Essays on Hobbes

Philosophy

In this paper, we are going to talk about the Leviathan, which is a treatise of an English philosopher Thomas Hobbes who was a younger contemporary of Francis Bacon. Under the influence of ideas of Bacon, Thomas Hobbes began exploring the political and religious issues of his era. Of his many treatises on state structure most important is Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil. In addition, we are going to describe Thomas Hobbes idea of the state of nature. Also, we are going to express its influence on his idea of ‘ ...

Philosophy

With the advent of the Scientific Revolution, there was an increased level of comfort in the society which led to probing the ancient notions or the beliefs that were long held by the majority. A majority of philosophers started giving out their own opinions about a variety of subjects like politics, government, social order, economics, and religion among others. The Era of Enlightenment started with this new found curiosity about scholarly or philosophical opinion becoming popular in the entire Europe. The Enlightenment Era was a time period in the 18th century Europe, which was a movement where philosophers applied ...

Justice is something which underlies our own society – without it, indeed, some people posit that there can be no such thing as society. While many people state that justice is the same thing as the law, with Plato being the most visible proponent of this theory, others, such as Socrates, hold the two to be very different things. As we shall see below, while Socrates and Plato disagree on whether or not justice and law are the same, they both agree when it comes to addressing the role that justice takes in internal adherence to the values of the ...

Summary

The Romans made many decisions which were pertinent to the internal affairs of the city of Rome. Rome disunited itself from the Plebs and the Roman Senate making the city free and more powerful. Liberty was placed in the hands of both the people and the Nobles, provided these individuals had a greater reason to gain or protect. The government in Rome was keen on eliminating the enmity between the Populace and the Senate. Religion was an important aspect in Rome, and the lack of a medium between the Roman Catholic Church led to the destruction of Rome. A ...

(Author’s Full Name)

The Meaning of Freedom and Happiness For centuries, philosophers and thinkers have pondered over the concepts of freedom, liberty, the “perfect” society and the pursuit of happiness. The notion of freedom is as old as time itself- with the earliest definitions put forward by ancient Greeks and Romans. However, it was not until the 16th Century that a modern Social Contract Theory was put forward that reshaped our understanding of how societies work. Two of the most profound ideals put forward were those by Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Hobbes lived during the English Civil ...

The Enlightenment period also referred to as the Age of Reason is used to describe the time in history began with the end of Thirty Years War and to the end of the French Revolution. This period marked a significant radical shift in the government, culture, and politics. The period embraced some philosophies to think as well as explore the world (Best 30).. In global enlightened thinkers were considered to think objectively without prejudice. The period was marked by rationalism, reasoning, and empiricism. The argument was advocated as a means of establishing reliable systems of government, religion, and ...

The political philosophies of Thomas More, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke show a progression in political thought in Europe from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Thomas More was a Christian Humanist whose critiques of politics in Renaissance Europe were expressed in his most famous work, Utopia, published in 1516. In Utopia, More contrasts the corruption, chaos, and poverty of the real world with an invented society, Utopia, where the laws are simple, everyone is equal, and things are owned communally instead of being private property. His ideas would later become important to the development of socialism, but in his ...

The line between matters such as good and evil, just and unjust codes and Pandects is a thin one, and these matters have become highly controversial over the years . The laws governing different countries and religion have also been in conflict over the years. One reason for these controversies is that all countries have more than one religion practiced by the citizens of the country in question. The law of God justifies that which is holy, righteous and just. According to Hobbes, the law by the government is absolute and individuals have a moral obligation to abide by these ...

John Locke’s Social Contract Theory:

Introduction: The Social Contract Theory argues that people’s morals and obligations depend on an agreement among them in order to form the society in which they reside. John Locke's argues that the state of nature of man is perfect, and no one is to interfere each other’s’ lives. He states that even though the state of nature is one without punishment from the authority, it is not pre-moral (Friend, 2004). In Hobbes's argument, he points out that without identification and recognition of a universal authority, chaos is the order of man. In contrast to this, Locke and ...

