Hobbes’ Theory of Government

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In the adaptation by Neil L. Cooney it’s mentioned that Thomas Hobbes had three ideas. The first one it states that God gave the right of government upon the king or the monarch. This meant that the people were supposed to listen to the king because he had the same power as God. Since Britain and France wanted to get rid of their king they had to come up with new ideas of the origin of government. Making a “Social Contract” where it stated that God’s authority was actually given to the people and not the king himself. This became to be known as “Leviathan” which was a mortal god with absolute power. This gave the people the idea that they had the choice over who will govern them. Another idea that Hobbes’ had was that it was necessary to have monarch rule because human nature of every man was to be in war with one another. For a better survival it was better to enter into the contract with government or Leviathan. Doing that meant that the person would give his or her individual right forever. The last idea of why it was necessary for it to be government was that it would have brought a safer way of living and that the people gave the consent to be governed even if there was censorship and domestic surveillance over them. If people would try to break the contract in any sort of way there would be consequences because that person would become his own victim and responsible to the punishment Leviathan would give. This was thought to be what God’s authority was over the people of Britain and France in the sixteenth

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