A Review on Freedom and Authority in Theories of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes

Abstract

This article tackles with the questions of freedom and authority in the thoughts of J. Locke and T. Hobbes. J. Locke is mostly known as the father of classical liberal thought whereas T. Hobbes is known with his famous work Leviathan within which he questions the source of sovereignty and made a focus on a strong sovereign. Both thinkers are social contract thinkers. However, their descriptions on state of nature are completely different. In this work, not only the mere concepts of freedom and authority but also legitimate power, law, despotism and consent will be discussed in their thought as such they are very related to the freedom and authority. To that end, first the relationship between state and individual will be addressed. Second the relationship between law and liberty will be mentioned. Then the concepts of political power and authority will be overviewed. Lastly the main questions associated with freedom and authority will be evaluated. At the end, it is supposed to delineate a general assessment about these two thinkers on their critical concepts, freedom and authority.