HOBBES AND LOCKE
By the same author JOHN LOCKE: Essays on the Law of Nature REMEMBERING: A Philosophical Problem SEVENTEENTH CENTURY METAPHYSICS ARISTOTLE ON EQUALITY AND JUSTICE: His Political Argument
HOBBES AND LOCKE The Politics of Freedom and Obligation W. von Leyden Distinguished Visiting Scholar Department of Government The London School of Economics and Political Science pal grave macmillan
W. vonleyden1981 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1981 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First edition 1981 Published by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin's Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-05062-8 ISBN 978-1-349-05060-4 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-05060-4 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from futly managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
TO ALAN J. M. MILNE Ep.ol 8t apicovii ~~~ E80IC & lvat av8pwv ayaowv lpycp y vop.lvwv lpycp Ka1 87J~ova8at T<ts Ttp.&s Yet to me it would have seemed sufficient, when men have proved their valour by action, by action also to make manifest the honours we render them Thucydides
Contents Preface ix Part One HOBBES: The Basis of his Philosophy of Right and Obligation 1 1 NATURAL LIBERTY AND THE SCIENCE OF ENDEAVOUR 3 The Reasonableness of Natural Right 4 Natural Right as Endeavour and the Minimum of Liberty 9 Right, Power, and 'Good' 15 Endeavour and Mechanism 21 The Search for Causes: Sensation and Motion 24 2 DELIBERATION, VOLUNTARY ACTION, AND DETERMINISM 32 Hobbes's First Two Views on Liberty: Necessity, Impediment, Compulsion, and Obligation 32 Hobbes's Third View of Liberty: Freedom as Deliberation 38 The Example of the Tennis Court 42 Hobbes's Concept of Power: The Question of the Coherence of his Theory of Liberty 45 Deliberation and Determinism: The Extent of Hobbes's Compatibilism 50 A Comparison with Locke's Doctrine of Freedom and Action 55 3 WILL, OBLIGATION, AND LAW 62 The Dependence of Obligation on a Voluntary Renunciation of Right. Morality, Logic, and the Issue of Performative Utterances 62 Hobbes's Theism and the Observance of Nat ural Law 69 The Difference between Endeavouring to be Obliged and being Obliged to Endeavour 74 vii
Vlll CONTENTS The 'Well-founded' Basis of Hobbes's Concept of Obligation 82 The Mechanics of the Political Contract 85 Part Two LOCKE: Individual Freedom and State Authority 97 4 NATURAL AND POLITICAL POWER 99 The Right to Private Ownership in the Context of Locke's Natural-law Doctrine 99 The State of Nature and Locke's 'Strange' Doctrine of Punishment 109 Man's Two Natural Powers and the Three Requisites of Political Life 119 The Question of the Judicial Power 124 5 LAWFUL GOVERNMENT AND POPULAR CONTROL 128 Free Consent, Trust, and the Limits of the Legislature. A Parallel with Bramhall and a Confusion by Leo Strauss 128 Law and Civil Liberty 138 Prerogative in Relation to Law and Civil Liberty 143 Umpirage and Supremacy in the State. The Principle of Majority Rule 150 The Significance of Locke's Theory of 'Floating' Sovereignty 160 6 STATE POWER AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE 165 Force, Obligation, and the Abuse of Political Authority 165 The Dissolution of Government: Hobbes and Locke. The State of War and A State of War 175 The Issue of Rebellion: Locke on the Legitimacy of Popular Resistance 185 Summary 190 Epilogue: On Justifying Law and Order 194 Notes 203 Index 243
Preface Hobbes's and Locke's analyses of right and obligation, liberty and law, have remained examples of close, constructive reasoning. On these grounds they should attract the attention not only of historians of political thought and of political theorists, but also of readers interested in the basis and the implications of presentday political debate. For instance, there are still those who talk of rights but little of obligation; who set great store by the idea ofliberation or even revolution without regard for state authority or the rule of law. As Lichtenberg remarked, 'To establish an equality and freedom in the way many people think of them nowadays would mean to lay down an eleventh commandment whereby the other ten would be annulled'. On the other hand, certain persons clamour for far stricter practices and principles of law regardless of whether they are in the interest of either human rights or equity. Finally, there are those who advocate an increasingly artiftcial system of social machinery and an ever greater concentration of state power over civil liberties. The fundamental issues of politics have always been concerned with such questions of freedom and order, individual rights and control. Hence my choice of subject-matter has been influenced by a wish to contribute to the discussion of the traditional as well as the modern problem of how to combine the need for cohesion and organisation in society in terms of political obligation, the law, and a ruling power with the guarantee for men's rights, their liberties, and the exercise of their particular interests. My methods of inquiry into Hobbes's and Locke's theories may require clariftcation. In order to investigate Hobbes's point of departure one has to study in detail his account of the 'presocial' condition of mankind and the bearing this has on his views on the foundation of civil society. Here his doctrines of endeavour and deliberation are important in themselves and still relevant to present-day philosophical discussion. However, there is the queslx
X PREFACE tion of the consistency of his different views on liberty and also that of the compatibility of his theories of freedom and determinism. I have dealt with these issues at length since I consider them important for an adequate evaluation of his doctrines of natural right and obligation, and above all of the function of the social contract. In the case of Locke I have included in my overall research into his political philosophy aspects of his theory which I think have not hitherto been examined adequately. Among these are his views on punishment, the origins of the judicial power, the idea of sovereignty at its different levels, and the intricacies of the dissolution of government. Throughout, however, my discussion is centred round the issue of individual freedom and the compass of state jurisdiction. Finally, whatever their differences, as political philosophers Hobbes and Locke belong together. They were the f1rst to build their systems of politics on the twin notions of freedom and obligation and in this way introduced these key concepts and the idea of their relationship into modern political theory. To my knowledge, there has been no comparative treatment of Hobbes and Locke along these lines. The present study is an attempt to throw new light on the doctrines of each and to reveal the contrasts and subtle affmities between them. I have discussed the principal aspects of Hobbes's civil philosophy in conjunction with my analysis of Locke, thereby avoiding duplication in my treatment of the parallels and differences in their political doctrines. Two pages on obligation and performatives in the Part dealing with Hobbes appeared as a Discussion Note in The Philosophical Quarterly for 1973. The central arguments of my examination of Locke's concepts of liberty, law, and prerogative were published in article form in the Revue Philosophique (special issue on British Philosophy, 1973). These passages have been revised in the present work. Nevertheless I have to thank the editors in question for permission to use the previously printed material in the context of this book. In conclusion I would like to express my indebtedness for valuable advice to Maurice Cranston, Professor of Political Science at the European University in Florence, and to Mr Patrick Davis of the London School of Economics. Mayl980 W.v.L.