The two most influential and widely-acknowledged philosophical minds that have reformed the social theories of political strategy, social protection, and nuances of human nature, are Nicollo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. Both these eminent philosophers worked on the social contract theory to define how the ideal state should function and succeed in its ventures under the rule of a sovereign leader . However, there are differences in the two theories, in terms of the clarity and description of the exact nature of roles and responsibilities of the sovereign ruler (Smith," Introduction to Political Philosophy.Lecture 12 - The Sovereign State: Hobbes, Leviathan"). ...

Discussion Question Journal

Chapter 14: The Social Contract Tradition Problems and Prospects Is it immoral to be a free rider? Is it irrational? Does the existence of free riders raise a serious problem for contractarianism? Why or why not? Take for instance a borehole constructed in an arid region by villagers. All member are to participate in contributing cash for this purpose. The water will serve the interests of the villagers. If say one or a group of members chose not to contribute but still got to use the water once the borehole was made, they would be referred to as free ...

Introduction

Social and political order is often a subject that interests political philosophers such as Hobbes and Locke. On the other hand, the understanding of their philosophical perspectives about politics can be summed up into the context of the phrase “State of Nature”. In today’s contemporary politics, the concept of State of Nature had a profound effect in the way policies are created. In this discussion, the context of State of Nature as a political philosophy and it affect the decision that the government makes. In addition, the work of Hobbes and Locke will be interpreted within the described ...

How did Thomas Hobbes Understand The Connection Between Religion And Politics?

Introduction Thomas Hobbes was born in 1588 in England; he was an English Philosopher of the 17th century who was best known for the work done in the fields of political and moral philosophies. He wrote a book named as Leviathan (1651) in which he shared his political views. The early life of Thomes Hobbes was spent free of anxiety as he attained education from the finest institutions where he interacted with the most intellectual people and prominent personalities who were expert in their fields. His work struggled a lot to gain society acceptance. His books are the depiction ...

Francisco de Vitoria: On the American Indians

First Level Analysis Francisco de Vitoria was a theologian who wrote during the time of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. In his political treatise entitled On The American Indians, he suggests the Spanish should question by what right they have subjected the “barbarians” to their rule. Indeed, de Vitoria is immensely focused on investigating the political power of the Spanish in the New World, and in this particular passage, he determines that the barbarians that the Spanish have conquered in the New World should not be ruled under the dominion of the Spanish. He likens these people to ...

Thomas Hobbes wrote Leviathan in 1651. Hobbes is considered the founder of modern political philosophy (Pettit, P. 2005). His account of man, the state of nature and the natural law creates the foundation of all his political conclusions. He uses his scientific, geometric method to form the basis on which to construct a detailed discussion of specific political matters, including the institution of a commonwealth, the authority of a conqueror, the nature of the sovereignty and the civil law. Hobbes lays a solid foundation for the ordering of a society under the sovereign. He argues that the state of ...

Philosophy

James Rachels argues that most of the notions we consider right are sometimes wrong and are sometimes gotten from the norms in society. The author does not differentiate the different social and cultural norms in society but insists there is no correct norm. One community might behave in a different way from other communities. The author makes it clear that all the different norms are correct according to the culture of that specific community.

In “Religion Gives Meaning to Life” Pojman criticizes the atheist prizing of autonomy over meaning, explain this criticism.

In Pojoman,s book religion gives meaning to life, argues that human beings come about by chance. Atheist believe that there is no purpose in ...

Epicurus viewed death as annihilation. He observed that people fear death because they think they will have unpleasant life after death. He says this fear can be removed when a personal understands death as an annihilation since the atoms that make life disperse after death. He thinks that death is neither harmful for the people who are living nor to the dead. This, he argues, is because the living are not dead while the dead do not exist. He also thinks that when people anticipate death it is erroneous for them and irrational since there is no life after ...

My Name

The modern life is overwhelmed with various laws and determinants. The world could not exist without the laws, both natural and social. Even the private life of a human is regulated. The marriage issue, being one of the core concepts in human’s private life is usually regulated by country law and religion. This proposal will reflect some ethical and societal aspects of regulating humans’ marriages. As it was indicated above, the world could not exist without the regulations, represented by laws and norms. Consequently, the marriage age is created in order to make the life easier. One should ...

