DO WE NEED GOVERNMENT?

SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORIST

 SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY
• The concept of social contract theory is that in the beginning man
lived in the state of nature.
• They had no government and there was no law to regulate them.
• There were hardships and oppression on the sections of the
society.
• To overcome from these hardships they entered into two
agreements which are:-
1. Pactum Unionis
2. Pactum Subjectionis
• By the first pact of unionis, people sought protection of their
lives and property. As a result of it a society was formed where
people undertook to respect each other and live in peace and
harmony.
• By the second pact of subjectionis, people united together and
pledged to obey an authority and surrendered the whole or
part of their freedom and rights to an authority
• The authority guaranteed everyone protection of life, property
and to a certain extent liberty.
• Thus, they must agree to establish society by collectively and
reciprocally renouncing the rights they had against one another in the
State of Nature and they must imbue some one person or assembly of
persons with the authority and power to enforce the initial contract.
• In other words, to ensure their escape from the State of Nature, they
must both agree to live together under common laws, and create an
enforcement mechanism for the social contract and the laws that
constitute it.
• Thus, the authority or the government or the sovereign or the state
came into being because of the two agreements.
THOMAS HOBBES
1588-1679
THOMAS HOBBES
LIFE SKETCH
HUMAN NATURE
STATE OF NATURE
SOCIAL CONTRACT
HOBBES’ POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
LIFE SKETCH
He was born on 5 April, 1588.
English philosopher, scientist, and historian, best
known for his political philosophy, especially as
articulated  in his masterpiece Leviathan (1651). 
Hobbes learnt scholastic logic and physics at Oxford
University. He spent time in reading maps.
The most striking political event of his times was the
English Civil War(1642-49). War mainly represented
the dispute between the parliament and the monarch
as they were rejecting the idea of the divine right
theory of the king.
HUMAN NATURE ACCORDING TO HOBBES
He rejected the idea of Aristotle, ‘man by nature a political animal’ ,
or St. Thomas Aquinas belief that ‘man is by nature a social
animal’. He believed that men tend to behave like wild animals.
Hobbes used the method of natural science. He explained nature,
man and society in terms of motion. Man is always engaged in
incessant activities.
He is constantly driven by his desire or appetite to gain power over
others.
Man is an isolated beast or a purely egoistic creature.
Extreme condition of insecurity for everyone.
All men are potential enemies of each other; nobody knows what
the other will do.
In such a condition life of man is “ Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish
and short.”
Might is right.
THE STATE OF NATURE
Hypothetical condition before the formation of the state.
It intend to explain how men would live without the state.
Man in state of nature behaves according to their innate nature.
Each individual in the state of nature wants to grab everything
within his reach.
He used the analogy of fishes in the open sea, where every fish is
in the danger of being swallowed by a bigger fish.
NATURE OF SOVEREIGNTY
Setting up a state is only possible through a social contract.
This contract holds the supreme legal authority over the society.
Through contract man abandon the state of nature and
establishes a civil society and the state.
It is a contract of each with all and of all with each, to set up a
sovereign authority.
By this contract every man gave up his natural rights and powers
to a ‘common power’.
Men entered into the social contract to set up a ruler,
“I authorize and give up my rights of governing myself to this man,
or to this assembly of men, on this condition, that thou give up thy
right to him, and authorize all his actions in like manner.”
The sovereign comes into existence after the contract with
supreme and absolute authority.
All natural rights of men are surrendered to the sovereign once
and for all.
The sovereign should have a supreme authority, because if men
chose to revive their natural rights, they would revert back into the
state of nature, i.e., total insecurity.
Hobbes treats sovereign as absolute, indivisible and inalienable.
He is directed to perform the function of providing security to
people, issue necessary law and orders.
WHY ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY
Because of the unsocial inclinations of men they cannot be
expected to agree to respect each others rights.
Trusting this, the sovereign can provide security to men only
when he is powerful enough to curb all anti-social elements.
Sovereign has got all the right to punish the citizens because fear
will make them to abide the laws.
CONCLUSION
Isolated individuals, each pursuing his self interest.
It only provides security to people, but does not promise to
create the necessary conditions of good life.
JOHN LOCKE
(1632-1704)
JOHN LOCKE(1632-1704)
LIFE SKETCH
HUMAN NATURE
STATE OF NATURE
SOCIAL CONTRACT
LOCKE’S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
English Philosopher
Father of Liberalism
1690- published
Political ideas: Two treaties of civil government
-Was against absolute monarchy
-Believed humans should protect their natural rights(life, liberty and
property)
•Purpose of government = serve the people-people have the right to
overthrow the government if it not serving its purpose.
HIS BASIC IDEA ON LIBERALISM
Man by nature is a rational being
Natural rights of man
Human reason was superior to the knowledge of history
Supported the idea of private property
Civil society is created for the convenience of man
Political authority was not indivisible
People has right to resistance against the established
political authority.
STATE OF NATURE
 Naturally all men are in a state of equality; without subordination or
subjection
They should have the freedom to do their actions and use their
possessions as they see fit -no person should have more than
another
It is a state of ‘ peace, goodwill, mutual assistance and
preservation.’
property
Every man has the right to own his own property -the labour of his
body and of his hands are properly his.
HUMAN NATURE
Rational human being
Impelled by their inner nature to treat humanity
But there are few people who set aside the morality in
pursuance of their self-interest.
Then it becomes difficult to deal with such offenders in state
of nature, henceforth, social contract.
SOCIAL CONTRACT
Three stages:
-men must agree unanimously to come together to uphold one another’s
rights;
-must agree by a majority vote to set up legislature and other institutions
-owner of the property in a society must agree to whatever taxes are
imposed on the people.
Society is the primary step; setting up of the government is a secondary
step.
If a government dissolves, society will remain intact but the government
will be replaced.
Government has to act as per the given constitutions. This
leaves no scope of absolutism.
Locke postulates partial surrender of natural rights to ‘judge
of and punish the offenders of natural law’
The government must govern with the consent of the people.
And if in any case the government falters from its duty, the
people have the right to overthrow that government and set
up another government in its place.
Therefore approves the idea of revolution.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Early liberalism which later paved the way of capitalism
Led the foundation of constitutionalism
Vindication of the right to property
ROUSSEAU
1712-78
Life sketch
Human nature
State of nature
Social contract
Rousseau’s Political Philosophy
French philosopher
Born in Geneva in a French family
His father was a wayward and mother died in Childbirth.
He grew up as a neglected child
Issue Hobbes Locke Rousseau
Human nature
COMPARATIVE STUDY
Selfish and cruel Rational Simple and innocent

