report about john locke and hobbes  
the poorest he that is in england hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, sir, i think its clear that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and i do think that the poorest man in england is not at all bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under (an excerpt from a letter to rainborough signed by john locke).

there has been great controversy over whether it was locke who truly wrote this letter or if it was hobbes writing with only lockes forged signature. to distinguish who the actual writer of the letter is, it is important to know the themes, arguments and ideas that are related to the letter

the most important terms we should look at is the social contract and consent, property, equality and liberty. from these terms judging from the fact that the letter seems to be saying that even the poorest man has the right to be represented by government(which similar to the concept of universal suffrage) it is important to see the reason why people consented to a contract and if the government is able to represent all its citizens


first of all we need to look at the terms of social contract and consent. in hobbes state of nature people are governed by their own conscience, under the premise that each persons conscience is different, the state of nature can be pictured as chaotic

the chaos comes when a person does not know the thoughts and morals of their neighbor and therefore feeling nervous attacks his neighbor before his neighbor can attack him, protecting oneself. because of this lack of trust and also a strong will of self preservation, but no government, no civilization, no laws, and no common power to restrain human nature the state of nature becomes a war of all against all (hobbes p 70)


because of this state of war hobbes claims that man wanting to preserve his life consented to a contract and formed a civil society. entering into a contract for hobbes is a voluntary act, no matter the circumstances

should a man be asked obedience or your life? he is most likely to consent to obey and choose his life. hobbes says that as man always has a freedom of choice the contract made to protect and preserve ones life is a valid and binding contract, man just valued his life more than anything else

in other words without consent somebody cannot be a part of society or a contract.

in contradiction to hobbes, lockes state of nature is not a state of war. in the state of nature, rights and laws are known and are binding on moral individuals

to locke there is the possibility of peace even in the state of nature. however, the state of nature may deteriorate into war if laws are subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of another man (locke p

15). to avoid this, men consent to a civil society


in lockes state of nature, there is a clear set of natural laws that present mans natural rights and duties. the rights are the right to preservation of life, health, liberty and possessions(estates) (locke p

4). but when in a state of nature there is no common judge that can take care of disputes among these rights or who can protect these rights, therefore individuals who seek to protect their fundamental rights consent to civil society
   (이하 생략)