Political Science: Hobbes and Locke Flashcards

This set of vocabulary flashcards summarizes the contrasting political theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, focusing on property rights, the state of nature, the role of the sovereign, the division of powers, and the right to resist government.

End of government (Locke)

The preservation and protection of private property, which Locke identifies as the primary point and purpose of civil society.

Fundamental Law of Property

The natural law holding that the primary goal of government and political collaboration is the protection of private property; violating this subverts the very purpose of established government.

Separation of Powers (Locke)

The argument that the legislative branch (law-making) and executive branch (law-enforcing) must be distinct to prevent lawmakers from exempting themselves or creating laws for their personal advantage.

Right of Resistance (Locke)

The right of citizens to respond with force or seek the dissolution of a governing body when it violates natural law, interferes with private property, or acts tyrannically without offering a remedy for grievances.

State of Nature (Locke)

A theoretical space where humans exist under the light of reason and natural laws as God's property, but which becomes insecure and unsafe due to the lack of an authoritative common judge.

State of Nature (Hobbes)

A condition of perpetual war of all persons against all others characterized by mistrust ($\text{diffidence}$), where life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

Natural Rights (Locke)

Rights humans possess by existing as God's workmanship: $\text{1.}$ self-preservation (and the preservation of others) and $\text{2.}$ the right to punish transgressors who do harm.

Sovereign (Hobbes)

An absolute authority (either an individual or an assembly) that possesses the combined strength and will of a population to maintain peace through "overawing" citizens and threat of punishment.

The Great Leviathan

A term for the sovereign or "Mortal God" created by the covenant to hold all signers in fear of punishment for the sake of peace and safety.

Covenant (Hobbes)

The artificial, mutual agreement where individuals voluntarily relinquish their right to all things and transfer their power to a sovereign in order to escape the state of nature.

Diffidence

The extreme mistrust between humans in the state of nature that prevents collaboration and leads to a state of war.

The Bee Colony Example (Hobbes)

A comparison showing that unlike bees whose private interest aligns naturally with the common good, humans are competitive, seek honor ($\text{eminence}$), and require an artificial covenant to work together.

Tyranny (Locke's Definition)

Any form of government (monarchic, aristocratic, or democratic) that operates without authority and uses laws for something other than the preservation of the people's property.

Arbitrary Power

Absolute power that operates according to the whims or personal advantages of the ruler rather than fixed laws, which Locke argues is contrary to the purpose of civil society.

God's Workmanship (Locke's Argument)

The premise that humans are the property of God; therefore, we have a natural law obligation to preserve ourselves and respect the property of others as we are all God's creations.

Seditious Doctrines (Hobbes)

Doctrines Hobbes considers "poison" to the state, such as the view that individuals should judge good and evil for themselves or that it is a sin to act against private conscience.

Public Conscience (Hobbes)

The civil law of the commonwealth, which Hobbes argues must take precedence over individual moral or political hesitations ($\text{private conscience}$).

Absolute Propriety (Hobbes)

Ownership that excludes other citizens but does not exclude the sovereign's right to utilize or extract resources for the administration and prosperity of the commonwealth.

Education (Hobbes' View)

A tool for the sovereign to secure obedience by teaching the population to honor their leaders and not desire internal conflict, rather than a means for human flourishing or ruling oneself.

The Law of Nations (Hobbes)

The principle that distinct commonwealths exist in a permanent state of war and mutual suspicion toward one another, mirroring the state of nature for individuals.

Enforced Labor (Hobbes)

The strategy of using capable individuals who refuse to work by transplanting them into colonies to work effectively or die, utilized as a form of state management.

Hobbes' $4$ Reasons for Monarchy

Monarchy is superior because: $1.$ the King's private interest is linked to public prosperity; $2.$ it avoids the institutional inconstancy of shifting assemblies; $3.$ the sovereign cannot disagree with himself; and $4.$ corruption is centralized rather than distributed among many orators.

Monarchy as Primitive (Locke)

Locke's view that monarchy is not a form of civil society because there is no common judge to decide matters between the monarch and the people, effectively keeping them in a state of nature.