Thomas Hobbes Chapter 6 Summary

The main idea of chapter six is about the Social Contract Theory and the perspectives of a couple important people who helped develop it. Thomas Hobbes was a philosopher who believed that morality does not depend on God, natural purpose, or altruism. His main belief is that morality is, "...the solution to a practical problem that arises for self-interested human beings." Moreover, Hobbes believed that if there was no way to enforce social rules then everyone would do as they please, he called this "the state of nature." According to him, this would be destructive for society because of four basic facts about human life. These basic facts are that there is no equality of need, there is scarcity, there is the essential equality of human power, and there is limited altruism. In simplicity, everyone wants these basic things but there's not enough to go around; this puts the society in a "constant state of war." Hobbes states that if we want to escape from the state of nature, we have to find a way to work together. In order to establish a successful society, everyone must abide by a certain set of rules and someone must enforce them. Hobbes calls this "the social contract," the contracts allows people to care for one another instead of being in a constant state of nature; this is possible because it allows us to be released from "the constant fear of violent death."

According to the author the summary of the social contract is that, "Morality consists in the set of rules, governing behavior, that rational people will accept, on the condition that others accept them as