DeAndre’ Royster Simple,and Exclusive The natural state of mankind before forming a government. Hobbes and Locke both believed in a state of nature. They also both believed in a social contract. Hobbes wanted a government to protect people from each other. Locke wanted a government to protect our natural rights.
In order to determine whose idea of government is to be agreed upon, the proper way is to take into consideration why there exist two completely different ideologies of government where both forms of government believe are born generally with good nature. Like stated above, Locke believes people are fitted with understanding ( Locke two treatises ex. 77) and are under the “ law of nature’ where no one would want to hurt anyone ( Locke two treatises ex.6) and similarly, Godwin believes that men are born naturally “benevolent to their fellows’. However, both of them agreed that there will be an irrational and a greedy side of humans. The difference in their ideologies is their perspective on human nature against time.
Jefferson was strongly influenced by the belief that all humans have certain rights that cannot be taken away, and that these rights ought to be protected by a government. The resemblance between “the state of nature” and “the Declaration of Independence” are uncanny, Jefferson and Locke are consistently portraying the same ideas whether they mention the transition between the “Law of Nature” to the “Law of a Civil Society” or the concept of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Jefferson “Declaration of Independence”). The main similarities between the two works are the ideas that mainly focused on equality. However, some major difference that stands out between the two documents are that the Social Contract is based off an agreement between civilians and a higher power, such as a monarchy, where civilians would give up some of their freedom to live in a governed society. While the Declaration of Independence mentions how a monarchy did not protect the rights of the citizens and therefore, developed a government that was based solely on the will of its
Locke’s assumptions that humans are rational and led by reason, and the abundance of resources allowing private ownership of land, give a higher purpose to the government in a society than just physical security. Government, on all its levels, is protecting individuals’ property and creating and enforcing laws that will apply to everyone, even the sovereign. The “levels” of government embody a new idea proposed by Locke – the separation of powers. He argues that in order for the government not to be corrupt, it has to have separated legislative, executive and juridical powers which operate independently from each other’s influences. Therefore, he directly opposes Hobbes’ argument for absolute power: an absolute monarchy would be worse than the State of Nature since the sovereign holds the whole power of the people and now it is impossible to defeat him as an individual, which would not be the case in the State of Nature where everyone was equal.
The state of nature is the condition under which man lived prior to the formation of state, where no person possesses political power. While Hobbes state of nature is ahistorical and is a hypothetical construct to help us grasp human nature in its purest form, Locke believes such a state has existed historically and that this is the state men are in naturally and will remain in until they decide to form a state. Firstly, Hobbes and Locke differ in what they describe people to be motivated by. According to Hobbes, people are self-serving and are motivated to maximize their achievements of good by power. Good refers to anything they desire; bad refers to anything they are averse to, instead of being based on impersonal moral principle.
I am going to choose Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, they were both English philosophers. They had ideas that were similar and then they had their own views on things. They both agreed that a state needs a government, and that people have rights. They also agreed that everyone should have equal rights. Hobbes believed that one person should run the government, as a ruler holds all the power, whereas Locke believed a group of people should run the government.
And again, this was exactly what Locke was afraid of because who was to say what a King may demand the people to do. If he said go jump off a bridge or let me have your wife: are you suppose to do it? People need a system where they can govern who makes the laws and who enforces the
That differed from Locke's beliefs which led to him writing the two treatises on government in December of 1689 which had a major impact on many others. Locke believed that the basic human right is property which went against Hobbe's belief. His two treatises completely changed how Enlightenment thinkers saw everything. One of many important quotes from the second treatise of government that had a major influence on others
And that is what got him where he was at the time. The way that he used his power was perhaps the most central concept in Locke's political philosophy is his theory of natural law and natural rights. The natural law concept existed long before Locke as a way of expressing the idea that there were certain moral truths that applied to all people, regardless of the particular place where they lived or the agreements they had made. The most important early contrast was between laws that were by nature, and thus generally applicable, and those that were conventional and operated only in those places where the particular convention had been established. This distinction is sometimes
A major part is that he contributed to something as important as the Declaration of Independence shows that he is such an important part of our history. With his ideas in the governments, that has helped people see how much different things can be if one government is not being ran the way it should. I think that has a big part in the shaping of how the government is now because no one wants a corrupt government. Locke has influenced our education today and school systems. I think that is something majorly important because we need the education that we have now and that is because of John Locke.