Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes

Introduction

Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher best known for his contributions in the area of political philosophy. Thomas Hobbes was among the initial modern Western thinkers. The writings of Thomas Hobbes explained the secular perspective of the political state. As per his thoughts, it was necessary to understand the psychology of an individual before developing an understanding of the government. His work also created a foundation for the Western political philosophy. He is also listed in one of the founders of modern philosophy for his prominence in the relationship between the state and individual. Thomas Hobbes has a major contribution in developing the fundamentals of the European liberal thought (Zagorin, 1991).

Analysis

According to Thomas Hobbes, all the individuals in a society give up their natural rights for the purpose of seeking protection. In the perspective of Thomas Hobbes, the main objective behind the state of nature circumstance is that individuals are equal in nature. The second purpose is the scarcity of commodities, along with equality, creates a permanent condition of reciprocal of trust. Such conditions make the individuals go for war, rather than preferring to sue for peace. According to Thomas Hobbes, the existing state of nature which is the natural life, before the occurrence of the state is full of violence, rather than being peaceful (Stephen, 2003).

Thomas Hobbes refers the state of nature to the state of war in which all individuals are against each other, and ultimately resolve the chaotic situation by establishing a type of social contract. To extent, the human beings are almost similar with just slight differences in their physical and mental abilities. According to the theory by Thomas Hobbes, the society and the government form a social contract. This contract is fundamentally referred to as the mutual transfer of rights. There are no limitations for the human rights of freedom. The investigation by Thomas Hobbes was for the purpose of identifying their legitimacy. The government is focused to impose law and serve up the general protection. The contract created a relationship between individuals and the state. The protection that individuals seek contains two flaws: 1) it overlooks the likelihood of the rational present collaboration based on the expectation of future collaboration; 2) it oversimplifies and incorrectly portrays the association between protection and the concentration of power within a group (King, 2000).

The humans have lived a great time span without any government structure. It ...