Hobbes And Sovereignty

Gauthier points out that in order to induce obedience to the laws of nature, and promote peace and security, Hobbes believes "Reason suggesteth convenient articles of peace" (Hobbes; 188). Hobbes was referring to the laws of nature, which would eventually create his Leviathan, but these "articles of peace" that are so natural to us are also realized in our own constitution. Every man must seek peace, and every man must be willing to give up his "right to all things" in order to obtain peace. Natural persons and artificial persons are two types of people that exist in Hobbes' social contract theory. Natural persons have there own voice, and artificial persons use the voice of another, or many others. The contract is a sort of artificial person because it is composed of the voices of all the people who enter into it. This artificial person is Hobbes' Leviathan.

In constructing a social contract Hobbes believes each individual must state "I authorize and give up my right of governing my selfe, to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition, that thou give up thy right to him, and authorize all his actions in like manner," (Hobbes; 87). Gauthier points out "Were mere agreement on conditions of peace sufficientÐ'...then a sovereign enforcer would be not merely unnecessary, but positively undesirable" (Gauthier; 62). He goes on to say that in simply loaning their rights to the sovereign subjects grant no absolute power to the sovereign (Gauthier; 70). Instead, full surrender is needed to empower the sovereign to make decisions regarding the safety of the population. In other words, the sovereign must be able to enforce the laws; otherwise people will naturally regress to a state of lawlessness.

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