Hobbes

POLITICAL THOUGHT

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THOMAS HOBBES (1588 – 1679 )

INTRODUCTION
• Thomas Hobbes was the greatest English political thinker whose major emphases were on peace, order,
security, commodious life and all powerful Sovereign.

• He was born on 5th April 1588 in England. He mastered a number of languages like Latin, Greek , French,
Italian and English.

• He was one of the chief exponents of the Social Contract theory.

• Karl Marx acknowledged him as father of all of us.

• He studied at Oxford University but he disliked the education imparted at Oxford.

• In 1618, he was recruited into an aristocratic family of William Lord Cavendish As a tutor and later became
a Secretary.

Impact of English Civil War

• During 1640-1660, England found itself in a political upheaval which would later be known as the English
Civil War.

• Hobbes was a witness to the great political and constitutional turmoil caused by the English Civil War and
his life and writings bear a clear imprint of it.

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• The political chaos was the direct result of controversies between the Crown and the Parliament.

• Hobbes was against parliamentarian and supporting royalists (Crown Rule).

• In this horrific war the Royalists were defeated, and Charles I was executed at the behest of the
Parliamentary Army in 1649.

• This incident led to the creation of his understanding about a pessimistic view of Human Nature.

Year Book Name Subject matter

1642 De Cive (On the Citizen) Anticipation of theme of Leviathan

Book is divided into 4 Part. It Contains Laws of

Leviathan or the Matter, Forme and Power of
1651 Nature, Social Contract Theory & Absolute
a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil
Sovereign.
Also knows as the “Elements of law, natural
1655 De Corpore (On the body)
and politic”.
Last one of the Hobbesian great trilogy (De
1658 De Homine (On Man)
Cive, De Corpore, De Homine)
Behemoth: the history of the causes of the
1681 Also known as The Long Parliament.
civil wars of England

HOBBES POLITICAL THOUGHT

HUMAN NATURE -
• Hobbes viewed Human beings as selfish, isolated and egoistic in nature and self interested in actions.

• He held that human beings are “matter in motion” to satisfy their desire; seeking pleasure and avoiding
pain and the continual fulfilment of their desire is what Hobbes called as “Felicity”.

• According to him, human beings has two kinds of ‘Voluntary motions’ or ‘Endeavours’, the Appetite
(motion towards something) and the Aversion (motion from ward something). Therefore, human beings
are nothing but bundles of Appetites and Aversions.

• He differentiated human beings from animals as they possess Reason but no individual reason is
absolutely right, hence, he emphasize on the need of an Arbitrator or Judge for resolving disputes
between the two parties.

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• For him Self Preservation was the most common and important desire for all human beings for which they
were in constant quest for power. Therefore, life is nothing but perpetual and relentless desire and pursuit
for power according to Hobbes.

STATE OF NATURE -
• The State of Nature represents the interaction between human beings when there was no civil law, state
or political authority.

• Hobbes characterized State of Nature by perpetual struggle, conflict, constant warfare and total insecurity
as men were free to take whatever and rob whomsoever they could.

• State of Nature was state of absolute anarchy in the absence of law to prevent oppression of men over
each other.

• According to Hobbes, this stage was ‘Solitary, poor, nasty ,brutish and short’ ever men was enemy to
everyman .

• Therefore, it was for the need of self preservation which created a sense of duty in the minds of human
beings to form the state .

NATURAL LAWS –
• According to Hobbes, the Laws of Nature persuaded the human beings that they can fulfil their desires
better if they exit the State of Nature.

• He also held that these laws were also present in the State Of Nature but were not followed in the
absence of a authority which could enforce them .

• It was in Leviathan , Hobbes introduced his idea of laws of nature which enlisted 19 laws among which the
important laws were the following –

• Seek peace and follow it (First Law)

• Men should be willing in concert with others to give up their natural rights (Second Law)

• Individual must honour their contracts (Third Law)

• No man be allowed to be judged in his own case (Nineteenth Law)

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT AND THE SOVEREIGN –

• He held that, Men abandoned the State of Nature and established a society and State together, thus,
through a single contract.

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• According to Hobbes, the Social Contract is concluded among all the individuals in the State of Nature
“each with all and all with each” by setting up a Sovereign authority who will ensure peace and security .

• Hobbes held that contract was made by stating, “ I Authorize and gave up my rights of governing myself to
this man or this Assembly of men, on this, condition, that thou give up thy right to him and authorize all his
Actions in like manner”.

• Thus, Hobbesian social Contract brought a Sovereign into existence whose powers were undivided,
unlimited, inalienable and permanent because he was the creation of the will of the people.

• As Hobbes develops an idea of Absolute Sovereign, he mentioned some import feature of sovereign and
contract:

• Sovereign power is undivided, unlimited, inalienable and permanent.

• Sovereign was result of the contract, thus, not a party to the contract.

• No right to revolution against the sovereign

• Contract was perpetual and irrevocable.

• Contract is mutually constructed by people and not a representation of divine rights of king.

• The Sovereign was result of the contract ,thus, not a party to the contract. Therefore, all the Individuals in
Society were the Subjects of Sovereign and he has no obligation towards the subject.

• In Hobbes word “This is the generation of that great Leviathan, or that Mortal God, to which we own
under the Immortal God, our peace and defense.” Hobbes sees sovereign as a Monarch.

• All the natural rights of men were surrendered to the Sovereign forever and cannot be withdrawn
otherwise men would revert back to the State of Nature.

• Hobbes did not recognized people’s right to revolt or revolution and thus advocates unlimited political
obligation.

• Moreover he had postulated a single contract so if the government is overthrown the Society will
disintegrate itself and people will get back to State of Nature that is a state of total anarchy and insecurity.

ON LIBERTY AND SELF PRESERVATION -

• Thomas Hobbes provided a modern understanding of Liberty by defining it as the “absence of external
impediments to motion”.

• He held that Individuals are free to do everything except those which the Sovereign has forbidden by its
laws. Therefore, Liberty is whatever the law permitted and on whatever the law was silent.

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• Therefore, the liberty of subject includes buying and selling their property, trade, diet, institute their
children , rights to private beliefs and conscience, etc.

• According to him, the Sovereign was having absolute authority over the subject but there was only one
limitation to his authority namely, the right of self preservation.

• The Right of Self Preservation was the only absolute right of the Individual and even the Sovereign cannot
take away one’s life because the basic motive behind total submission of power was for Self Preservation
and if the Sovereign is not able to protect the life of the individual, then the individual has the right to
resist the Sovereign.

POLITICAL OBLIGATION –
• He has postulated an unlimited political obligation towards the absolute sovereign as Hobbes offered
number of reasons to do so which are as following –

i) Sanctions or Punishment on Individual if they not successfully obeyed the Sovereign.

ii) Individuals must respect their contract .

iii) Sovereign is the representative of Individuals as they voluntarily authorize him with the power and
authority.

iv) Civil Law and the Law of Nature are one as they are command of God. Hence, Political Obligation
was essentially moral according to Hobbes.

• Therefore, he was able to sustain the position of the Sovereign on the basis of a theory of Political
Obligation.

• He started with natural rights of individuals but restricts them to a viable civil society.

• Hobbes also restricted the natural liberty of men but does not adopt individuals right to restrict authority
of the state.

FAMOUS QUOTES –
• ‘Fear and I were born twins'.

• ‘Curiosity is the lust of mind’.

• ‘It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law’.

• ‘Force and Fraud are in War the two cardinal virtues’.

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• ‘In the State of Nature, Profit is the measure of right’.

• ‘No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent deaths: and
the life of man, Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short ‘.

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