that those who ruled under an absolute monarchy were chosen by God's will, some of said rulers went on to abuse and misuse their power, leading to various rebellions and instilling hatred for these leaders in the minds of the public. Between the two sides, however, those who believe that absolutism is a dangerous form of government due to the dangers associated with giving one person unlimited power have more evidence for their claim.
Hobbes was an English philosopher, known through out the world as the author of “Leviathan” which is regarded as one of the earliest examples of the social contract theory. His writings were greatly influenced by the
The secondary literature on Hobbes's moral and political philosophy (not to speak of his entire body of work) is vast, appearing across many disciplines and in many languages. There are two major aspects to Hobbes's picture of human nature. As we have seen, and will explore below, what motivates human beings to act is extremely important to Hobbes. The other aspect concerns human powers of judgment and reasoning, about which Hobbes tends to be extremely skeptical. Like many philosophers before him, Hobbes wants to present a more solid and certain account of human morality than is contained in everyday beliefs.
THOMAS HOBBES AND THE SOVEREIGN’S POWER In this essay, focusing on Thomas Hobbes’s book ‘’Leviathan’’, mainly on the chapters 13 and 14, I’m going to analyse the fact that Hobbes gives the sovereign an absolute power authorizing it to provide the society with security essential to their liberty. Thomas Hobbes is certainly one of the most controversial and frequently contested political philosophers of modern times; he left a significant mark on modern understanding of human nature, political theories and the issues of systems of governance. His work has been at the centre of many discussions among political philosophers; I will refer to some of the twentieth century political theorists and their critiques to confront Hobbes view of the absolute
While Hobbes also states that the human nature does not allow for the people to live in peace and to pursue common goals since “here are very many that think themselves wiser and abler to govern the public better than the rest” (Hobbes 3). respectively, there always exists the notion of competition, and if there is no possibility to reach consensus over the issue, there is the need for establishing an authority. This is the reflection of the social contract idea in the work by Hobbes as far as the author is concerned that only through common action and goals the society is able to function without problems and conflicts. Nevertheless, even though, in contrast to Machiavelli, Hobbes suggests the way of getting power that is based on agreement rather than on power and intellectual games, their ideas regarding the need for a strong ruler who would be able to establish the order in the society is rather similar, even though in one case this task is taken by a person himself and in the other case delivered by the
Thomas Hobbes proposed that the ideal government should be an absolute monarchy as a direct result of experiencing the English Civil War, in which there was internal conflict between the parliamentarians and the royalists. Hobbes made this claim under the assumption that an absolute monarchy would produce consistent policies, reduce conflicts and lower the risk of civil wars due to the singular nature of this ruling system. On another hand, John Locke counters this proposal with the view that absolute monarchies are not legitimate as they are inconsistent with the state of nature. These two diametrically opposed views stem from Hobbes’ and Locke’s different understandings of human nature, namely with regard to power relationships, punishment, and equality in the state of nature. Hobbes’ belief that human beings are selfish and appetitive is antithetical with Locke’s contention that human beings are intrinsically moral even in the state of nature, which results in Locke’s strong disagreement with Hobbes’ proposed absolute monarchy.