Philosophy: Social Contract Theory

Tomas Hobbes is considered to be the most paradoxical of liberal thinkers . Though his thinking is a recognized recourse to political principles of liberalism his clear stress on securing the authority of sovereign over subjects has provoked some researchers to describe him as a supporter of absolutism . However , actually , Hobbes sought to secure the greatest possible scope for private liberty , or let 's call it toleration , which requires in the first place the peace and security that only a sovereign authority can allow . Hobbes is revealing the nature of liberalism because liberalism

always faces an internal struggle between private liberty and absolutism . To be more precise liberal toleration is always dependent on , and limited by , liberalism 's own absolutism . For Hobbes ' liberalism , toleration is desirable

The aim of this essay is to decide whether there is really a necessity of choice between liberty and security in Hobbes ideas . For that purpose my fundamental aim is to defend Hobbes 's status as a liberal philosopher by showing that he was a supporter of a politics of private liberty Moreover , essay is aimed to refute the assumption of posing the choice between liberty and security by Hobbes in Leviathan

Hobbes rejects granting unconditional freedoms to the people . On this ground one may conclude that Hobbes is an opponent to private liberty and mark him as a non-liberal . But there is more than one way of understanding liberal principles . To state Hobbes 's position more adequately , toleration represents a political principle not because it is unconditional , but because it is intrinsic to a rational , or well-ed society . That Hobbes recognizes this principle is evident in the fact that , toleration , that is , the preservation of the greatest scope of individual freedom possible , is for the Hobbes ' sovereign a matter of natural law

According to Hobbes , the condition of absolute human liberty is the state of nature , which is a war of all against all . Here each human being has the absolute right to do as he wills . Hobbes states "amongst masterless men , there is perpetual war of every man against his neighbor , no inheritance to transmit to the son or expect from the father , no propriety of goods or lands , no security , but a full and absolute liberty in every particular man (Hobbes , Leviathan , XXI : 8

The state of absolute individual liberty is the worst possible human state . The rest of Hobbes 's political teaching seems to follow more or less directly from this premise , and could easily and reasonably lead one to conclude that the chief object of attack for Hobbes 's doctrine is individual liberty , and therefore that Hobbes allows no place for toleration . For in political society , citizens can claim few freedoms as a limit on the power and right of the state . There are few liberties the state may not legitimately take away . Subjects can claim no inviolable right to be tolerated in even the narrowest sphere of activity . Hobbes sees the threat of a reversion to the state of...