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Summary GV100 Hobbes Lecture/ Reading Notes
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Notes on the work and life of Thomas Hobbes. These notes helped produce 1st class essays. Ideal for exam/ assessment revision.
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Hobbes Lecture Notes:● Two accounts of sovereignty; sovereignty by institution (by explicit covenant) and
sovereignty by acquisition (right by conquest, e.g., William the Conqueror)
● Sovereignty by institution=> social contract theory
● Hobbes= contractarian
● Sovereignty by acquisition also includes the application of inheritance rights
● Sovereignty= legitimate claim to authority
● All sovereigns are authorized in one way or another; people receive security/ stability
in exchange for allowing rulers to govern
● Even sovereignty by acquisition/ conquest is a quasi-agreement
● State of Nature dilemma: men pursue self-preservation and seek the same scarce
resources (which leads to competition for the same goods and the rise of war)
● No one individually seeks conflict as outcome, but it is collectively brought about by
separate attempts to secure themselves against each other
● If all resources were in abundance, conflict would not be an outcome of the State of
Nature
● Individuals cannot trust others to keep the peace, so it is difficult for moves towards
peace to be made in the SoN
● Laws of Nature (AKA Precepts of Reason): each person has a certain level of
self-interested power which can be used by themselves to further their own position,
every man wants peace and men are willing to be content if others are too
● In the natural condition, freedom is a burden
● Contracts bind people together and is a solution to mutual distrust
● “Covenants without the sword” have “no strength” to secure peace
● Sovereign= third party who agrees to secure the contracts between men
● The contract is not with the Sovereign but amongst ordinary men who authorize the
use of the new Sovereign power
● Transferring of authority to the Sovereign establishes security
● People sacrifice some level of liberty in favor of security
● Hobbes implies most sovereign power is established via conquest given people’s
lack of agreement before a sovereign takes control
● Sovereign power derives from individual authority (authority from the bottom-up)
● Obligation by fear is not an obstacle for Hobbes; threats can change the calculation
process people consider ahead of an agreement
● Obligations based on threat and fear are still freely chosen
● The cost of a choice is not a sign of a lack of freedom
● What is meant by authorization?
● Subjects seek to protect their own rational self-interest out of fear of violent death;
the sovereign becomes all-powerful based on establishing security
● Ultimately, subjects are the authors of sovereignty; sovereigns receive a mandate
from those they rule over
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