An Outline of Thomas Hobbes Social Contract - 1395 Words

Outline Hobbes theory on the social contract giving details on what he believed was needed to maintain it. I will attempt to answer this question by initially explaining what Hobbes view on humanity was, since these views were what caused him to write his theory on the social contract, quote part of what he wrote regarding the subject and what it means in laymans terms What Hobbes believed: Thomas Hobbes, a 17th century British philosopher, had a rather pessimistic (but, in my opinion, not untrue) view on humanity. In a nutshell, he believed that humanity was born evil and needed society and law to keep it in order. Hobbes wrote that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that†¦show more content†¦This is more than consent, or concord; it is a real unity of them all in one and the same person, made by covenant of every man with every man, in such manner as if every man should say to every man: I authorise and give up my right of governing myself to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition; that thou give up, thy right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner. This done, the multitude so united in one person is called a Commonwealth; in Latin, Civitas. This is the generation of that great Leviathan, or rather, to speak more reverently, of that mortal god to which we owe, under the immortal God, our peace and defence. For by this authority, given him by every particular man in the Commonwealth, he hath the use of so much power and strength conferred on him that, by terror thereof, he is enabled to form the wills of them all, to peace at home, and mutual aid against their enemies abroad. And in him consisteth the essence of the Commonwealth; which, to define it, is: one person, of whose acts a great multitude, by mutual covenants one with another, have made themselves every one the author, to the end he may use the strength and means of them all as he shall thinkShow MoreRelatedConceptions of the Social Contract Theory924 Words   |  4 PagesThomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau were political philosophers who formulated their own version of the social contract theory. The social contract theory is a treaty or an agreement that developed a set of laws, organized a functional society, and created the need to be governed. It was put into place when man re alized that there was no law. 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