Cromwell helped to bring about the

overthrow of the Stuart monarchy, and,

THOMAS HOBBES POLITICAL as lord protector, he raised his
PHILOSOPHY AND HIS SOCIAL country’s status once more to that of a
CONTRACT leading European power from the
decline it had gone through since the
death of Queen Elizabeth I
Thomas Hobbes strongly denies
Aristotle’s claim that there is a natural
hierarchy among human beings with II. STATE OF NATURE OF MAN
some people inherently superior.  According to Hobbes, he portrays
Neither does he believe that men are humans as rational agents who
political animals whose natural seek to maximize power and act
condition is to live together as according to self interest, because
participants in the political community. acting otherwise would threaten
People merely forced to live together their self-preservation.
out of fear of one another and the  Left ungoverned, men will
desire for self-preservation. terrorize each other in a state of
nature in which individuals will
stop at nothing to ensure their
I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND own self-preservation or self-
 1578 - The concepts of promotion
sovereignty and the divine right  To avert a descent into a state of
of kings emerge influenced by nature, must enter into a social
The Six Books of the Republic by contract submitting to the
Jean Bodin authority and protection of the
 1642-51 - The English Civil War sovereign
temporarily establishes the  The sovereign must be an
precedent that the monarch absolute ruler with indivisible and
cannot rule without the consent of unlimited power, to prevent
the parliament factional strife and chaos
 1688 The Glorious Revolution in  If the sovereign fails in their duty,
England leads to the 1689 Bill of the social contract is broken and
Rights, which limits the powers of individuals may take action,
the monarch in law leading back to the state of
nature
*1651 The Leviathan was published

III. A NECESSARY EVIL

Oliver Cromwell - English soldier and
statesman, who led parliamentary Government: A Necessary Evil
forces in the English Civil Wars and was
 Hobbes argued that humans had
lord protector of England, Scotland, and
two principal choices in life-they
Ireland (1653–58) during the republican
could either live without
commonwealth. As one of the generals
government (the state of nature)
on the parliamentary side in the English
or with government.
Civil War against King Charles I,
  For Hobbes, a social contract IV. Kinds of Commonwealth
bestowing indivisible authority to
How to attain sovereign power?
a sovereign was a necessary evil
to avoid the cruel fate that There are two ways of establishing a
awaited man if a strong power did commonwealth: through acquisition
not keep the destructive impulses (force) or through institution
of individuals in check (agreement). The latter accords with
Hobbes's description of how natural
“During the time men live without a
man raises himself out of the state of
common power to keep them all in awe,
nature (through the establishment of
they are in that condition called war;
the Leviathan).
and such war, as is of every man
against man. “ The former, establishing a
commonwealth through force, means
that a sovereign power takes control of
a group of people, who--if they do not
resist the acquisition and depose the
sovereign--must consent to his control.
Thus, a sovereign instituted by force is
as much a part of the social contract as
a sovereign instituted by agreement.
Both have the same function--to protect
society and secure peace--and both
have the same rights relative to their
subjects.

V. Rule By Social Contract

Rights of a Sovereign

1. The subjects cannot change the

 Hobbes contractual view of form of government
government authority also 2. Sovereign power cannot be
affected the duties of the forfeited
sovereign. Only so long as the 3. Dissenters must yield to the
sovereign could protect his majority in declaring a sovereign
subjects were they bound by the 4. The sovereign cannot be unjust or
social contract. injure any innocent subject
 However, Hobbes did not 5. The sovereign cannot be put to
encourage popular revolutions, death
nor religious influence on state 6. The sovereign may determine
matters, and he did not favor what ideas are acceptable (he is
democratic rule. The main aim of the ultimate judge of
the government was stability and philosophical/scientific first
peace, not individual freedom principles) and may censor
doctrines that are repugnant to
 peace (ideas that may cause For Locke, one of the main reasons
discord within the population) people would be willing to enter into a
7. The sovereign prescribes social contract and to submit being
legislative rules ruled by the government is that they
8. The sovereign has judicial power expect the government to regulate
in all controversies, civil and disagreements in a neutral manner.
intellectual
9. The sovereign may make war and
peace with other
commonwealths;
10. The sovereign has the
powers of reward and punishment
11. The sovereign may make all
civil appointments, including that
of the militia.

