Thomas Hobbes Social Contract Theory Essay - 895 Words

Thomas Hobbes creates a clear idea of the social contract theory in which the social contract is a collective agreement where everyone in the state of nature comes together and sacrifices all their liberty in return to security. â€Å"In return, the State promises to exercise its absolute power to maintain a state of peace (by punishing deviants, etc.)† So are the power and the ability of the state making people obey to the laws or is there a wider context to this? I am going to look at the different factors to this argument including a wide range of critiques about Hobbes’ theory to see whether or not his theory is convincing reason for constantly obeying the law. Hobbes wrote the Leviathan during the civil war where he had experienced†¦show more content†¦Hobbes is also eager on the fact that law is depended on power. â€Å"A law without a credible and powerful authority behind it is just simply not a law in any meaningful sense.† By reading Hobbes, it was undoubtedly seen that his biggest trepidation was ending up living in a state of nature. For this reason he beliefs that the best way of avoiding state of nature is by not rebelling and obeying to the law. He described it the state of nature as â€Å"no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short† . He goes on saying that anyone’s property is the common wealth’s property. It belongs to the sovereign state. He says â€Å"That every private man has an absolute Propriety in his Goods; such, as excludeth the Right of the Soveraign. Every man has indeed a Propriety that excludes the Right of every other Subject: And he has it onely from the Soveraign Power; without the protection whereof, every other man should have equall Right to the same. But if the Right of the Soveraign also be excluded, he cannot performe the office they have put him in to; which is, to defend them both from forraign enemies, and from the injuries of one another; and consequently there is no longer a Common-wealth.† He claims that the State owns everything in the country and citizens are only legitimate to own as long the State finds itShow MoreRelatedSocial Contract Theory Thomas Hobbes2009 Words   |  9 PagesSocial contract theory, nearly as old as philosophy itself, is the view that person s moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live. 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The concept emphasizes authority over individuals, in other words, the social contract favors authority (e.g. the Sovereign) over the individuals, because men have to forfeit their personal right and freedom to the government, in exchange for protection and security, which I will further elaborate