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John Locke and Thomas Hobbes where some of the most influential politicians in the world’s history. They both helped to write very important social contracts that have a very large impact on our lives even to this day. Both of their social contracts help to lay the blueprints for our American Government and many others all around the world. They both had very different views and ideas on how government and people should act versus how they actually lived. Even though they were very different they did have a few similarities which would be their passion for Politics and they both wanted to do what they felt was best for the people of a Country and or Government. Some of their differences was how Locke thought that people would do the right thing being in a state of nature whereas Hobbes felt that people in a state of nature is chaos and will inherently do the wrong thing.
Political Ideas of Hobbes and Locke
Hobbes and Locke had very few things in common but on thing that they both shared was they were very passionate about what they did in their political lives and writings. This is one of the few ideas that they both believed and shared. They both wanted to do what was best for people and the government. Hobbes and Locke wanted to do good by writing these laws and social contracts explaining how people should act and be punished based on a state of nature. Hobbes and Locke, however did not agree on how the government should be run. Many historians hypothesise that they both believed in the state of nature but they had different views on the common idea of how people act in the state of nature.
Something else the two agreed on was that the government should protect the people. Both of their social contracts talk about how when a government is not doing their job the citizens have the right to revolt and take back control of the government. According to Hobbes Leviathan (his social contract) it talks about how people must be protected by the governments laws and if the laws do not protect them they can revolt or overthrow the leaders in power or protest to get the laws and or rights they want if they feel the laws are unfair. How Were the two politicians do not agree on what those laws are and how the government should be run.
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Hobbes and Locke were two very different politicians and they had almost polar opposite beliefs. Locke believed that all people would do the right thing for themselves and for others. Hobbes believed that all men would inherently do the wrong thing because man in a state of nature is chaos. During class readings I read a line in one of the passages that I feel is very influential. The passage talked about how peace is war in disguise because men will always do what’s best for himself and not worry about the other people he must live with and around. Hobbes and Locke both believed they were right but in the end parts and ideas from both of their writing ended up in the declaration of independence even though they both disagreed on many of the topics used.
Conclusion
In conclusion Hobbes and Locke created two of the most influential social contracts and are still used to this day. They agreed on a few things which was their love for politics and the well being of other people. However they still disagree did onna things like man living in a state of nature and how the government should protect the people and when it doesn’t the people have the right to revolt. In conclusion, John Locke and Thomas Hobbes where very different but have very similar impacts on our lives today.
References
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-contract
- https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/hobbes-moral/
- http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/hobbes.html
- http://web.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/LockeParadox.htm
- https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/locke-two-treatises-of-government
