Essay On John Locke And Thomas Hobbes - 1076 Words

John Locke and Thomas Hobbes John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, two English Enlightenment philosophers, were both very influential politically and philosophically despite having almost opposite beliefs. While each individually influenced later documents and events such as the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution, they had an equally big impact in history. Today, everyone recognizes natural rights and the modern system of government uses social contracts every day. Thomas Hobbes was born in 1588 in England. He was an Enlightenment philosopher, a scientist, and a historian. Hobbes was most popular for his political philosophies. In 1651, he wrote Leviathan, a book about politics. It talked about why he favored an†¦show more content†¦The main rights he focused on were life, liberty, and property, and that all people are born equal and independent. Locke believed that people are born naturally good, reasonable, and moral (Source 4). Both men were philosophers during the Enlightenment period, an intellectual and philosophical movement which directed all ideas in Europe during the 1600’s – 1800’s. Although they agreed on some topics to a limited extent, their beliefs and philosophies were otherwise almost opposite. They came to different conclusions and standings on basically every theory, whether it was politically, theologically, philosophically, educationally or humanitarian. Man’s relation to society around him was the topic or foundation that both Hobbes and Locke focused and based all of their other philosophies on. They had different ideas about the nature of government, man in the natural state, which system of government would be ideal, religion in politics/society, and practically every other thought either man wrote or taught about. The use of social contracts was also one of the topics that they most agreed on; however, they supported it for different reasons. A social contract is when citizens willingly give up certain rights or freedoms to their government or society to ensure their own safety and keep peace and order in the society. The people still have the freedom to do whatever, but uphold the rules of the contract so others also abide by the rules creating aShow MoreRelatedThomas Hobbes and John Locke Essay1020 Words   |  5 PagesHobbes and Locke John Locke and Thomas Hobbes were famous political Theorists among other things in their time. Hobbes who was born 40 years before Locke had a very different perspective to Locke and both will be examined more through this essay. Even though many of there theories were different in the sixteenth century Hobbes and Locke s theories became closer as the rise of the state and decline of the feudal system brought about the question of authority. Read MoreThomas Hobbes and John Locke Essay698 Words   |  3 Pages Hobbes and Locke both abandoned the thought of the divine right of monarchy. 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