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Summary of Chapters 17-26 of Hobbes the Leviathan

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Chapter 17: The purpose of the Goverment(state) is individual security. without forcing to kill covenants are words and not enough to secure the men. Security cannot be achieved with a majority that is not managed by a single decision maker. And the only decision maker should be constant. While the compromise between the unreasonable creatures is natural, the reconciliation between humans is artificially based on morality.

For security, everyone should transfer all their strength to a single person or delegation to carry their own personality. The essence of the state is collected in that person, that essence is that one of the members of a great community can use all their power and possibilities for the peace and tranquility and common defense of each other with the testaments they have made. This personality is called the sovereign. everybody other than that is his people. Sovereignty is achieved in two ways: With natural hardship and voluntary agreements.

Chapter 18: The rights that form the basis of sovereignty cannot be transferred and divided. Since these powers were divided between the king, lords and the chamber of commons, becasue the people were divided and a civil war broke out. Sovereign power is not as harmful as its absence, and harm usually comes from not accepting of a smaller loss.

Chapter 19: Different forms of state are only three: the monarchy, the aristocracy or democracy, according to the number of those who hold the sovereign power. Since sovereign power cannot be divided, there is no other form of state. Tyranny and oligarchy are the names given to them to worsne monarchy and aristocracy. In the monarchy, private interest is identical to public interest.

Chapter 20: Difference of a forced state from a contractual state: In the contracted state, people who have chosen the sovereign contract because they are afraid of each other. In the other, they submit to the person they fear. The domination achieved through conquest or victory in war is what the authors from Despotes, who mean master or owner, despotic and dominate the master’s servant. It is not his victory, but his own will, that gives him control over the defeated. Sovereign power must be absolute in all states.

Chapter 21: A free person is someone who is not prevented from doing what he wants in what he is capable of doing with his strength and intelligence fear and freedom are consistent. In areas and actions where social laws do not say anything, nationals are free to do what their minds will suggest. If our refusal to obey contradicts the founding purpose of sovereignty, there is no freedom to refuse: if it does not, there is. The obligation of the nationals to the sovereign is eliminated if the sovereign cannot protect them, that is, the condition of the contract cannot be met. Just as a sovereignty can be destroyed by an external invasion, internal confusion can lead to the resolution of sovereignty. In such a case, nationalities have the right to seek trust under the sword of a stronger and self-protecting sovereign, which is also a law of nature. The condition for accepting sovereignty is to donate life and bodily freedom to us. In return we accept sovereignty. However, if we continue to be imprisoned and our physical freedom is not given to us or our life is not forgiven, we will not make a contract, but we will try our best to save our lives and escape. This is a law of nature.

Chapter 22: for a sovereign to give up even a little power leads us to a bodies politics system with limited power. More rulers means more paperwork for clarity. Because the body acts of the laws, but in divided power the body cant give absolute authority. Once more, not under the authority of the people. Ina body politics system the people aren’t required to pay the debt because he is not sovereign. Same for the assembly, they must pay the debt not the people. A man can openly protest the representative assembly but this cant be done to a sovereign.

Where man can not all be present to participate in government than it is ok to be an assembly but in colonies or states the rule is monarchial to maintain order. So these provincial monarchies don’t really have power. A subject’s case against a body politic can only be judged by a sovereign. When there is no common representative this is a corporation of merchants. O be a body politic you cant do both sole buying or sole selling. Because they set the prices too high a double monopoly is disadvantageous to the people at home.

Corporations cant be had because they destroy commonwealth. A body politic of merchants have the same rules in debts as normal body politic assemblies. The system seems very fair, proportionate taxes and only punishing whoever voted for it. So a deputy can not be a sovereign, only a representary and the sovereign maintains the power. In a private family father sovereign of the family, though still under the actual sovereign. Private bodies regular are unlawful because they unite to cause problems. being a connection of men by covenants if no power given to any one man or assembly.

But a league in just one commonwealth is bad since uniting private men leads to evil. So you can’t manipulate by conspiracy, but you can buy support in an assembly. No private armies in a commonwealth. So you can sign petitions but not do mass mobs to present them. When a mob forms that is unlawful because justice wont be delivered and the people will get violent.

Chapter 23 :A public minister represents the people of the commonwealth as a job. He represents sovereignty so has his private than his political life. Public ministers can have authority in treasure or militia. They also teach justness. Public ministers are judges. Since both judge and person are subjects of the sovereign the person can ask for a different judge and appeal once, than go directly to the sovereign. So getting a Jury means you’ll accept their judgment. Public ministers act for the good of the public. Different assemblies in different constitutions have different levels of sovereignty and representation of the commonwealth.

Chapter 24:foods and necessities come from the land or trade. Property belongs to the sovereign if it wasnt men would fight eachother. The sovereign does this to maintain order.when conquering the sovereign gets all the land. setting a small portion of a land for public use is useless because area wont be used properly. Money has less value than gold. The creation of a commonwealth lies in colonies. So sometimes the colonies are more free other times they are subject to the sovereign.

Chapter 25: The sovereign means to benefit the man, and the council means to benefit the sovereign. If you are said to disobey the law and you know it than its your fault. If an advisor is to hurry in their advice it is bad because it is for the good of the councilor not the sovereign. Counsel comes from experience. Councilors must have good evidence. A councilor mustknow the subject very well.Councilors should be heard individually to avoid provoe passion and to get the best advice. The best way to run the commonwealth is to have each man counseling in his area, with the other waysof counseling falls beneath this. So there has to be one man as the final decision maker or the assembly makes the commonwealth fall.

Chapter 26: Community laws are the laws that people have to follow because they are members of a particular society. In general, a law is an order, not a recommendation. The legilsator is the sovereign power and Sovereign power is not subject to social law.A law is used not depend on time, but on the will of the sovereign power. the natural freedom of man can be limited by the laws of the society, and the purpose of legislation is nothing but this limitation. If the laws of nature are not limited by the laws of society, there will be no peace and peace anyway. The reason for the creation of law is nothing more than limiting the natural freedom of people. A made but unheard of law is not a law. Unwritten laws are natural laws and no announcement is required for natural laws. People can know them through reason.

Cite this paper

Summary of Chapters 17-26 of Hobbes the Leviathan. (2021, Aug 31). Retrieved from https://samploon.com/summary-of-chapters-17-26-of-hobbes-the-leviathan/

FAQ

FAQ

What chapter does Hobbes talk about the social contract?
In chapter 17, Hobbes talks about how the social contract is an agreement between the people and the government. The social contract is a way for the government to protect the people and for the people to give up some of their freedoms in order to have a government that will protect them.
What does Hobbes mean by common power?
Hobbes means that a common power is necessary to prevent the state of nature, which is a state of war.
What is the summary of Hobbes Leviathan?
Hobbes' Leviathan is a work of political philosophy published in 1651. The text concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest works of modern political philosophy.
What is the thesis for Hobbes Leviathan?
Holden Caulfield's mental illness is most likely depression, brought on by the death of his brother.
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