Hobbes and Spinoza: Political Philosophy Compared

Hobbes: Justification of the Absolute State

Hobbes's political and moral philosophy presents the state of nature as pre-moral. Morality is generated by the social contract, serving as a tool to ensure the security and peace necessary for each individual's complete freedom. Absolute political power and morality are at the service of the individual. Political power lacks limits, while morality is minimal. The state is an institution separate from the individual, a rationally accepted means of achieving security and peace. The state, however, absorbs the individual.

To achieve security and overcome the dangers of the state of nature, individuals cede their rights to a third party, a sovereign. The sovereign state emerges as the unique source of moral law and religion. The *raison d'etre* of the state is based on two reasons:

1. Natural or biological equality of human beings: Nature makes human beings equal in body and mind.
2. Scarcity of goods: The growing desire for goods leads to competition.

Spinoza: Political Ideas and the Individual

Spinoza's political ideas are presented in his two treatises: *Theological-Political Treatise* and *Political Treatise*. His political thinking derives from his metaphysical philosophy. The impotence of reason over passions, in leading man to freedom, necessitates the state. This prompted him to write and think about politics, with passion as a starting point and freedom as the goal.

His ethics are individualized, and this is a proposal for a democracy in which the right of individuals is limited by the rights of the community. For Spinoza, politics is a collective enterprise, while morality is individual. All human beings are equal in the political order but different in the moral order.

His political thinking adopts a contractarian justification of the state. The natural state is one of loneliness, without rules, and full of enmity, fear, and war. Each individual is their own judge, and no one is forced to live according to another's criterion. The origin of the political state is a compact, a waiver of the right of the crowd, transferred by majority to a single individual or an assembly. Only a fully democratic state is absolute.

Political power has its limits. If natural rights are put into effect, state power would be limited by respect for those rights. External power has an ethical limit, but the function of the state lacks an ethical end.