An exploration of the contemporary relevance of the ideas of 'consent' and 'civil society' found in the social contract theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke by considering the ongoing struggle for equality and acceptance by the LGBTQ+ community in India

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanav Narayan Sahgal
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The Social

scholarly journals Poverty and the Democratization Crisis in Nigeria: A Failure of the Social Contract

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (34) ◽  
pp. 35-56
Author(s):  
Joseph O. Jiboku ◽  
Peace A. Jiboku
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
International Community ◽  
The State ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Election Violence ◽  
Different Parts

From the time of philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, it has been made explicit that the state and civil society exist under a mutual-reciprocal relationship. The state exists to serve several purposes in the interest of society, while the civil society is expected to fulfill its obligations to the state for the benefit of all. However, the civil society in Nigeria has not had a good bargain with the state as poverty pervades the land with dire consequences on the entire fabrics of society. The state seems to have failed in promoting the interests of its civil society and most citizens have lost interest in participating in the activities of government. Thus, during most elections, Nigeria has witnessed various forms of electoral malpractices and even post-election violence as experienced in different parts of the country. This paper is a desktop research incorporating secondary data from relevant institutions and agencies. Its concern is to examine how the failure of the social contract has led to poverty, which has affected Nigeria’s democratization process. The paper suggests that addressing the issue of poverty will go a long way in ensuring peaceful, free, and fair democratization of political structures that will be of benefit to all, with applause from the international community

scholarly journals The Emergence of Civil Society in Hobbesian Philosophy

Jurnal Office ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Edor John Edor
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern State ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Social

The origin of the modern state has left many scholars intellectually engaged. Sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, jurists, anthropologists, and philosophers have variously grappled with the issue of the origin of the state. Thomas Hobbes is one of the great thinkers who has contributed to the discussion on the origin of the state. Thomas Hobbes is of the view that naturally, that is, man in the state of nature, is a-social, atavistically thinking about himself alone. Because of this atomistic and solitary disposition of man in the state of nature, the society was accentuated by an unprecedented degree of rancor, acrimony and obfuscation. Given this picture of man and the pre-civil-society depicted by Hobbes, one would feel that justifying the emergence of the civil society would become difficult. This paper examines how Hobbes migrated man from the state of nature to the civil society in spite of the gory picture of him he had painted. Thomas Hobbes’ theory of the origin of the state is categorized in the class of the social contract theories. 

scholarly journals The The Social Contract Theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke: Comparative Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-45
Author(s):  
John Michael V Sasan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The State ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The Social ◽  
Similarities And Differences

This study engages in the concept of social contract of Hobbes and Locke, and the similarities and differences of their ideas. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both begin their political ideas with a discussion on the state of nature and the danger of living outside the community. For Thomas Hobbes, the state of nature is chaotic; it is in the state of mutual competition. He claims that the state of nature is a state of war, every man against everybody. Due to a constant competition for power and reputation, the man’s equality leads the state of nature into chaos. Man who is bestowed with equal capacities for thinking and reasoning is moved by whatever he wants for survival and preservation no matter what it takes. This state of nature, according to Thomas Hobbes, is a state of egoistic self-preservation and necessity for survival. Meanwhile, John Locke is rather optimistic in his view in the state of nature, compared to the pessimistic view of Thomas Hobbes. He sees humans as decent species which are capable of knowing what is right and wrong. Although man in the state of nature lives with full freedom, yet he is still at risk of harm and invasion. The property is very unsafe and unsecure, however, free yet full of fears. On this matter, man realizes and decides to create a contract and agree to the terms for peaceful and secure life for the safe and security of their liberty and possession. Furthermore, for Thomas Hobbes, social contract is a mutual transferring of rights to the sovereign. For him, social contract is responsible for the morality and the conception of right and wrong, just and unjust. Hence, social contract is very significant to every individual because it is the source of law and regulations and basis of morality. For Locke, the chief reason why man in creating an agreement or contract is the property. The main argument is Locke’s social contract.

