Compare And Contrast Thomas Hobbes And John Locke

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Recommended: John Locke versus Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes or John Locke? Envision you are an educator and you question your class, “what is the purpose of government?” What responses do you believe you would receive? Which answers are right or wrong, and why? Centuries ago, two political philosophers, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, had two different answers to that particular question. Both agreed that men needed government to pull them out of the state of nature. The state of nature is a way to portray the lives of people before societies. But while they agreed on that one thought, Hobbes and Locke had two distinctive opinions on why to pull men out of this state. Hobbes reasons the purpose of government is to guarantee law and order while making citizens “lives desirable and worth living.” While, Locke reasons the purpose of government is to not only guarantee law and order, but also to protect citizens’ rights and properties too. While some may trust that Thomas Hobbes is right, I support John Locke for his three ideas on the type of government, revolution, and the state of nature, which all contribute to the purpose of the government. First most, people may suppose Thomas Hobbes is correct since he preferred an absolute monarchy. An absolute monarchy is when there is one ruler (called …show more content…

Locke provided valuable evidence to support his thoughts and did not contradict himself like Hobbes. I agree with John Locke that the purpose of government is to protect and serve its people for the common good. As he would say, the purpose of government is “ being only with an intention in every one the better to preserve himself, his liberty, and property…” (Locke). In other words, although men give up some of their freedoms from when they were in the state of nature, they gain many benefits that are worth

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