The Contradictions Of Hobbes And Bodin

274 Words1 Page

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) similarly to Bodin wrote his magnum opus Leviathan during the period of a civil war, wishing to mitigate this ‘worst of all evils’. His concept of sovereignty knows however even less limits than that of Bodin. Whereas Bodin acknowledged that there are some actions which might be supposed as unlawful. Hobbes accepted only the right of the individual for ‘self-preservation. The contradiction of Hobbes is that although his sovereign bases his legitimacy on the relation between him and the people (i.e. because of the original social contract) the ruler is made self-sufficient maybe even operating against the community from which he derives his authority in the first place. The question thus arises whether the ruler can

Open Document