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Hobbes and Locke Hobbes, born in 1588 had a very different view of how a society ought to be run in comparison to his fellow philosopher, Locke, born in 1632. In discussing the theories of both Hobbes and Locke, one must be aware of the influences, which steered both philosophers in creating their idea of a good government. Hobbes was born in the midst of numerous civil wars. Meanwhile Locke was born at a time where Europe was relatively calm and the civil wars had come to an end. It therefore becomes evident what type of government the two will prefer and which system would be ideal for our present day society. It is a general rule that when a people are under great distress and fear they will ultimately hand over all power to a ruler, desperate for protection from their government and wanting sever order to end a chaotic society.
If, however, citizens feel relatively safe and happy, they will demand a government with less influence and encourage liberty. Hobbes believed that man, in essence is a rational egoistic. In saying this, man looks out for his own interests and does not abide by a moral code or governmental laws. In a society where everyone is looking out for their personal betterment without the regard for others, he claims that a strong regime is essential in order to protect the people. According to Hobbes, the life of man in the state of nature is Short, nasty, brutish and poor.
In order to keep man under control the sovereign should have absolute power, what he calls the leviathan. In this system of government the ruler has all say and the people are relatively distant from their ruler. Rebellion against the sovereign s commands would be virtually impossible. Hobbes view of the way a society should be governed is very similar to that of the Eastern idea. He also rejects mediators in the society as he sees them as negative. To Hobbes, a mediator only causes conflict and confusion of who maintains power.
Without a mediator it remains clear who holds the initial power. Furthermore, not only must the citizen allow the ruler to make all decisions, but he should also side with him. It is in the citizens own interest to agree with the government in order to eliminate conflict. However, when conflict does occur, the person in contention will be left alone as the others should quickly side with the government. It is obvious that Hobbes was not overly excited about the idea of free will and liberty.
For him, these would only cause inconsistency and bring chaos to a society. He lived with a belief that man was in essence bad and lived in fear of his authorities therefore siding with them in order to protect his own interests. There is a major flaw in Hobbes theory which he too could not likely figure out. If we assume that all man is selfish and cruel, if he is a rational egoist then he / she will never give power over to an other individual that thinks and act just like him. Once a person is in power and starts acting selfish and cruel, he will disregard the interest of the citizens and the order will disappear Locke on the other hand had an entirely different view of human nature and therefore prescribed a system, which is completely different. Locke, growing up when civil wars were coming to end, believed that in nature man was not so bad.
He maintained that humans have a conscience and usually act according to their conscience. He acknowledged the many benefits in having a government but also found that there are also benefits in having a mediator to make decisions. He held that all men are free and equal in the state of nature and possess certain rights. Moreover he believed that man is a rationalist, according to Locke man is governed by the power of reason, the law of nature, which stems from God s will. The law of nature is supposed to bind man to preserve peace and refrain from harming others.
When this fails, which it sometimes does, a civil government is in place so that peace will be maintained. However, unlike in Hobbes system, if the government is interpreted to have violated the rights of the individual or if he seeks to obtain absolute power, the people are entitled to remove him. Locke s beliefs and system of government is much more similar to those we hold today. We are living in a relatively free and safe society therefore there appears to be no need for a government of absolute power, furthermore, a leviathan would threaten our individual rights and freedoms which many citizens take for granted (in the west) and would not tolerate a government like that in Hobbes society.
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