Aristotle, Locke, and Hobbes: Political Philosophies

Aristotle, Locke, and Hobbes on Politics

Aristotle's View

Aristotle believes men are political animals. They need the city to flourish and evolve. In his view, polity, a combination of oligarchy and democracy, is the best form of government because it is the rule of many for the best interest of the whole society. The thoughts, concerns, and desires of the society are the topics that will be discussed through reason. He believes people need interaction and leisure to advance politically, which justifies his agreement with slavery. A limitation of politics, in Aristotle's view, is that young generations can’t participate in politics because they use their emotions instead of their reasoning.

Locke's Perspective

Locke also believes politics aims to achieve the best interest of society. He wants limited government, only intervening to preserve the life, liberty, and property of the citizens. He also stands for the consent of the governed and equality, unlike Aristotle. The legitimate means to achieve such preservation is to preserve yourself and everyone else, as long as it doesn’t conflict with your own preservation. In the natural law of Locke, all persons are free and equal. A limitation is that there can’t be a state of nature without natural law. Also, another limitation is that there can’t be slaves because it would break the state of nature. Locke, to defend his arguments, says that “no one is subject to anyone”. A state of liberty is not a state of license.

Hobbes' Philosophy

Hobbes views men as brutish and without rule, in a constant state of war. He believes men need to be fully ruled without consent or the ability to rebel, contrasting Locke’s view. So the final goal of politics in Hobbes' view is to have control over the liberty and equality of the people through one ruler. The legitimate means is to give them what they want when they want it, through power. One of the limitations of this political system is that the government controls glory-seekers. In order to get to the perfect society, Hobbes says that because people are born selfish, they need social contracts.

C.S. Lewis on Conditioners and the Conditioned

The Two Types of People

C.S. Lewis says that there are two types of people: the conditioners, who are the ones that manipulate, and the conditioned. The conditioners are usually the people who create innovations for society for the majority of the people (the conditioned). By doing that, they are, to a certain degree, manipulating and changing the lifestyle of the others, avoiding the conservation of old traditions.

Hobbes as a Conditioner

Hobbes thinks that a monarchy would be a good government to control the people who can’t live in a state of nature. The arguments that C.S. Lewis uses to call Hobbes a conditioner are because he wants to tell people how to live and basically manipulate them into thinking differently than they would without such a type of government.