Hobbes And Locke

Two men, mere philosophers, wrote their ideas for the world to see and have influenced world leaders and the modern world. Thomas Hobbes came into the world on April 5, 1588 and quickly became a well-educated young man who eventually became a well-known philosopher. John Locke arrived midway through Hobbes’ life, on August 29, 1632. Both men lived the majority of their lives in their home country, England. Though they began life in much the same way, they grew up to agree and disagree with each other’s ideas of philosophy and politics.

John Locke and Thomas Hobbes both agreed that a ruler of some sort appeared absolutely necessary for a country to thrive and flourish. Without a leader, the country would fall away into nothing. In the political sense, the two philosophers agreed only on this subject. However, they each believed that a different type of power should reside as supreme. Hobbes thought that only one man, a king, should have the right to govern the people. One king should make the decisions, write the laws, and control the masses. Locke, on the other hand, felt that the people should somewhat run the government. He believed that the people should have a say in everything the government decided, including who ruled over the country. This philosopher also believed that if the government did not uphold its end of the bargain, then the people had the right and responsibility to overthrow the government.

Though both of these two men became known as philosophers, they had their own ideas of how a human worked and lived. Hobbes supposed that every human being needed to have a masterвЂ"by Hobbes’ point of view, the kingвЂ"and he likened humans to animals, both fearful and predatory. To survive, humans must obey the commands of a ruler in religious and government matters. People, Hobbes thought, had an inner motivation revolving around pleasure and hurt. In contrast, Locke assumed that people could not come up with new ideas out of nothingвЂ"each human could only understand things which he or she had experienced. Locke also believed that all humans come into the world as good, independent, and equal. Both of the two men’s philosophies included religionвЂ"Hobbes and Locke both acknowledged the existence of God. Beyond this, both agreed that God played only a small part in the foundation of their philosophies.

Each of these men had an impact on the world around them, and the people to come later on in the world. Hobbes influenced the people of his own time by refuting England’s parliament and France’s