FREE ESSAY ON LEVIATHAN

LEVIATHAN

Liberty
Thomas Hobbes in his book Leviathan, during the course of his argument about the social
contract we make to surrender our rights of nature a sovereign in exchange for order and
peace touches the subject of liberty. Hobbes defines liberty as "the absence of
opposition( by opposition, I mean external impediments of motion)." (Ch 21, p.136). In
his argument, Hobbes claims that this state of liberty is man's natural state in which
man fully exercises his rights of nature. Hobbes claims that this state of nature leads
to warfare and a short life of strife due to everyone exercising or violating these
rights. The answer then to Hobbes is for every one to forfeit these rights of nature and
create the social contract and surrender to a sovereign in exchange for order. Though how
much liberty is left to the subject once entering the social contract? Hobbes states "The
liberty of a subject lieth, therefore, only in those things which, in regulating their
actions, the sovereign hath praetermitted (such as is the liberty to buy, and sell, and
and otherwise contract with one another; to choose their own abode, their own diet, their
own trade of life, and institute their children as the themselves think fit; and the
like)." (Ch21, p. 138).
In other words the only liberty of subjects is that which is not regulated by any law
created by the sovereign to whom all natural rights and liberty are surrendered to by
agreeing to the social contract. According to the quote subjects are only free to conduct
personal business as see fit, such as eating, sleeping, day to day business dealing, how
one chooses to upbringing their children. It implies that upon entering the social
contract the subject's liberty or unrestricted movement is now forfeited except in any
area that the sovereign has not decided to regulate by passing laws regulate or is
impossible to.
Hobbes overall argument asserts that in order to escape the war filled state of nature we
must surrender our natural rights(liberty/absence of restriction) and liberty and pledge
our obedience to the sovereign in exchange for the creation of a peaceful orderly
society. Thus we agree to the social contract where the sovereign(who is outside the
contract) is supreme. While we give up our liberty in exchange for order, the Sovereign
retains all his rights to nature and is accountable only to God. Why does the sovereign
retain his liberty, while we only retain that which the sovereign has decided not to
regulate? because the sovereign uses his liberty to act on our behalf. We in theory are
the author of every action decided by the sovereign who in theory acts only in our
interest because it would benefit the sovereign to do so.