Hobbes And John Locke Comparison Essay

John Locke was a philosopher from England. His beliefs included that people are naturally unselfish and have natural rights. He also believed that all men are created equally and no man has more power than another man. Locke also thought that men give up their power to a government, or an appointed organization, which have political power over them. The point of a government is to protect its people. Locke believed that if a government acts out of line and in their own self-interest, the people who are under its control should rebel against them and then construct a new government. He thought that man was able to govern themselves since they naturally were unselfish. Thomas Hobbes was another English philosopher who had pessimistic views that were a little different than Locke’s. …show more content…
They also both concerned themselves with the idea of social nature and how humans interact with each other, as well as the underlying reasons for doing so, although their ideas here differ greatly. Their philosophies were different in that Locke was a lot more optimistic than Hobbes. Locke believed that men are naturally good creatures who are also naturally unselfish. Similarly, More’s views of man were optimistic, as he also believed that men are naturally good creatures. Hobbes, in contrast, was pessimistic and believed that men are naturally selfish and are always looking out for just themselves. Locke also did not agree with Hobbes that man needs to give up complete control of himself to the government. Hobbes believed that the government needs to be in control so that men could be protected from each other. Locke believed that a government needs to be in control so that men could protect their natural rights. More differed from both Locke and Hobbes in that he was motivated by religious