Philosophy

Explain the connections between pleasure, contemplation, and judgment in aesthetic appreciation. Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy; it is type of quality hypothesis or axiology, which is the investigation of sensory or sensori-passionate qualities, called judgments of sentiment and taste. Aesthetics is connected with the logic of art. Style is once in a while called "the investigation of magnificence". Judgments of aesthetics esteem depend on our capacity to separate at a tactile level. Aesthetics looks at what makes something wonderful, glorious, appalling, fun, adorable, senseless, enthralling, bombastic, empowering, grating, agreeable, exhausting, comical, or disastrous. Tactile separation is connected to ...

Thomas Hobbes is a 17-century English philosopher famous for his contributions into the theory of political philosophy. Thomas Locke believed that that the success of any state is in the monarchy and that only people’s full obedience to the sovereign can guarantee them protection and safety. Thomas Hobbes saw a success of a state in the theory of social contract under which people, initially born with rights, relinguish all their rights to the monach who, in his/her turn, protects his/her people and guarantees peace in the state itself. This theory is based on the idea that all people ...

We live in a world where toys are color-coded blue for boys and pink for girls. TV commercials for certain products food included are focused on men on one hand and others target women. Women have been cultured to be fond of “chick flicks” which are predominantly romantic comedies whereas men are meant to watch action movies and soccer. Roles and plays have been highly gendered. These cultural assumptions have been in existence since time immemorial. Therefore, the thesis by which this paper is guided is two-fold: there is a direct causative relationship between the cultural assumptions on gender ...

Movie Review:

While not seen as entirely award-worthy the latest installment in the “Fast and Furious” franchise has proven to be just as over the top as its predecessors. Centered on a dynamic pair in actors Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, along with their fellows in crime and racing, the storyline has developed from a peek into the world of underground street racing to a tale that involves far more than just the run of the mill action movie. Few could have predicted with any accuracy that the first film would spawn another, and another, and finally lead into the fan-favorite ...

The Age of Enlightenment is also commonly referred to as the Age of Reason. It lasted from 1650 to 1800. Many agree that the cause of Enlightenment was the Thirty Year War (1618-1648) though it was only an outcrop of many underlying issues that faced Europe at the time (Broner, 122). It came to an end during the French revolution. It is such wars that motivated German philosophers and authors to criticize the idea of nationalism and wars to protect nationhood. The German authors included Hugo Grotius and John Cornenius, who were the pioneers of the ideas that formed ...

Introduction

The World Bewitched (1965) was written by Bekker to outline theological and philosophical viewpoints that challenged the notion that ghosts, devils, and angels had an influence on historical events, as well as nature.The story was written at a time when Christianity was being perfected in England and the rest of Europe. During this time, The World Bewitched (1965) was written, Bekker served as a minister in Amsterdam. Protestants needed a philosophical and theological approach to accentuate the assumption that God was the ruler of the world. The need to project God as the authority while discrediting the influence of ...

As an act of altruism, I donated a sum of money to Commit2Africa. This is a charity which helps children in Africa to access education (Clover, 2010). However, I gained pleasure from knowing that my money was going to help other people. I also knew that I would feel this before I made the donation and, therefore, it was not a truly selfless act. “Altruism is helping behaviour that is motivated by a selfless concern for the welfare of another person” (altruism). Altruism differs from personal and social responsibility as both of the latter are motivated by a sense of duty. Altruism focuses ...

1. What were the causes of revolution in the British colonies of North America in the 18th century; France in the 18th century; and Mexico in the 19th and 20th centuries? The feeling of inadequate representation caused unpopular unrest that led to revolutions in France, America and Mexico. Americans opposed taxation without representation and in France, heavy taxation and king’s incompetence made the people rise up to overthrow the political establishment. In Mexico, oppression of the majority by a clique of powerful elite made the masses take up arms. Desire for equality and freedom informed these revolutions. ...

“Arogania”

His expensive long chase limousine car hooted irresistibly at the company gate as all staff and junior employees ran helter skelter to their work stations- an absolute monarch he was. No one could refute the obvious: Arogania was damn angry and any one found along his way would go home for ‘negligence and utter laziness’. Arogania was not the type of a boss anyone could expect at this century. He exercised power absolutely and ruled the company with an iron hand and to him; power was not a relation between forces as anyone would expect. The arrogant and adamant ...