Thomas Hobbes

Résumé du document

Thomas Hobbes was born in England, in 1588, prematurely because of the fear created by the approaching Spanish Armada. He studied at the Magdalen College, Oxford until the age of nineteen, and then he became connected to the Cavendish family, serving as tutor to the later second duke of Devonshire. Hobbes was such a royalist that he spent most of his life in exile with the king, as tutor to the future Charles II. The Leviathan, his major work, was published in London, when he finally returned to England. There are major assumptions about the reasons that made him return to his homeland; one of these was probably the growing influence of unorthodox and atheist circles. Therefore, he found it more suitable his ideas in his country. In fact, Hobbes is known for his strong atheism. He finally died at the age of ninety-one in 1671 (McClelland, 1996, pp.192). Hobbes has been among the first political theorists to define the concept of the social contract. One can say that it was in reaction to the growing importance of the Parliament in England from the 14th century to the 17th century AD. Hobbes was a member of the intellectual elite of that time; he was the friend of Francis Bacon, and he used to correspond with Descartes. Because of his atheism, he did not put religion as a principle condition for governing a State in his work, as the French did by adopting at that time the theory of divine power. Thomas Hobbes was a political theorist but also a mathematician and a physicist.

Extraits

[...] Thomas Hobbes was a political theorist but also a mathematician and a physicist. This explains the coherence and logic of his ideas and analysis. In this paper, I would like to summarize and analyze the Chapter: “Social Contract The Hobbesian version” in A History of Western Political Thought by J.S McClelland. I will talk about the concept of State of Nature according to Hobbes, and how to overcome it by establishing a social contract. Then, I will examine how sovereignty has to be absolute, and what are the efficiency constraints of this sovereignty. [...]

[...] The attributes of sovereignty according to Hobbes. The Leviathan and its historical context. Thomas Hobbes was born in England, in 1588, prematurely because of the fear created by the approaching Spanish Armada. He studied at the Magdalen College, Oxford until the age of nineteen, and then he became connected to the Cavendish family, serving as tutor to the later second duke of Devonshire. Hobbes was such a royalist that he spent most of his life in exile with the king, as tutor to the future Charles II. [...]

[...] “Aristocracy is to be the Sovereign creation [ (pp 208). In fact, the Sovereign can reward his servants by giving them titles of nobility. However, he can also cancel them whenever he wants. To understand Hobbes' analysis, it would be necessary to understand the historical context in which he wrote The Leviathan. In fact, Hobbes interpreted the current English civil war of that time as a State of Nature. He justifies his idea of the authoritarian system as the best system by declaring that the evil of one person -the ruler- is not as bad as the evil of a whole society, as it was the case in the war. [...]

[...] The Sovereign has the judicial power. courts will be his courts, just as all laws will be his laws” (pp 207). It is the only way to maintain security. Thus, one can say that there is the concentration of the three powers in the hands of the Sovereign. He has the ultimate say in war and peace. Moreover, according to Hobbes, war is very important, and a state has to go to war. In fact, war making is the ultimate act of sovereignty [ so to deny the right of the Sovereign to decide matters of war and peace would be to deny him the very heart of sovereignty” (pp. [...]

[...] Thus, according to him, sovereignty cannot be shared and has to be absolute. However, there are certain restrictions to that sovereignty, defined by Hobbes as the efficiency constraint. According to Hobbes, the sovereign has to be politically ‘smart'. He should use violence, but only when it is necessary and in an adequate way, because if the Sovereign starts killing people at random, he will rapidly restore the State of Nature. The same thing happens if he appears to be weak and let people fight each other. [...]