{"id":2751,"date":"2018-08-12T08:59:35","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T08:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/uncategorized\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/"},"modified":"2019-09-20T12:38:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T12:38:31","slug":"hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/","title":{"rendered":"Hobbes, Locke and modern America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question<\/h2>\n

What are the main views of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke? How relevant are their views to our government and America today?<\/p>\n

Answer<\/h2>\n

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both sought out to produce a sound justification for citizens\u2019 subjection to the authority of a government. For Hobbes, this takes place in order to prevent a war of \u2018all against all\u2019, and therefore to protect citizens from harm. On the other hand, Locke believed that collective deference to a government was the only way to properly protect the natural rights that all people have as subjects of God \u2013 the rights from which laws receive their moral justification.<\/p>\n

One way to compare these two positions is to consider the conditions under which a government becomes illegitimate. For Hobbes, a government is illegitimate at the point that it fails to maintain order and protect the majority of its subjects from harm; in the meantime, it has absolute power, including the ability to torture, kill, or divest some of its citizens of their property if this is necessary to maintain overall stability. For Locke however, the government becomes illegitimate at the point where it fails to protect citizens\u2019 natural rights to their life, liberty, health and property. The government may act as necessary in order to ensure justice, but it may not encroach on those rights without warrant.<\/p>\n

Applying these concepts to modern America, it can be seen that the government is much more Lockean than it is Hobbesian. Hobbes\u2019 government is dictatorial and absolutist in character, allowing extreme oppression if this maintains order, which is a poor characterisation of a modern democracy \u2013 especially one which is traditionally so conscious of potential encroachments on the rights of individuals.<\/p>\n

References<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both sought out to produce a sound justification for citizens\u2019 subjection to the authority of a government…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHobbes, Locke and modern America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both sought out to produce a sound justification for citizens\u2019 subjection to the authority of a government...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hobbes, Locke and modern America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both sought out to produce a sound justification for citizens\u2019 subjection to the authority of a government...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ask an Academic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ask-an-Academic-571412300039347\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-12T08:59:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-20T12:38:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/politics-and-international-relations.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"AskanAcademic.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"AskanAcademic.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hobbes, Locke and modern America","description":"Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both sought out to produce a sound justification for citizens\u2019 subjection to the authority of a government...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hobbes, Locke and modern America","og_description":"Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both sought out to produce a sound justification for citizens\u2019 subjection to the authority of a government...","og_url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/","og_site_name":"Ask an Academic","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ask-an-Academic-571412300039347\/","article_published_time":"2018-08-12T08:59:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-20T12:38:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/politics-and-international-relations.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"AskanAcademic.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"AskanAcademic.com","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/"},"author":{"name":"AskanAcademic.com","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/88d510b2a53ef0ce64579418a0c55dde"},"headline":"Hobbes, Locke and modern America","datePublished":"2018-08-12T08:59:35+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-20T12:38:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/"},"wordCount":291,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/politics-and-international-relations.jpg","articleSection":["Politics and International Relations"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/","name":"Hobbes, Locke and modern America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/politics-and-international-relations.jpg","datePublished":"2018-08-12T08:59:35+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-20T12:38:31+00:00","description":"Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both sought out to produce a sound justification for citizens\u2019 subjection to the authority of a government...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/politics-and-international-relations.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/politics-and-international-relations.jpg","width":1280,"height":853,"caption":"Empty room for politicians"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/politics-and-international-relations\/hobbes-locke-and-modern-america-state-justification-737\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hobbes, Locke and modern America"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/","name":"Ask an Academic","description":"Academic Q&A","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#organization","name":"Ask an Academic","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/aaa-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/aaa-logo.png","width":1677,"height":1677,"caption":"Ask an Academic"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ask-an-Academic-571412300039347\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/88d510b2a53ef0ce64579418a0c55dde","name":"AskanAcademic.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be2c5b73f861f961c4a7fd212308b6a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be2c5b73f861f961c4a7fd212308b6a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"AskanAcademic.com"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/askanacademic.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}