Hobbes and Locke Essay

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Hobbes and Locke Essay

Both Hobbes and Locke wrote their political theories in the 17th century, and there are similarities between their works. They both believe that men enter a contract in order to improve their lives; however there are also important differences between their theories. Hobbes believed that without a sovereign there can only be chaos, which leads him to conclude that men should give up their rights to an absolute sovereign. Lock, on the other hand, wrote that there was some arrangement of order before a sovereign was established. He believed that sovereign was primarily put in place for protecting property. This essay shall outline Hobbes and Lockes theories and clarify their similarities and differences.

To understand Hobbes's theory of contract we must first understand his concept of the individual. Hobbes said that "man is nothing more than matter", and he compared society to the universe. He thought that the actions and impacts of men moved like the planets in the universe. This suggests that people do not have control over their own actions, which could explain why Hobbes believed that good and evil were nothing more than terms which humans frequently used to describe things