Hobbes and Locke: Compare and Contrast

V. 

In the age of enlightenment two major names surface they are Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.  In this age they were trying to put a reason to the way things were in everyday life. They also looked at things like government. Thomas Hobbes wrote about his views on government in the book Leviathan. His stance on people and human nature for that matter were that people in an essence are selfish and greedy. He had this theory because of his views from the English civil war. He even said that people’s lives would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” He also believed that people would give up their own personal right to be safe and at peace. Hobbes believed in a social contract which meant an absolute monarchy so that their central power could rule all. However John Locke concurred with Thomas Hobbes theory. Locke believed that people were naturally happy and reasonable. He stated that people were all born with “natural rights of life, liberty, and property.” He viewed government as something that protected people’s natural rights. Locke sought fairness in law and even government. Locke’s ideas even gave Europe and American revolutionaries the inspiration. I would have to say that looking at both gentlemen’s theories is would side with Locke. This is because of the fact that I believe as well as Locke that people have natural god given rights and that government cannot take that away from someone.