Good Essay On Contrasting More, Hobbes, And Locke

The political philosophies of Thomas More, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke show a progression in political thought in Europe from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Thomas More was a Christian Humanist whose critiques of politics in Renaissance Europe were expressed in his most famous work, Utopia, published in 1516. In Utopia, More contrasts the corruption, chaos, and poverty of the real world with an invented society, Utopia, where the laws are simple, everyone is equal, and things are owned communally instead of being private property. His ideas would later become important to the development of socialism, but in his own time his opposition to the Church of England—and by extension, King Henry VIII—ultimately saw him tried for treason and beheaded.
Thomas Hobbes is considered one of the most important figures in the foundation of modern political philosophy. He is best-known for Leviathan, his 1651 book which established social contract theory. He believed that all men were naturally equal and had rights as individuals, similar to More, but while More embraced the role of the Catholic church in society, Hobbes saw religious supremacy as no more natural than the supremacy of the government, shifting the power instead to the individual. In his view, political order was inherently artificial and could only be legitimate if they were representative, deriving their power directly from the people. He thought that the state was distinct from civil society and took a more liberal view in interpreting the law than many of his contemporaries, believing people were free to do whatever the law didn’t explicitly forbid. This differs from More’s view on the law, which placed societal order over individual liberty.
John Locke wrote several influential works throughout his lifetime, although his Two Treatises of Government were perhaps the most important on the subject of political philosophy. Like Hobbes, Locke believed that all men were naturally equal and that government could only exist with the consent of the people. He built upon and expanded Hobbes’ social contract theories, saying that the people had the right to revolt if the government failed to uphold their end of the contract by effectively keeping the peace or protecting its citizens. He believed that everyone had a natural right to defend their own life, health, liberty, and possessions, but that people could also choose to give up some of these rights to the government to better ensure the safety and comfort of everyone in the society. Locke’s views on property directly opposed the communal ownership shown in Utopia, and his views on the importance of liberty compared to that of order were more in keeping with Hobbes’ philosophies than those of More.
All three of these philosophers had a major impact on the development of modern political philosophy. Locke’s philosophies especially had a profound impact on the development of democracy in the United States, but his work was not as highly regarded during his own lifetime, and you could say he was more successful at grappling with the problems of the next generation than those of his own age. Hobbes’ social contract theory was important for the future of philosophical thought, but as his work on this theory was so early in its development, his ideas are widely regarded as an important first step but not necessarily a functional political philosophy. Despite the differences in their philosophies, More’s image of Utopia paved the way for philosophers like Locke and Hobbes, and successfully grappled with the big ideas of his time, which was typified by changes in the way religion, the government, and the people were related. The fact that he was executed by King Henry VIII shows that the royalty felt threatened by his new ideas, enough so to charge him with treason. Because he had the most impact on his current time, as opposed to future ideas, Thomas More was the most successful at grappling with the great problems of his age.