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English, Physiology

Thomas Hobbes Essay

Thomas Hobbes is a British philosopher who is remembered by his illustration of transition from barbaric to contemporary thinking in the Great Britain. He is one of the philosophers who developed philosophical vocabularies in English language forming technical terms used by the ancient Greek and Latin novelists. From carefully chosen words, Hobbes was able to express common ideas in mind (Spragens 13). Imagining a society in a state of nature, a society with no rules and code of how we live, it looks much impossible to coexist in such an environment.

Hobbes wrote several philosophical quotes on the social contract accounting for human psychology. He noted that self-preservation or rather protection is something that can be rationally sought by the community through an agreement. He came up with strategies of how our societies can be structured for the benefit of our own. The Golden Rule, which was very significant to his assurance in logical philosophical argument. His argument was that he could not merely ordain a philosophy or rather will not state a principle conventional to many but would provide a reasoning supporting his principle (Fish 153). With a conclusion that it is rational for people to dispatch some liberty and responsibilities for the security of self-preservation, he came up with a conception of forms of both social and political structure consistent with the aims.

He described social contract as a case where one surrenders some liberty in exchange with the common security of himself that is, the mutual transfer of rights. Naturally everyone has the right to do anything at any time without limits, a state called natural liberty. He therefore states that social structure is all about the contracts we make socially in form of an agreement to transfer our natural rights mutually. By saying this, his argument was that I decide to give up the natural right of stealing your food since you also do the same to me. In that case, a natural right is created in the society whereby my right to property is limited (Höffe 8). Hobbes states that we make these agreements overtly since we are raised in societies with conventional laws already in place to guide us. He states that in most cases we entitle certain bodies like the government to help us enforcing these laws in the society. He believes that the leaders in place are God chosen and no one should challenge them as they exercise their roles.

Hobbes ideas and philosophies implicate our modern day society in very different ways. According to him, for peace to prevail in the society, we have to engage in manual contracts within our societies by giving someone the power to make decisions neutral to all of us. His ideas has been applied in very diverse sectors of our current world. Governments guide most countries with the people in having surrendered some of their sovereign rights for the whole population to be free. Despite the fact that this agreement limits ones freedom, it creates a common environment where everyone in the society can fit in. It also creates an organized state where peace and stability remains the major gain to the community. Major economies of the World like the United States have applied Hobbes ideas in many sectors for instance; citizens of the United States are by no means autocrats (Höffe 5). That though in any chance does not mean the country is in a state of anarchy. That was only possible when the country is under a dictator or king but in this case, the country is guided by the constitution upon which the sovereign power of the people lies. Meaning, the real sovereign power of the power lies with the people themselves since the citizens form the constitution. Hobbes has stood out of be one of the most critical philosophers whose ideas is seen working in a range of social organizations beginning from schools, churches and nations.

Thomas Hobbes is one of the figures whose philosophies shape the political arena up to date. He is one of the most outstanding political philosophers whose masterpiece Leviathan remains substantial in political writings in relation to Plato and Aristotle. Hobbes believed that when human beings are left in their state of nature, a state of continuous warfare would exist in the whole world. He believed that in as state of nature life would be solitary, nasty, brutal and short. He therefore came with an idea of forming a government with sovereign power over every one (Martinich 77).I support Hobbes idea even though his, most preferred form of government is absolute monarchy. This idea when clearly analyzed gives us the democratic governments we have today. I therefore feel it right Hobbes idea was pessimistic enough considering the fact that during the time he did his philosophical work, he used the present form of government by then which was monarchy. His in social contract made him ascribe all power to the governor whom he felt should own all the powers. Expanding this in the modern world, the sovereign power lies with the constitution, which should never be rebel by any under the rule.

In summary, Thomas Hobbes is one of the shapes of the world in the field of philosophy. He was very brilliant and references to his philosophical work still remains incrusted in the laws guiding various parts of the world. The social contract theory is very important in the welfare of societies we live in. The ideas he had in mind have been applied in schools governments and institutions and it has kept those areas in peaceful coexistence.

Work Cited

Spragens Jr, Thomas A. The politics of motion: the world of Thomas Hobbes. University Press of Kentucky, 2015. Pp 12-17.

Fish, Stanley. “Thomas Hobbes: The Father of Law and Literature.” Law & Literature 29.1 (2017): Pp 151-156.

Höffe, Otfried. Thomas Hobbes. SUNY Press, 2015. Pp 7-9.

Höffe, Otfried. “Thomas Hobbes: De Cive.” (2018). Pp 3-5.

Martinich, A. P. “Leo Strauss’s Olympian Interpretation: Right, Self-preservation, and Law in The Political Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes.” Reading between the lines–Leo Strauss and the history of early modern philosophy 3 (2015): Pp 77.

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