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Hobbes on Law and Sovereignty

Thomas Hobbes argues that law and government are necessary to prevent humanity's natural state, which he believes is a "state of war" where life would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Hobbes believes humans are inherently selfish and violent, so without rules and authority, people would fight over limited resources. He proposes that individuals cede power to a sovereign authority to impose order and security through law and force. The sovereign would control all civil, military, judicial, and religious powers to maintain peace.

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Bernard Nii Amaa
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97 views1 page

Hobbes on Law and Sovereignty

Thomas Hobbes argues that law and government are necessary to prevent humanity's natural state, which he believes is a "state of war" where life would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Hobbes believes humans are inherently selfish and violent, so without rules and authority, people would fight over limited resources. He proposes that individuals cede power to a sovereign authority to impose order and security through law and force. The sovereign would control all civil, military, judicial, and religious powers to maintain peace.

Uploaded by

Bernard Nii Amaa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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IS LAW NECESSARY?

Thomas Hobbes
Hobbes mainly wrote about government and lawhe was a political
philosopher. He tried to show that the best kind of government has one in
which society was organised under one authority. All individuals in that
society give up some rights for the sake of protection. There is no doctrine
of "separation of powers" in Hobbes's discussion. According to him, the
sovereign power must control civil, military, judicial,
and ecclesiastical powers.

The most interesting thing about Hobbes was the way he argued. He
started by looking at human nature. He said that humans are very selfish
and that we are willing to hurt each other if we think it will help us. He
also said that, naturally, humans are all equal because we are all strong
enough to kill each othereven a child can kill a strong man while he
sleeps. Then he imagined what things would be like without a government.
He said that it would be terriblea "state of war". There would not be
enough stuff for everyone, and people would disagree about who got what.
Some people would fight each other, and everyone else would be very
worried about their own safety. No one would be able to trust anyone else
or make plans for the future. Life would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish,
and short" (people would be alone, poor, mean, and would not live for
long).[1] Next, Hobbes argues that it would be a good idea for everyone to
stop fighting and choose a Sovereign which could be one man or an
assembly of men. Everyone should agree to obey the Sovereign, and give
him all power of coercion or force of restraint under law. Once the
Sovereign is in place, everyone has to obey him, even those who disagree
with him. This is because everyone already agreed to obey him no matter
what. Hobbes says it's better to be mostly safe under an all-powerful
Sovereign, than to be in a state of war.

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