A comparative exploration investigating the theories of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau on the foundation of society.

Authors Avatar

A Comparative Exploration investigating the Theories of

Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau on the Foundation of Society.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

In making a comparative exploration between the “social contract philosophers”: Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, we are forced to initiate our enquiry with regard to the question of what the shared motivation is of demonstrating the foundation of society, between these three philosophers. All three philosophers illustrated differing, and in some ways similar theories, as to what the origin and continued existence of society is. In this essay an exploration into the similarities and differences between the three theories comparatively, provokes in the reader the self-reflective question of, “What would life be like in a ‘natural’ state, a world without government?” (Wolff 1996:6). Thus, in this essay, an exposition of the reasons advanced by each philosopher respectively for the movement from a state of nature to a form of civil society shall be made, and further advanced by making a concentrated focus on the similarities and differences among all three arguments in this regard. Furthermore, demonstration shall be made with regard as to why Locke’s Theory seems to embrace and accommodate the most “relevant” or convincing view of the reason for the origin and continued existence of society as we experience it in our time.

Does the naturalness of living in an existing state humanise us? Have we perhaps been dehumanised or been our own downfall by virtue of constraint by “leaving” what we formerly “knew” as the natural state? These, and further questions, shall provide us with sufficient momentum to ultimately embark upon the journey of exploring contrasting theories, delineated by Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau respectively, in discovering the hypothetical foundation of society, as well as self-reflection.

CHAPTER TWO

Exposition

In this section, a compartmentalized exploration into the reasons advanced by Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau respectively, with regard to the movement from a state of nature to a form of civil society is undertaken.

a) Thomas Hobbes’ Paranoid Need for the Sovereign

Hobbes’ Leviathan was written as a response to the fear he experienced during the political turmoil of the English Civil Wars. Leviathan’s argument for the necessity of absolute sovereignty emerged in the politically unstable years after the Civil Wars. Hobbes’ materialist philosophy was based upon a mechanistic view of the universe, holding that all phenomena were explainable purely in terms of matter and motion. Hobbes went as far as to extend the conservation of momentum law, adopted from Galileo, upon human beings, depicting them as “always searching for something and never in a state of rest.” (Wolff 1996:10). Hobbes’ assumption of the direct application of physics pertaining to human nature seems to demean the very nature of humankind.

Hobbes describes human beings’ “innate” continual striving towards achieving objects of desire as “felicity” and asserts this principle as the reason why conflict would be brought about in the form of war in the state of nature. Hobbes ascribes the ultimate formation and creation of the state as human beings’ fear of death, exacerbated by the existence of felicity and thus, the origin of power struggles and competition. Hobbes claims that all men are equal. “Nature hath made men so equal, in the faculties of body, and mind…” (Hobbes 1946:80). Equality, Hobbes argues, is what brings about the possibility of a human being to harm another. “… one man can thereupon claim to himself any benefit, to which another may not pretend, as well as he…” (Hobbes 1946:80).

Hobbes describes an element of “scarcity of goods” existing in the state of nature, which further provokes competition, and thus uncertainty in the sense of suspicion. Hobbes describes man’s self centred desire for not only immediate satisfaction, but also power in order to ensure the satisfaction of possible future desires brought about. (Wolff 1996:11) Attacking is formulated as becoming the surest way of attaining desires and thus Hobbes describes war as a constant readiness to fight based on suspicion. Hobbes also describes an individual’s freedom to preserve himself “the right of nature”. Moral notions however, hold neither bearing nor application in the state of nature. Hobbes calls this “The Natural Right of Liberty”.

Join now!

Hobbes introduces the three “Laws of Nature” deduced from the fundamental “Natural Right of Liberty”, which may be summed up in the negative formulation of the biblical ‘golden rule’, “Do not that to another, which thou wouldest not have done to thy selfe.” Due to the fact that Hobbes does not support the idea of morality in the state of nature, these laws are described as “theorems or conclusions of reason.” (Wolff 1996:15).

Hobbes is caught up in the predicament that he seems to have contradicted himself into asserting that rationality requires both war and peace, but escapes this ...

This is a preview of the whole essay