The Social Contract

After describing conditions in a state of nature, Hobbes explains why the Sovereign must be given the power to enforce law once given the power to govern. He continues to describe the rights of the Sovereign under this covenant (unbreakable contract). What rights does the individual retain under the covenant described by Hobbes? Record this thought in your notes for later discussion.

Audio: The Social Contract

Click the play button ( ) below to listen and read along to this selection as Hobbes describes Man’s condition and reason for the Social Contract. Be sure to set your volume at a reasonable level before you begin.

Do you think Americans would agree with Hobbes?

Some Americans might agree that life in the natural state was nasty, brutish and short, but given what we know about the framers’ views of power, Americans would not have agreed to the unlimited power of the Sovereign as described by Hobbes.

Thomas Hobbes was the first Social Contract Philosopher. He believed that man surrendered all of his rights to the monarch in order to escape the nasty and bruitish natural state. By entering into a civil society (that is a society with other men under a government), man could flourish. Although Americans didn’t agree to Hobbes’ concept of the covenant, they did agree that government was a covenant with the society.