Which philosopher wrote Leviathan and argued that life in a state of nature is a struggle and that people consent to government for self-protection?

Which philosopher wrote Leviathan and argued that life in a state of nature is a struggle and that people consent to government for self-protection?

• A. John Locke
• B. Thomas Hobbes
• C. Voltaire
• D. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Answer: (B)

Thomas Hobbes’s view of government and human nature is what this question is testing. In Leviathan he describes life in the state of nature as a constant struggle for self-preservation, with no security or authority to keep people from harming one another. To escape that chaos, people enter into a social contract and consent to a powerful central authority—a sovereign—to enforce peace and protect them. The government’s legitimacy comes from that consent and its ability to provide security, even if it requires surrendering certain freedoms. Other thinkers propose different foundations for political legitimacy: for example, Locke argues that government should protect natural rights like life, liberty, and property and rests on continued consent with a right of rebellion if rulers overstep; Rousseau emphasizes the general will and popular sovereignty; Voltaire champions civil liberties and critiques absolutism. But Leviathan is the classic statement of why a strong, consent-based authority is justified by the need for self-protection and order.

Thomas Hobbes’s view of government and human nature is what this question is testing. In Leviathan he describes life in the state of nature as a constant struggle for self-preservation, with no security or authority to keep people from harming one another. To escape that chaos, people enter into a social contract and consent to a powerful central authority—a sovereign—to enforce peace and protect them. The government’s legitimacy comes from that consent and its ability to provide security, even if it requires surrendering certain freedoms.

Other thinkers propose different foundations for political legitimacy: for example, Locke argues that government should protect natural rights like life, liberty, and property and rests on continued consent with a right of rebellion if rulers overstep; Rousseau emphasizes the general will and popular sovereignty; Voltaire champions civil liberties and critiques absolutism. But Leviathan is the classic statement of why a strong, consent-based authority is justified by the need for self-protection and order.