THOMAS HOBBES, DEFENDER OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY
# Between 1600 and 1700, England's political
structure was transformed from an absolute monarchy
[a government in which the monarch held all the
power] into a parliamentary monarchy [a sharing of
power, with most power wielded by the parliament
and some power by the monarchy].
# THE CENTURY WAS CHAR. BY WARFARE BETWEEN
THE
ADVOCATES OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY & THOSE OF
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. THE PARLIAMENTARY FORCES
ULTIMATELY WON OUT.
# BY 1688, THE PARLIAMENTARY FORCES HAD
INSTALLED WILLIAM & MARY ON THE THRONE OF ENGLAND
[WHO HAD AGREED TO PLAY MORE OF A CEREMONIAL ROLE
AND LEAVE MOST OF THE POLITICAL DECISION-MAKING TO
THE PARLIAMENT], MARKING THE BEGINNING OF
PARLIAMENTARY RULE IN ENGLAND.
# THOMAS HOBBES WAS THE PHILOSOPHER OF
ABSOLUTE MONARCHY [THE MONARCH COULD MAKE ANY LAWS
HE WISHED], AND JOHN LOCKE, THE PHILOSOPHER
STRONGLY OPPOSED TO ABSOLUTE GOVERNMENT AND
STRONGLY IN FAVOR OF PARLIAMENTARY RULE.
# HOBBES SET FORTH HIS IDEAS ON GOVERNMENT
IN
HIS CLASSIC BOOK, LEVIATHAN.
# LEVIATHAN IS A MONSTROUS SEA CREATURE
MENTIONED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. MORE GENERALLY, IT
MEANS A VERY LARGE ANIMAL, OR ANYTHING UNUSUALLY
LARGE FOR ITS KIND. BY LEVIATHAN, HOBBES MEANS AN
ALL POWERFUL RULER, AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH.
# WHAT IS PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT? TO FIND
OUT,
HOBBES SPECULATED ABOUT WHAT LIFE MIGHT HAVE BEEN
LIKE BEFORE GOVERNMENT.
# THIS STATE BEFORE GOVERNMENT HOBBES CALLED
THE STATE OF NATURE.
# ACCORDING TO HOBBES, HUMANS ARE VERY EVIL
BEINGS, ALWAYS QUARRELING, ASSULTING, AND KILLING
ONE ANOTHER. LIFE IN THE STATE OF NATURE WAS VERY
BAD --> PEOPLE ALWAYS STEALING, RAPING, ROBBING,
KILLING. HOBBES SAID THAT, IN THE STATE OF NATURE,
LIFE WAS "NASTY, BRUTISH, AND SHORT."
# ACCORDING TO HOBBES, PEOPLE GOT FED UP
WITH
LIVING SUCH A BRUTAL EXISTENCE AND DECIDED TO
CREATE GOVERNMENT TO MAKE LIFE BETTER.
# THE PEOPLE FORMED A SOCIAL CONTRACT BETWEEN
THEMSELVES AND THE GOVERNMENT. THE CONTRACT WAS
THIS: THE PEOPLE WOULD GIVE UP SOME OF THE FREEDOMS
THEY ENJOYED IN THE STATE OF NATURE [LIKE WREAKING
REVENGE ON PEOPLE THAT HAD DONE YOU A WRONG] TO THE
GOVERNMENT; BUT THE GOVERNMENT HAD TO USE ITS
POWERS TO PERFORM THE TWO MAIN FUNCTIONS OF
GOVERNMENT: TO PROTECT PERSONS AGAINST BODILY HARM;
AND TO PROTECT PROPERTY.
# BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE SO PRONE TO EVIL,
HOBBES
BELIEVED THAT YOU NEEDED AN ALL-POWERFUL MONARCH
[THE LEVIATHAN] TO KEEP PEOPLE IN LINE. THIS IS
THE REASON HOBBES WAS A CHAMPION OF ABSOLUTE
MONARCHY.