Locke also opposed absolutism. For

him, he was able to describe what is an
LOCKE AND HIS KEY IDEAS
illegitimate government. It followed that
a government that did not respect and
protect people’s rights or unnecessarily
I. Historical Context constrained their liberty was not
 1642 – A series of conflicts legitimate.
known as the English Civil War
breaks out, due to concerns He is famous for his idea of a limited
Charles I would attempt to government and liberalism as a political
introduce absolutism in ideology.
England
 1661 – Louis XIV begins his
personal rule of France and
embodies absolutism in the
phrase “I am the state”
 1689 – The English Bill of
Rights secures the rights of
parliament and elections free
from royal interference and
also the Two Treatises of
Government was published

English philosopher John Locke was the II. Locke and his Key Ideas
first to articulate the liberal principles of
government: namely that the purpose
of the government was to preserve its
citizen’s rights to freedom, life and
property, to pursue the public good and
to punish people who violated the rights
of others. Lawmaking was therefore the
supreme function of government.
Locke’s state of nature- the state prior
to the social contract and the
establishment of government-is thus JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU: HIS
not a pre-political state of war. It is a VIEWS WITH HIS SOCIAL CONTRACT
state of self-government in which
people already have natural rights
corresponding to the natural law I. Profile of Rousseau
provided by God and discoverable by
reason. He was born in Geneva Switzerland. The
son of a freeman entitled to vote in city
The reason why people agree to form a elections, he never wavered in his
social contract and establish an appreciation in Geneva’s liberal
institutionalized government is thus not institutions. Inheriting a large library
their inability to rule themselves or to and a voracious appetite for reading, he
live together in peace. Locke argues received no formal education.
that as the societies grew larger and
more complex, institutionalized political At the age of 15, an introduction to
authority proved to be more effective Francoise-Louisede Warens led to his
way of settling disputes and conversion to Catholicism, exile from
maintaining order. (Oksala 2013) Geneva, and disownment by his father.

Rousseau began studying in earnest in

his 20s and was appointed secretary to
III. Social Contract Theory of John the ambassador in Venice in 1743. He
Locke left soon after for Paris where he built a
reputation as a controversial essayist.
Locke powerfully challenged Hobbes’
When his books were banned in France
absolutism in Two Treatises of
and Geneva, he fled briefly to London
Government. He shares with Hobbes
but soon returned to France.
the idea that the only legitimate, basis
of power is the consent of the people.  The ideology of Rousseau is said
But crucially, he denies that the people to be republicanism
would ever rationally consent to  His focus is about the “general
surrender all power to an absolute will”
sovereign. (Oksala 2013)

