Two Sided Coin: Thomas Hobbes vs. John Locke

Two-sided coin: Thomas Hobbes vs. John Locke

There are always two-sides everything including people and the government, kind of like science vs. faith view. With Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, they give the impression to be on opposite sides when it comes to people, society and the government even and yet both were Englishmen. Hobbes was born 5 April 1588 and died 4 December 1679; he is best known today for his work on political philosophy. While John Locke was 29 August 1632 and died 28 October 1704, and is widely known as the Father of Classical Liberalism, His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. Hobbes wrote Leviathan in 1651, which established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory. Although, Locke’s writings influenced Voltaire, Rousseau and many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. Locke contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence. Both have influences todays political philosophy.

Before looking at what type of Government is best, it’s important to know about human nature because gives us an idea of the type of people, who would have the power in Government. Human nature deals with the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and act, which humans tend to have naturally, without any influence from the culture around them. Between both of them, Hobbes was the one that had a negative view of human nature. He believed that people were born to be bad and cruel and would act on behalf of their own best interests, like “Every man for himself” and that society could not exist exce...

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...at should the people do? With Rebellion against the Government that is abusive to the people. Hobbes mentions because people had no say in their Government, they could do nothing if the monarch were abusive. But Locke the people had the right to revolt against an abusive government. With both of these views we see one side saying that people should revolt if they feel like there rights are violated while the other side thinks more on the lines that people shouldn’t do anything because you rights are decide by the government. But could people be trusted to govern themselves? Hobbes said No, people could be trusted to govern themselves and an absolute monarch would demand obedience in to maintain order. But Locke says yes, people could be trusted to govern themselves, he believed that if provided with the right information would make good decisions should be fine.