Thomas Hobbes's Materialism, Language, and the Possibility of Politics

2008 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Dungey
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
First Principles ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Obligation ◽  
English Civil War ◽  
The Social

AbstractThomas Hobbes sought a reconstruction of philosophy, ethics, and politics that would end, once and for all, the bitter disputes that led to the English Civil War. This reconstruction begins with the first principles of matter and motion and extends to a unique account of consent and political obligation. Hobbes intended to produce a unified philosophical system linking his materialist account of human nature to his moral and political theory. However, his materialism gives rise to a set of perceptions, imagination, and desires that contribute to the chaos of the state of nature. The sort of person that emerges from Hobbes's materialist anthropology is unlikely to be able to make the necessary agreements about common meaning and language that constitute the ground of the social contract. Therefore, Hobbes's materialism frustrates the very purpose for which it is conceived.

Egoism, Reason, and the Social Contract

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Martinich
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Civil State ◽  
The Social

Bernard Gert’s distinctive interpretation of the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes in his recent book may be questioned in at least three areas: (1) Even if Hobbes is not a psychological egoist, he seems to be a desire egoist, which has the consequence, as he understands it, that a person acts at least for his own good in every action. (2) Although there are several senses of reason, it seems that Hobbes uses the idea that reason is calculation of means to ends; while such calculation sets intermediate goals, reason itself does not set ultimate ends. (3) Hobbes’s political theory is best understood as a form of social contract theory because subjects covenant among themselves to authorize the sovereign to protect them; authorization has the consequence that subjects give some of the their rights to the sovereign; but this gifting of rights is not the essence of the origin of the civil state.

scholarly journals Thinking about relations: Strathern, Sahlins, and Locke on anthropological knowledge

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
John Locke ◽  
The State ◽  
Cultural Relativism ◽  
Trading Zone ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
The Past ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Social

John Locke is known within anthropology primarily for his empiricism, his views of natural laws, and his discussion of the state of nature and the social contract. Marilyn Strathern and Marshall Sahlins, however, have offered distinctive, novel, and broad reflections on the nature of anthropological knowledge that appeal explicitly to a lesser-known aspect of Locke’s work: his metaphysical views of relations. This paper examines their distinctive conclusions – Sahlins’ about cultural relativism, Strathern’s about relatives and kinship – both of which concern the objectivity of anthropological knowledge. Although Locke’s own views of relations have been neglected by historians of philosophy in the past, recent and ongoing philosophical discussions of Locke on relations create a productive trading zone between philosophy and anthropology on the objectivity of anthropological knowledge that goes beyond engagement with the particular claims made by Sahlins and Strathern.

Leviathan Bound; or the Re-education of Thomas Hobbes

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
First Principles ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Natural Right ◽  
The Social

AbstractThomas Hobbes is often credited as the “founder of modern liberalism” for grounding his political theory in individualism, natural right, and the social contract. The irony, of course, is that upon this foundation he built an imposing edifice of absolutism. What has escaped most observers, however, is the extent to which Hobbes' absolutism is mitigated by his own principles, qualifications, and doctrines. Hence, “saving Hobbes from himself,” is not simply a matter of correcting his errors, but requires drawing out the implications of his first principles and identifying the additional supports he provides for an essentially liberal order. In this way it is possible to “bind” Leviathan through a process of internal domestication, as opposed to looking backward to Aristotle or forward to Locke. The result is a “reformed” Hobbes who can be readily acknowledged as “the true ancestor of constitutional liberal democracy.”

scholarly journals Accountability and the Juxtaposition of Civil Society and Policing in a Period of Changing Norms

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Candyce Kelshall
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Police Accountability ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the existing approaches to police accountability and how they may or may not address changing norms and expectations of civil society. It examines the role of independent police advisors and how they may contribute to bridging this divide. Design/Methodology/Approach The paper is a constructivist reflexive critique of the shortcomings of the mechanisms for policing accountability. It addresses human security considerations and the social contract in the existing populist charged social context and addresses other ways by which accountability may be achieved by challenging ideas and facilitating reconceptualization of accountability. Findings The advent of the independent advisor as employed by British Police forces is reviewed as a viable means of engaging communities to enable a constructive relationship built on accountability in advance of action rather than punitive recourse post crisis via complaint. Originality/Value An exploration of the relationship between the ‘critical friend’ Community engagement model of the UK independent police advisor and the role played by this approach in reconceptualizing police accountability. The author spent 10 years as an advisor.

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