Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- A note on texts and references
- Introduction
- 1 “Of Man”: the foundation of Hobbes's political argument
- 2 What is the cause of conflict in the state of nature?
- 3 The shortsightedness account of conflict and the laws of nature
- 4 The argument for absolute sovereignty
- 5 Authorizing the sovereign
- 6 Hobbes's social contract
- 7 The failure of Hobbes's social contract argument
- 8 Can Hobbes's argument be salvaged?
- 9 How the traditional social contract argument works
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - The argument for absolute sovereignty
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- A note on texts and references
- Introduction
- 1 “Of Man”: the foundation of Hobbes's political argument
- 2 What is the cause of conflict in the state of nature?
- 3 The shortsightedness account of conflict and the laws of nature
- 4 The argument for absolute sovereignty
- 5 Authorizing the sovereign
- 6 Hobbes's social contract
- 7 The failure of Hobbes's social contract argument
- 8 Can Hobbes's argument be salvaged?
- 9 How the traditional social contract argument works
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Monarchy hath bin crucified (as it were) between two Theeves, the Pope and the People; for what principles the Papists make use of for the power of the Pope above Kings; the very same by blotting out the word Pope and putting in the word People, the Plebists take up to use against their soveraignes. If we would truly know what Popery is, we shall find by the Lawes, and Statutes of the Realme, that the main, and indeed, the only point of Popery is the alienating and withdrawing of Subjects from their obedience to their Prince, to raise Sedition and Rebellion: if Popery and Popularity agree in this point, the Kings of Christendom that have shaken off the power of the Pope have made no great bargain of it, if in place of one Lord abroad, they get many Lords at home within their one Kingdoms.
Sir Robert Filmer, The Anarchy of a Limited or Mixed MonarchyOnce Hobbes has established that the state of nature is a state of total war in which it is irrational for one to follow a natural law dictating peaceful cooperation with one's fellows, the next step in his argument is that, in these circumstances, it is rational to institute an absolute sovereign, thereby creating a commonwealth. This chapter will be devoted to exploring the justification for this step in his argument.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition , pp. 97 - 113Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1987