Political Philosophers

Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke,

Montesquieu

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 What is Political Philosophy?
• Political Philosophy is the study
of social organizations and the
relationship between the
individual and society.
• A political philosopher might
ponder questions such as:
– What is the ideal form of government?
– What are the root causes of society’s
problems?
– What is freedom?
– What is liberty?
– What gives any government the right
to rule?
– What are the characteristics of a good
or just society?

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 Roots in Ancient Greece
• Political Philosophy can be traced back more than two
millennia to Ancient Greece.
• The word philosophy comes from the Greek word philosophia,
which means “love of wisdom.”
• The word political comes from the Greek word politikos, which
means “of, or pertaining to the polis.”

School of Athens
Raphael

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 Thomas Hobbes
1588 – 1679 A.D.
• Thomas Hobbes is often
considered the founder of
modern political philosophy.
• He lived and formulated many of
his philosophical views during the
English Civil War.
• Hobbes explains his view of
human nature in his book
Leviathan (1651):
– Human beings are self-interested
In the 1620s, Hobbes worked as
– Human beings are rational Francis Bacon’s personal secretary.
– Our ability to reason is an instrument of Like Bacon, Hobbes believed that
our self-interest: It allows us to figure out advancements in scientific
knowledge would improve
the best way to get what we want.
people’s lives.

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 Thomas Hobbes
1588 – 1679 A.D.
• Hobbes is the first political thinker to fully explore the social
contract theory.
• To develop this theory, Hobbes begins by describing life before
government, a theoretical time and place which he calls the
state of nature:
– Since man is self-interested, and since resources are limited, life in the state of
nature would be brutal.
– Everyone would live in constant fear because they can not trust one another
and their future can never be certain.
• Since man is also rational, and since life in this environment is so
brutal, it follows that a person should try to leave the state of
nature, as soon as possible.

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 Thomas Hobbes
1588 – 1679 A.D.
• To escape the state of nature,
people entered into a social
contract:
– they agreed to give up some of their
rights and to assume some
responsibilities in exchange for law
and order.
• Once people entered into the
contract, they needed someone
to enforce it.
• For Hobbes, a strong monarch
with absolute power was
necessary to enforce the contract
and keep order.
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Since the state of nature was a
state of war, one must seek a
state of peace;
Since the state of nature is an
environment with no law, a state
of peace must be one where
there is law.
If an environment is ruled by
law, it is a place where people
do not have a right to all things.
In order to get out of the state of
nature, people had to give up
some of their rights and to
assume certain responsibilities.
 John Locke
1632 – 1704 A.D.
• John Locke was an English
physician and philosopher.
• He combined his medical
observations with his political
experiences to develop ideas
about human nature and
government.
• Locke explained his ideas in his
most famous work, Two Treatises
of Civil Government (1690)
• Like Hobbes, Locke begins his
Like Algernon Sidney, Locke wrote
explanation by examining life in his first treatise in opposition to
a “State of Nature.” Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha.

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 John Locke
1632 – 1704 A.D.
• According to Locke, God gave
man:
– Rights to life, liberty, and property
(which he calls Natural Rights)
– the Earth: to use to preserve life
– The ability to reason

• In order to defend their “life,

health, liberty, or possessions,”
people entered into a social
contract, forming governments
that existed
– to protect individual rights and
– to help resolve conflicts between
citizens.

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 John Locke
1632 – 1704 A.D.
• For Locke, all other political rights
(free speech, free press, freedom
of religion) depended on a
government that guaranteed
secure property rights.
• If a government failed in its
duties to protect the natural
rights of life, liberty, and property,
Locke believed the people had
a right to overthrow it.
• In this way, the power of the
government does not come
from God, but from the consent
of the governed.
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 Charles de Montesquieu
1689 – 1755 A.D.
• Montesquieu was an influential
French philosophe.
• In On the Spirit of Laws (1748), he
compared different European
governments and argued that:
– the best government had a separation
of powers: different powers are divided
equally among separate branches.
– each branch should have the ability to
check the powers of the other two.
– In this way, no person or group could
become too powerful. Montesquieu believed that the
English government was the best
• Montesquieu’s political theories example of the separation of
had a profound impact on the powers.
framers of the U.S. Constitution.
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 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1712 – 1778 A.D.
• Rousseau was a philosopher,
novelist, and composer.
• Rousseau argued that man, by
nature, is basically good
– For Rousseau, men are corrupted by
the evils of civil society – including art,
science, and technology.
• In his 1762 treatise, The Social
Contract, Rousseau presents his
definition of good government:
– Good government has the consent of
the people and is guided by the
“general will”
– Citizens are part of a whole; the Rousseau’s work inspired leaders of
the French Revolution.
common good must be placed above
self-interest.
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