Page 109 - DPOL201_WESTERN_POLITICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Unit 6: Thomas Hobbes

not the case. He gave to the father exclusive jurisdiction within the family, thereby defending Notes
patriarchy. The wife/mother as a free and an equal individual disappeared with the constitution
of civil society. The woman became subservient, losing her ability to consent and the right to
participate in the political process. Though Hobbes accepted the idea of sexual and gender equality,
revolutionary in itself by seventeenth-century standards, he did not reject nor attack patriarchy in
the full sense.
Hobbes saw his commonwealth as a creation by the father(s). When discussing the problem of
succession to the sovereign in the state, he acknowledged that it would pass from one male child
to another, since males had greater wisdom and courage, and were naturally fit to rule. All these
certainly contradicted his earlier attack on patriarchal claims. The reason for the shift could be that
he did not want a conflict between the male and female once civil society was created. “Hobbes’
thought reflects and perpetuates a distinctively masculinist orientation to the realm of politics that
continues to be male dominated and governed by masculinist presumptions in our time”.
The significance of Hobbes’ political thought was the departure he made from patriarchalism of
the mid-seventeenth century. He insisted that paternal power in the state of nature was not
derived from fatherhood as such. Since the family’s importance was only because of its procreative
functions, and if sovereignty was a product of procreation, then the mother was also an equal and
full partner in the act of generation with claims over the child. By denying the patriarchal claims
he dismissed the idea that all authority, including that of the parents, was natural. Subordination
among human beings was a product of convention subject to consent.
Self-Assessment
Fill in the blanks:
1. Hobbes’ book Leviathan published in ............... .
2. Thomas Hobbes first Publication was a translation in English of ............... .
3. In 1657, the ............... was reported to the parliamentary committee as a most poisonous piece
of atheism.
4. De Corpore was published in ............... .

6.6 Summary

• The Leviathan of Hobbes has been recognized as one of the masterpieces of political theory,
known for its style, clarity and lucid exposition. He laid down a systematic theory of
sovereignty, law, human nature and political obligation. He accepted the views of the radical
writers of the sixteenth century like Montaigne, and attacked Aristotelianism and Ciceronian
Humanism. He discarded the notion that there was anything as “simply good”, for every
individual would regard what pleased him as good, and dismiss that which displeased him
as evil. The way to overcome this ethical disagreement was by acknowledging that each was
justified in defending one’s self, and that others could be harmed on grounds of self-defence.
Self-preservation was a fundamental right of nature, and equally a basic law.
• Hobbes argued that the state was established for human convenience, and obeyed on grounds
of expediency. It was obeyed in most cases, since obedience was more agreeable than
disobedience. It was a product of human reason, and hence reason and not authority had to
be the arbiter in politics. He emphasized that the sovereign would define divine, natural or
fundamental law, since it was difficult to obtain agreement among individuals, and thus
made power, not right, the focal issue in politics. Hobbes saw the state as a conciliator of
interests, a point of view that the Utilitarians developed in great detail. Hobbes created an
all-powerful state, but it was no totalitarian monster. It had to guarantee peace, order and
security, and was not interested in self-glorification. The state did not control or regiment

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