Political Legitimacy essay 2

docx

School

University Of Connecticut *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

1002

Subject

Political Science

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by HighnessScience6956

Political Legitimacy Hobbes & Rousseau POLS 1002 By : Heather Leitl Throughout history, the pursuit for political legitimacy has been a central focus for political theorist. Looking through the evolution of political systems, rise and fall of empires, and the goal of societies have themselves evolved. prompts numerous thinkers throughout history to offer their distinct perspectives and theories on the matter. Two prominent figures in history Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau stand out for their specific views in that they are political theorist that are categorized as social contract theorists. Both having a shared belief on that the legitimacy of modern government is formed from an agreement between individuals who willing become citizens or subjects to collectively form a government together through a contract that keeps its people out of the state of nature. However, their beliefs on the state of nature and the mechanisms of a social contract and what it brings diverge profoundly. First it is important to look at what the state of nature is, and how it is viewed by both theorists. State of nature is an imagined and fictious state that was formed first by Hobbes and then later used by Rousseau as a thought device in which if human beings existed outside of culture, government, and society what would they be? How would they behave? For Hobbes it was a state in which humans are equal in matters of survival in that even the weakest person could be smarter and outsmart the strongest individual. And with humans being naturally fearful creatures that are obsessed with self-preservation. Hobbes viewed this state would be one in which is a war of all against all, it would be brutal, chaotic, and even a nightmarish state

that people would want to escape. Whereas for Rousseau, the state of nature, what Rousseau called love of self, was a peaceful state in which individuals act according to their basic urges and natural desire for self-preservation. And in this state people only had minimal desires to meet their needs and therefore wouldn’t resort to violence. Life in this state was peaceful and nothing like this war that Hobbes theorized it would be. This state of nature though vastly different for both theorist, was a state in which both wanted to get out of and stay out of. For Hobbes it was due to his theory that the state of nature is a brutal and nasty state that no one would want to live in, and in fact would want to escape from. With the thought of how humans are in this state of nature Hobbes also believes humans are rational and reasonable creatures and therefor they would want to come together and form a social contract in which is a contract with one another which allows them to forfeit their natural ability in exchange for security, order, and a state of peace. This is where Leviathan is authored. As a collective it is a contract in which to escape the dreadful conditions, they surrender their independence by entering a covenant to obey a sovereign power that will in turn have the authority to make enforce and interpret laws that will enforce the safety of the ones who contracted the leviathan. For Rousseau on the other hand, the state of nature is a happy and peaceful state. But Rousseau also believed that people were better when they came together and lived in societies, which he calls civil society. In these societies Rousseau seen people in small communities would divide labor, had more discoveries and inventions that would make life easier. He believed that human beings when taken out of the state of nature are more intelligent, it allows individuals to alienate their perfect ability, and it allows for humans to live up to their full potential. So for

Rousseau, society if in the state of nature, an individual cannot enjoy the advanced and mature state of freedom. To be free is to form a society in which people leave the state of nature and come together to form a free, intelligent, and happier life. But with these advances brings greed, vice, and inequality. And with this Rousseau proposes the social contract, general will, which is whereas a society everyone comes together collectively and give up their rights that they once had in the state of nature, and in turn become a part of a civil society. “Force to be free” is the words Rousseau used in which the collective grouping of all people who consent to forfeit their rights for the whole of the group so that to make conditions equal for everyone. To be free is essentially to be compelled by your fellow citizens, to be the best that you can be, and to be a part of the political body. This government is to embody the general will and stand for the general will, it can have many forms depending on the size and characteristics of the people that make it up and its purpose was to protect liberty, freedom, and to help people get along within it. For both these contract the subjects are the ones who make up the government and sacrifice something in themselves to form this government. This is why both theorist believed for a legitimate government it must be formed through a contract. Hobbes the only way for the general will to work was for the people to obey the sovereign in exchange for peace and security. Now if the sovereign acts in a way that would threaten this, the people in the society are allowed to refuse and disobey the sovereign but the sovereign is made up of the people, from the people. Therefor there could not be a sovereign without its people, so there would be no sovereign. Hobbes theory or political legitimacy was that human beings are reasonable individuals who will see that with this social contract that brings a proper legitimate

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

government they must relinquish their natural rights to liberty in order for safety and order outside of the natural state. As for Rousseau, the social contract brings political legitimacy by in which the only legitimate political authority is the authority consented to by all the people that have forfeited their natural state in order to form a governmental power that embodies the general will in exchange for a better life more full life.