Exam 2

Question 1

1. Why does Hobbes claim that covenants entered into out of fear are obligatory (323R)?

Answer 1

Hobbes goes as far as to argue that the forces of fear and coercion do not absolve a man from keeping a promise he made under those conditions. He claims that despite the external pressures placed upon a man to enter a contract or carry out an action, the decision remains ultimately his, and he must therefore fulfill his obligations.

Question 2

2. Under what conditions does fear make a covenant invalid (323R)?

Answer 2

No man can transfer or lay down his right to save himself from death, wounds and imprisonment.

If fear made them enter a covenant involving the above, it is always invalid.

Question 3

3. What is Locke’s justification for tacit consent (377L-R)?

Answer 3

Even if you may not like/traditionally consent to the governments rule, anyone who accepts benefits from said government has tacitly consented to any burdens imposed.

Question 4

4. Compare Hobbes and Locke on the arbitrary use of sovereign power (334L-R, 381R)

Answer 4

To Hobbes, sovereign powers were necessary for society to work, even if that meant arbitrary government. To Locke, natural laws were enough for society to be best under natural order and this natural state is enough to prevent arbitrary government.

Question 5

5. Explain Locke’s justification for property claims (371).

Answer 5

To Locke, property was justified by stating that a man’s labor in itself is his own property, and by extension, him laboring on a property made it his own.

A man’s labor is his own, therefore what he makes with his labor is his.

Question 6

6. Locke allows for the possibility of an internal dissolution of government. Explain how this is possible (389L).

Answer 6

Locke stated that the government stops operating in the best interest f its citizens, or if the government allows the state to go into chaos, that it may be necessary to dissolve and reform the government.

• Chaos
• Stops operating in the best interest of its people.

Question 7

7. Hobbes does not allow for the possibility of an internal dissolution of government. Why not?

Answer 7

Hobbes believes that man’s reason is enough to stop a common-wealth from “internal diseases”. The common-wealth’s are built to live as long as there is laws of justice and nature.

Question 8

8. How is a sense of morality a threat to sovereignty, according to Hobbes (341)?

Answer 8

A sense of morality leans people towards acting in their self interest, and in a case vs sovereignty, can lead to illegal acts being performed if the punishment doesn’t outweigh the self-interest or with the hope of “getting away with it” in cases (all of them) where the sovereignty can’t hope to catch everyone for every illegal act. This leads to more people with a sense of they can get away with it, snowballing and undermining the sovereign and plunging selfish agents back into the chaos of the state of nature.

Question 9

9. What is the main task for Hobbes and Locke in justifying state legitimacy?

Answer 9

They both believed that if a state was acting within natural laws they were legitimate.

Question 10

10. In contrast to Hobbes and Locke, what is Rousseau’s main task as a social contract theorist?

Answer 10

Rousseau doesn’t believe in a state of nature, so people form social contracts as to come together for a common will.

Question 11

11. Contrast Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau with respect to whom the people relinquish their rights in creating a sovereign (333L, 377L, 440L).

Answer 11

Hobbes: People create the commonwealth and from the common wealth all rights and faculties are derived to the sovereign.
Locke: Only those who have expressly consented are members of political society, while the government exercises legitimate authority over various types of people who have not so consented. The government is supreme in some respects, but there is no sovereign.

Rousseau:

Question 12

12. Explain Rousseau’s remark that one can be forced to be free (441).

Answer 12

Rousseau believes that people are forced to be free when they have to follow a general will while living in a society.

Question 13

13. Explain what Rousseau takes to be an act of sovereignty, and why the people should understand its force (446L)

Answer 13

To be an act of sovereignty, all of the citizens must be acting collectively, voicing the general wills and laws of the state.

Question 14

14. Explain the supposed difference between negative and positive freedom.

Answer 14

Positive – you have the right to do what you want freely. Negative – you won’t be externally stopped/ resisted in doing something.

Question 15

15. Why does Rousseau believe that the right of first occupancy is respected more in society than in a state of nature (442L)?

Answer 15

It is respected in society because there is consent to land in a society, so everyone understands the importance of land ownership and respects it.

Question 16

16. What does Hobbes say is the limit of the sovereign’s authority (321R, 339L-R)?

Answer 16

Sovereign authority can be disobeyed if the subjects are acting in self defense or protecting their families or honor.

Question 17

17. What are the only two reasons that Locke identifies for when an individual citizen is justified in using force (387L-R)?

Answer 17

Locke states that citizens can protect themselves from people stealing and from people trying to take their liberties.

Question 18

18. What are the two ways Locke discusses by which governments can suffer internal dissolution (389L, 390L)?

Answer 18

• In road of foreign force, causing union of people to cease and government of that dissolved society can’t remain until things are back to normal
• When legislature act contrary to their trust.

Question 19

19. What condition does Locke recognize that Hobbes does not which permits Locke to be more liberal in allowing for the dissolution of government (389R)? Here’s a hint: the answer is related to the answers of (6) and (7)

Answer 19

Locke recognizes a state of nature where humans can exist without a government ruling.

Question 20

20. What is Mill’s explanation for why there is a “preponderance among mankind of rational opinions and rational conduct” (757)?

Answer 20

Mill explains humans are like that because they can learn from and correct their mistakes.

Question 21

21. Explain Hobbes’ remark that the “value or worth of a man is his price (316L).”

Answer 21

He says that the “worth of a man” is how much would be given for the use of that person’s individual power. It is not absolute, but rather dependent on the needs and judgements of another person. “For let a man rate themselves at the highest value they can; yet their true value is no more than it is esteemed by others.”

Question 22

22. What is amour-propre and what produces it (432)?

Answer 22

French for self love and it is caused by pride and envy. Causes the want to compare to others

Question 23

23. What does Hobbes identify as the three causes of conflict among people (320L)?

Answer 23

Competition (gain), Glory (reputation), and Fear (defense)

Question 24

24. What two virtues does Aristotle claim that people in an “excessively unified” (in this instance meaning no private property) city are unable to display and why (179L)?

Answer 24

Temperance in sexual relations and generosity

Question 25

25. Why does Aristotle say that man is a political animal (167L-R)?

Answer 25

Nature does not make things in vain, and man having the ability to speak means that language is a tool man can use as a means to influence his environment, making him an animal with an affinity to politics.

Question 26

26. What is the ultimate source of obligation that Hobbes recognizes (322R-323l)?

Answer 26

The ultimate obligation is right of self and others, by renouncing or transferring it. Renouncing when there isn’t care of benefit for others and transferring for when benefit of others is intended. Obligated to not hinder those whom right is granted or abandoned before benefit is reaped.

Question 27

27. What are the two reasons Rousseau provides for the requirement of the total alienation of one’s rights in creating the sovereign (440L)?

Answer 27

Each man giving himself up completely leads to an equal society, meaning nobody has any interest to make things burdensome to others.

If any rights were left to individuals with no common superior to judge between them and the public, each man being his own judge would claim each right their own; state of nature subsisting and association becoming useless. With no associate unable to claim some rights, gain equivalent of all that’s lost and more power to preserve what we have.