Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Hobbes-Context

• author of ‘Leviathan’-published 1651

  • argued for an authoritarian role of the state

• lived during a tumultuous period

  • English Civil War

Hobbes-Human nature

• viewed humans as selfish and competitive

  • without the strains of authority, life would be ‘nasty, brutish and sort’

  • relations between human beings would be marked by ‘envy hatred and war’

• no civil society without the state

how is Hobbes’ view of human nature similar to liberalism?

• He believed rationality underpinned human nature (humans as not wholly irrational)

• so a state would eventually be formed

  • because mankind would eventually realise that the state of nature was unproductive

  • they would agree to a contract

    • would render to a ‘sovereign’ (the state)

      • would eventually lead to a ‘society’

Hobbes- State

• autocratic and authoritarian state

  • to prevent collapse of social order

• he declare that the people ONLY had the right to disobey the authority of the state if their lives were being threatened

• Hobbes implies that authority can be reclaimed by society under exceptional circumstances

• consent has already been given to the government by society

  • Hobbes states (in Leviathan) that the state emerged from the state of nature in the first place, so why would society revoke that- it is a two way system

• we cannot complain about inconviniences from the government as we have already given consent to the government- social contract

  • ‘he that complaineth of injury from his Sovereign, complaineth of that thereof he is the author himself and therefore ought not to accuse any man but himself

Hobbes-Society

• Change to conserve

• Valued hierarchy and inequality within society - imperfections of humanity lead to inequalities in human nature - thus society was naturally unequal which should reflect in societies hierarchy - but noblesse oblige

• Localised communities

Hobbes- economy

• more nuanced support for capitalism

  • traditional conservatives promote order, stability and continuity, whereas free-market capitalism promotes risk and unpreditability

    • unpopular with traditional conservatives due to their sceptical view of human nature and fear of radical change

    • They also criticise the idea that markets are most effective when left alone due to sceptical view of human nature.

    • capitalism promotes a more cosmopolitan society through globalisation which erodes national identity and national culture

  • They may support free market economy as it relieves the state of the burden of managing it, which then allows it to focus on its true Hobbesian purpose of order and security. Also may support it as a prosperous free market economy would allow for greater spending on defence - e.g police, armed forces - vital to the defence of conservative society.
    They like Keynesian economics - the market is managed by the state