Comparing The Philosophies Of Thomas Hobbes And John Locke

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are both undoubtedly two of the most well known and written about philosophers of all time. However, their theories and ideas on what society is, and what society should be should be differ drastically making them different as night and day. Thomas Hobbes had a rather dark view of society and the people in it, likely due to the political and civil unrest that he had experienced. This caused him to see humans as inherently hostile and that we are generally incapable of keeping peace with one another. John Locke on the other hand saw humans as inherently good and thought that we would seek peace with one another and prosper through the good intentions of one another. Both sought to make social contract theories on what they felt was the key to a well adjusted smoothly running society.

Thomas Hobbes social contract theory was simple, people in their self destructive nature would never be able to accomplish peace. For this they would need to enter a social contract. Hobb’s idea of a social contract is that of
With this being said as a citizen of the united states where our declaration of independence utilizes many of the philosophies and ideas John Locke had, I must concur that I agree with John Locke's social contract significantly more that Hobbs’s. I feel that democracy is the ultimate goal for any society as having an omnipotent ruler the system quickly becomes corrupt. And though I feel our government is corrupt as well, simply bestowing all power to a specific individual takes away any chance at a fair society. Along with this I do not believe a complete just and for society can ever be established, but having the underlying principles of liberty, unity, and democracy is the best a nation can do for itself and its