Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), was one of the founders of modern political philosophy, his work Leviathan established and laid the foundation for the social contract theory found in most western political philosophy. Though his work championed absolute sovereignty, Hobbes also contributed in developing some fundamentals of liberal thought like, individual right and natural equality of all men. Thomas Hobbes placed the idea of natural rights at the centre of his political theory. This idea suggested that individuals are endowed with natural rights that are independent of society including the fundamental right to self-preservation. Hobbes ideas emphasize the role of nature in the equality of men, i.e. in the state of nature where there is no government all men are free and equal. He gives a detailed description of man in the state of nature which depicts how man’s life and all his activities are originally geared towards protecting himself. All man’s activities are ultimately for self-preservation, to preserve a better life for himself and the pursuit of everything necessary for a comfortable living even to the extent of overriding other men. Hobbes looks at the essential nature of man in other to describe the nature of the society prior to established laws and therefore, he derives his theory of natural right from his theory on the state of nature.
Natural right, the right of nature according to Hobbes is the liberty that each man has to make his own decisions about how to use his own power for the preservation of his life. “the right of nature which writers commonly call jusnaturale, is the liberty that each man has to make his own decisions about how to use his own power for the preservation of his own nature i.e. his own life and consequently, the liberty of doing anything that he thinks is the aptest means to that end” Hobbes ( 2004:59). Natural right in this context is for the preservation of life and securing of everything needed for such. The preservation of life is a constant theme in human rights discourse. Hobbes defines liberty as the absence of external obstacles which prevents man from preserving his life.
Natural law according to Hobbes is the law that governs man in the state of nature. According to Hobbes, in the state of nature man’s life is solitary, nasty, brutish and short. Hence all are to surrender their rights to an absolute sovereign before an orderly society can be attained this forms the basis of the social contract. Hobbes state of natured depicts a society where all human beings possess natural rights of which they are entitled naturally. He in turn suggests that such a society in which all rights are upheld would end in chaos ensuing from the conflicting interest amongst human beings. “Every man has a right to everything even to someone else’s body, as long as this continues therefore, that is as long as every man continues to have this natural right to everything, no man however strong or clever he may be can be sure of living out the time that nature ordinarily allows men to live” Hobbes (2004:59). Hence in order to prevent this ugly occurrence and have a decent organised society, these rights and liberties are to be submitted to a sovereign which Hobbes refers to as the absolute sovereign. Hence the state of nature is a state of absolute natural right and liberties for all mankind, which in the long run can be destructive if it is not contained.
Hobbes also asserts that naturally, people are sufficiently similar in their mental and physical attributes such that no one is invulnerable nor can anyone dominate the others. Therefore, the equality of all men is a fundamental principle rooted in nature as conceived by Hobbes.
Nature has made men so equal in their physical and mental capacities that although sometimes we may find one man who is obviously stronger in body or quicker of mind than another, yet taking all in all, the difference between one and another is not so great that one man can claim to have any advantage of strength or skill or the like that can’t just as well be claimed by some others Hobbes (2004:56).
Hobbes assumes that people generally shun death and that the desire to preserve their own lives is stronger in most people. Also while people have local affections, their benevolence is limited and they have a tendency to partiality. Hobbes ascribes to each person in the state of nature a liberty right to preserve himself which he terms the right of nature, this is the right to do whatever one sincerely judges needful for one’s preservation. yet because it is possible that virtually anything might be judged necessary for one’s preservation, this theoretically limited right of nature becomes in practice an unlimited right to potentially anything or as Hobbes puts it a right to all things. Hobbes prescribes the laws of nature as the law which governs human beings in the state of nature.
The Leviathan, gives Hobbes description of the nature of man and the state of nature. In doing this, he introduces concepts like equality of man, natural rights of man, natural law and liberty of man. However, for Hobbes though this principles might seem essential as part of mankind’s possessions, he postulates that they be surrendered to an absolute sovereign through the social contract. However, Hobbes work stamps the idea that natural rights, equality of man and liberty are basic and fundamental attributes or rather entitlements of man by nature, this being the central claim of the rights agenda.
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