State of nature War of everyone against State of peace, good Blissfulness, Equal, self
everyone will, mutual assistance sufficient

Natural rights Natural power to Right to life, liberty, Natural liberty to fulfill all
oppress others property needs from the natural world
as long as there is natural
abundance

Purpose of the social Powerful sovereign Govt. to protect natural When scarcity situation arises.
contract rights and punish the
offender
Issue Hobbes Locke Rousseau

Nature of sovereignty Supreme and Limited sovereignty Indivisible, based on general will
absolute

Relevant political No scope for right to People’s right to Right to resistance is not necessary
theory resistance revolution conceded
 THOMAS HOBBES
• Thomas Hobbes theory of Social Contract appeared for the first
time in Leviathan published in the year 1651 during the Civil War
in Britain.
• Thomas Hobbes, legal theory is based on Social contract.
• According to him, prior to Social Contract, man lived in the State
of Nature.
• Man’s life in the State of nature was one of fear and selfishness.
Man lived in chaotic condition of constant fear. Life in the State of
Nature was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
• Man has a natural desire for security and order. In order to secure self
protection and self-preservation, and to avoid misery and pain, man
entered into a contract. This idea of self-preservation and self-protection
are inherent in man’s nature and in order to achieve this, they voluntarily
surrendered all their rights and freedoms to some authority by this contract
who must command obedience.
• As a result of this contract, the mightiest authority is to protect and
preserve their lives and property.
• This led to the emergence of the institution of the ruler or monarch, who
shall be the absolute head.
• Subjects had no rights against the absolute authority or the sovereign and
he is to be obeyed in all situations however bad or unworthy he might be.
• However, Hobbes placed moral obligations on the sovereign who shall be
bound by natural law.
• Hence, it can be deduced that, Hobbes was the supporter of absolutism. In the opinion
of Hobbes, law is dependent upon the sanction of the sovereign and the Government
without sword are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all ╊. He therefore,
reiterated that civil law is the real law because it is commanded and enforced by the
sovereign. Thus, he upheld the principle of Might is always Right.
• Hobbes thus infers from his mechanistic theory of human nature that humans are
necessarily and exclusively self-interested. All men pursue only what they perceive to
be in their own individually considered best interests.
• They respond mechanistically by being drawn to that which they desire and repelled
by that to which they are averse.
• In addition to being exclusively self-interested, Hobbes also argues that human beings
are reasonable. They have in them the rational capacity to pursue their desires as
efficiently and maximally as possible.
• From these premises of human nature, Hobbes goes on to construct a provocative
and compelling argument for which they ought to be willing to submit themselves to
political authority. He did this by imagining persons in a situation prior to the
establishment of society, the State of Nature.
Hobbes impels subjects to surrender all their rights and vest all
liberties in the sovereign for preservation of peace, life and prosperity
of the subjects. It is in this way the natural law became a moral guide
or directive to the sovereign for preservation of the natural rights of
the subjects.
For Hobbes all law is dependent upon the sanction of the sovereign.
All real law is civil law, the law commanded and enforced by the
sovereign and are brought into the world for nothing else but to limit
the natural liberty of particular men, in such a manner, as they might
not hurt but to assist one another and join together against a common
enemy.
He advocated for an established order. Hence, Individualism,
materialism, utilitarianism and absolutions are inter-woven in the
theory of Hobbes.