Absolutism and Leviathan II: The Sovereign

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Absolutism and Leviathan II The Sovereign

• Thomas Hobbes

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Overview

• Laws of Nature
• Contracts and Justice
• The Need for a Sovereign
• The Sovereigns Power

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Hobbes Laws of Nature

• Seek peace, and defend yourself by all available
  means.
• To the extent necessary for peace and
  self-defense, give up the right to everything and
  settle for only as much liberty against others as
  you would allow them against yourself.
• When you give up a right, it becomes your duty
  not to hinder those to whom it is given up.

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Contracts

• A contract is a mutual transferring of a right.
• I give you whatever claim I might have to X, and
  you give me your claim to Y.
• A contract not immediately fulfilled is a
  covenant at least one of the people must perform
  later.
• Covenants are void when
• Both parties are to perform later, but
• There is no one powerful enough to force
  compliance.

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Justice

• Another Law of Nature Perform your covenants.
• (Without this, covenants would be vain and we
  would be stuck with the war of all against all.)
• Injustice is the violation of covenants
• Whatever is not unjust is just.
• This is why there is no justice/injustice in the
  State of Nature There are no covenants there.

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The Need for a Sovereign

• For there to be Covenants, there must be someone
  powerful enough to compel compliance.
• Covenants without the sword are but words.
• There needs to be an arbitrator to settle whether
  covenants have been fulfilled.
• Someone must over-awe everyone to maintain
  peace.
• The Sovereign makes it possible to obey the laws
  of nature safely.

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The Sovereigns Power

• Everyone makes a covenant with everyone else to
  submit completely to the sovereign.
• The sovereign acts on behalf of all, with their
  authorization, to promote their peace and
  security.
• The power of the sovereign is not limited. Any
  limitation of it would be like a return to the
  State of Nature.

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Review

• Hobbes thinks reason shows us certain laws of
  nature, concerning self-preservation.
• To escape the State of Nature, we need to be able
  to trust one another in covenants, but that
  requires a further power to enforce them.
• The sovereign, who enforces covenants and
  prevents the war of all against all, has
  unlimited power.