Thomas Hobbes & John Locke

Who was the true liberal?

Jan 21, 2009 Barry Vale

Both Thomas Hobbes and John Locke wrote very important constitutional, philosophical and political works during the course of the 17th century.

The Less Than Liberal Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes was born earlier and also died before John Locke, the fact that he reached adulthood much earlier than John Locke did has a great deal of relevance to which of them is the true liberal. Thomas Hobbes lived through the breakdown of political stability in England, Scotland, and Ireland, which resulted eventually in the English Civil Wars. By temperament Thomas Hobbes was a royalist, and indeed he had been a tutor to the future kings Charles II and his younger brother James II. Hobbes did not live long enough to witness the overthrow of James II yet his political thought was considerably affected by the English Civil Wars.

The English Civil War And Leviathan

The thing that ruins Thomas Hobbes' claim for being the true liberal is the fact that he wrote the book Leviathan, which advocates strong and if needs be dictatorial government in order to prevent anarchy as well as civil war. On the other hand in the Leviathan Thomas Hobbes did argue that rulers and their subjects had agreed to a social contract that meant subjects had to be loyal in return for their rulers providing them with security. Rulers then had to obeyed without question.

John Locke And The Glorious Revolution

John Locke has much stronger claims to be called a true liberal than Thomas Hobbes ever did. John Locke was a consistent advocate of liberalism. Unlike Thomas Hobbes earlier John Locke never experienced the English Civil Wars as an adult. Instead John Locke lived through the controversy surrounding James II proposed succession of Charles II. James II did succeed his brother then procceeded to alienate the most powerful people in England and Scotland.

James was openly a Roman Catholic and his succession appalled the Protestant establishments in England and Scotland. Eventually the fear of the permanent restoration of Roman Catholicism led to the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

John Locke defended the Glorious Revolution with his seminal book Two Treatises on Government. This book heavily influenced liberal thought in Britain, France, as well as the future United States.

Bibliography

Comfort N, (1993) Brewer’s Politics, a phrase and fable dictionary, Cassell, London

Eatwell R & Wright A, (2003) Contemporary Political Ideologies 2nd Edition, Continuum, London

Evans G & Newnham J, (1998) the Penguin Dictionary of International Relations, Penguin, London

Ferguson N, (2003) Empire – how Britain made the modern world, Penguin, London

Gardiner & Wenborn (1995) the History Today Companion to British History,Collins and Brown Ltd, London

Hobsbawm E, (1962) the Age of Revolution 1789-1848, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London

The copyright of the article Thomas Hobbes & John Locke in UK/Irish History is owned by Barry Vale. Permission to republish Thomas Hobbes & John Locke in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.