From the Renaissance through the Enlightenment, a number of philosophers undertook a major intellectual project - a project involving nothing less than an analysis of the political systems and relationships that had evolved over time as a means of providing order and stability within social systems. Key theorists in this era include Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. Identifying a viable system of governance for a changing social system was a vital task for these theorists as they sought to understand man's role in the world. Both Hobbes and Locke, in differing ways and to varying degrees, provide a foundation for much of the political thought of the Enlightenment.
Hobbes (1994) believed that we should never maintain that human beings are innately good, moral, ethical, or decent. He suggests that wisdom and prudence in our dealings with other human beings are necessary, but allows that man may not always behave in such behavior. In fact, Hobbes (1994) asserted that every time a person acts, he does so for the sole purpose of bettering his own position vis-à-vis his fellow man. This seems to suggest that the notion of a private morality does not resonate with this philosopher.
Hobbes (1994) is best known for the assertion that selfishness is the reigning principle of human nature and that in the so-called state of nature in which man lived before societies were formed, justice was completely unknown. Life was little more than a war of all against all and was therefore likely to be nasty, brutish, and short. In forming societies and entering into social contracts, human beings sought simply to create mechanisms that would work to their mutual safety. This becomes the source of law and the only means by which anything resembling justice could be achieved.
Hobbes (1994) further asserts that humans voluntarily give over some of their autonomy and independence to a sovereign or king who would rule over them. T...