Thomas Hobbes

War has come to be the driving force of the people on Earth for several centuries. It serves the purpose of settling disputes, arguing for religion, or even fighting for unity. But, does war prove to be the only way to communicate between differences? Desiderius Erasmus, a Northern humanist born in the 15th century, and his ideas of peace still reverberate throughout the world. In many Renaissance paintings, common themes include war and religious difference. Paolo Uccello’s painting, The Battle…

Like Tocqueville, Mill was also concerned about the tyranny that a majority can form. But unlike the others, his concern was not just limited to the wrong exercise of the power by law makers over minorities but he was also apprehensive about the prevailing social opinion of the majority class over minority. In his view, the second type of tyranny is even more dangerous than first one. This is because exercising of power by majority in society or wrong use of power by them is usually upheld by…

Rebels throughout history have posed as a threat to society through challenging societal norms and advocating for something different, a change. In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, Winston Smith is a rebel who does not conform to the unconscious and homogeneous people of which society consists. Instead, Winston rebels through his acts of suspicion; however, he does not bring about reform but becomes one with society as humanity and individuality finally dissipates. The act of preserving humanity is…

Americans today tend to believe that conformity and individuality is something they can decide when to do, not realizing that they do it every day without even noticing. Often, some people view individuals as strange, weird or peculiar since they assume that being "Different” is horrific. They look upon it as something ominous. Often, It is mentioned that conformity is awful, horrible; nevertheless the truth is, we should learn when to be an individual and when to conform. Although…

Although Louis XIV’s reign branched towards despotism and collaboration via several of his methods, holistically, Louis XIV was an absolutistic leader. His ideology centered around “the divine ordination of monarchy; the king’s absolute grant of power from God; complete denial of the right of resistance; the indefeasibility of hereditary right; and the corroboration of coronation” (Fox 140). Paul Foxes writing on the theories that Louis XIV adhered to is notably valuable because Fox extracted…

Although human rights have been a topic of interest through out time with many variations, there is a logical and visible correlation of the idea of basic human rights throughout time. There are multiple documents through out history that have had their ideas of basic human rights and within all of their contexts there are major correlations. Although the examples being used today of the "Magna Carta", the "English Bill of Rights", the "Spirit of Laws", and the "Social Contract Theory" come from…

Following the French Revolution of 1789, political ideologies began to surface as a result of an increased chance to engage in political discourse, something that was rare outside of the Monarch’s court. As ideas of liberalism, an ideology with a focus on individual human rights began to surface, conservatives with the desire to maintain the Ancien Regime retorted with anti-nationalistic sentiment. In his speech “What is revolution?”, delivered in 1852, conservative Friedrich Julius Stahl…

this argument since Hobbes’ state of nature depicts man living in fear of his fellow man. The individual naturally has the need for self-preservation, but in the state of nature they feel threatened by the disorder created by total liberty, so the individual’s fear causes…

differences, is basically a life without government rule leaving people to act out of self-preservation. A place without government is a place of chaos with everyone acting of their own accord. The state of nature is viewed differently by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. Hobbes views that state of nature and man in a negative light with everyone being only for themselves. Locke views the state of nature in…

comparing the Aristotle and Hobbes understandings of human nature. Aristotle states that man is a “political animal”, and that it is thus natural for man to live in a polis. Hobbes disagrees with this understanding of man a political animal, as he claims that man is actually a greedy being that is driven by power. Thus he feels that the natural state of man is a state of war. Although the two disagree initially about the man’s natural state, Aristotle comes to agree with Hobbes’ view since they…