Absolutism Pros And Cons

In the early 1600’s Europe was going through a crisis, civil wars in England, religious persecution in France, and the falling of feudal states, which had kept Europe in order. To repair the situation in Europe, economic philosophers thought of ways to secure the political and economic crises on the continent, without pushing Europe farther into chaos. One philosopher was Thomas Hobbes, who created a proposal that protected the general public by taking away their natural born rights and giving the power to the sovereign in exchange for security. Another was Jonathan Swift, who wrote to the British Parliament asking for more freedoms for the Irish citizens whose economy was falling apart due to the English. Although the two philosophers, Hobbes

Absolutism is a political theory holding that all power should be vested in one ruler or other authority. Hobbes wanted citizens to give up their natural and historical rights to allow a king or queen to rule over them. “You conceded your rights to the government, in return for your life” (Hobbes)

Europe was in a fragile state in the 17th and 18th centuries. The governments were not centralized and there was a lot of violence, such as the English Civil War, and the religious wars in France. Hobbes’ theory of absolute monarchs helped guide Louis XIV in his power to becoming one of the greatest monarchs in Europe and the world. Although the divine right theory failed later on due to enlightened thinkers and the poor leadership of Louis XVI, it was exactly what France and other nations needed in the 1600’s and early 1700’s to keep their countries united.

Jonathan Swift was a much different character than Hobbes; he was born in Dublin, Ireland, and experienced the poor treatment that the Irish faced by the British. Through most of Swift’s life, he devoted himself to Irish affairs. He believed he could cure society’s problems with humor, leading to why some of his writings are out of the ordinary. But in the end Swift was a believer in providing people with their natural born