Hobbes

Hobbes

Paola Blanco
PSCI 391
Dr. Mihic
1/30/2012
Hobbes: Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, felt that society naturally resembles a State of Nature, and that this State of Nature is a State of War. In order to avoid living in a State of Nature, and therefore avoiding a State of War, a sovereign had to be erected; the sovereign would be given the rights of all their subjects and be able to enforce peace. Hobbes thought that an absolute sovereign was such a sovereign with unlimited power; if the power was limited it would have to be limited by an even greater power. He also outlined a series of duties, and rights that were forfeited to the sovereign. Hobbes’ main argument for a sovereign was that any type of government is better than the State of Nature; that absolute sovereignty is the form of government most likely to be able to avoid a return to the State of Nature; and that people can only live in peace if they are subjected to an absolute sovereign.
The sovereign acquires their power through the cessation of rights by their subjects in order to achieve peace. The extent of this forfeiture would be to such a level that it is acceptable to everyone else that you have this amount of rights, as it is acceptable to you that another person has a certain amount of rights. If every person gives up their personal rights, then the power obtained must be invested in the hands of a select few; or preferably, according to Hobbes, in the hands of a single person. The cessation of rights by the whole of a society results in the creation of a commonwealth or of a Leviathan, a mortal god.
Once the sovereign has received the rights of every individual, they will have accumulated enough power and authority to carry out the wishes of the population as a whole. A covenant has been created between the sovereign and their subjects, in whom the people have invested their rights in the sovereign, and in return they would receive security from one another, as well as...