The right to revolt

II. Historical Context
 Elected representatives of the  1513- Machiavelli’s The Prince
people are prevented from offers a modern form of politics in
assembly which a ruler’s morality and the
 Foreign powers are bestowed with concerns of state are strictly
authority over people separate
 The election system or procedure  1651- Hobbes’ Leviathan argues
is changed without the consent of for the foundation of the state on
the people the basis of social contract
 Rule of law is not upheld  1789- French revolution occurred
 Government deprived the people
of their rights
III. Political Views Life is nasty,
brutish and
On the state of nature of man: For People are
State short. Man
contented,
Rousseau, human beings free from of acts based on
happy
society were well-disposed, happy Nature self interest
creatures
creatures, content in their state of and inherently
selfish
nature. Only two principles guided
Necessary to
them: Preserves
guarantee
Social inequalities
1. Natural self-love and desire for peace and
Contra and destroys
avoid the
self-preservation ct a person’s
state of
2. A compassion for their fellow humanity
nature
human beings Can exist only Can be won
Freedo in the within the
The combination of these two ensured m absence of bounds of the
that humanity reproduced itself law (restraint) law
generation after generation. This happy
condition ceased because of the
creation of civil society and the Where Hobbes saw law only as a
development of private property restraint, and freedom existing only in
the absence of the law, Rousseau
2 Types of Inequality argued that laws could become an
extension of our freedom, provided that
1. Natural Inequality
those subject to the law also prescribed
2. Moral Inequality
the law.
Private Property
Freedom could be won within the state,
The advent of private property was rather than against it
responsible for all the divisions and
“Man is born free and everywhere
inequalities that exist within the society
he is in chains”
according to Rousseau
 Rousseau’s ideal society was
based on social contract freely
IV. Hobbes and Rousseau’s Social entered into by all the individuals
Contract within it (defined as the
sovereign) which would represent
Societies were formed not before our the general will. Citizens would
state of nature but were formed after give up some of their rights in
we had left the state of nature and, and exchange for equality and
property rights- with the resultant freedom. However, the sovereign
inequalities had been established. should have absolute authority
only over matters of public
Once property rights were in place,
interest.
conflicts would ensue over the
 The role of the state was to
distribution of those rights. It was civil
ensure liberty and equality
society and property that led to war,
through laws. Government which
with the state as the agency through
was separate from the sovereign
which war could be pursued.
would sort out day-to-day
Hobbes Rousseau
 administration that should reflect part); and (iii) the will of the people, i.e.
always the will of the sovereign. the sovereign will, which is general both
 If the government were to exceed in relation to the state regarded as the
these boundaries, it would then whole, and to the government regarded
be up to the people to abolish it. as a part of the whole.
Rousseau’s social contract
In a perfect act of legislation, the
promoted “liberty, equality and
individual or particular will should be at
fraternity” concepts still at the
zero; the government’s corporate will
heart of politics in the modern
should be thoroughly subordinate; and
world.
the general or sovereign will, therefore,
Rousseau makes clear that the general should always predominate and should
will is not the will of the majority. It is be the sole guide of all the rest.
not some kind of aggregate of
His theory of the General Will contained
individual wills, but a qualitatively
in his Social Contract(1762) doesn’t
different kind of will. He acknowledges
paint the General Will as simply the
that individuals have particular wills
majority or popular will of the people. It
determined by self-interest: members
is painted as the TRUE or WISE and
of a community do not always will the
uncorrupted will of the people.
same thing but have many conflicting
interests and goals. It is an ideal translated by the
government, consisting of those with
However, as citizens, their decisions
power in the civil society, either a
cannot be guided by narrow self-
Monarch, Aristocrats, or even all the
interest. So, in addition to their private
people of a Pure Democracy. In his
will, people have a will as citizens to
view, the government would translate
which the general will corresponds. In
the will like a “learned sage,” and it
other words, citizens have to be able to
would be confirmed by free speech,
reach decisions that are best for the
assembly, and voting.
whole community, and this means
accepting that the common good may
sometimes be in conflict with their
partisan, personal interests. How to Determine the General Will

Although a small body of people may be

able to state their General Will clearly, it
Indivisibility of Sovereign and the is arguably impossible to understand
General Will the general will of a collective,
especially a large one. Thus, a complex
In the person of the magistrate we can
array of specific measures is needed in
distinguish three essentially different
practice including feedback. This is why
wills: (i)the private will of the individual,
Rousseau calls for virtuous mixed
tending only to his personal advantage;
republics ruled by law where people can
(ii) the common will of the magistrates,
speak freely and air their opinions to
which relates purely to the advantage
check and balance the will-in-action
of the prince(call this ‘corporate will’,
with the general will.
which is general in relation to the
government and particular in relation to
the state of which the government is a
V. French Revolution

Maximilien Robespierre