Social contract" by Thomas Hobbes in the field of Theoretical Controversies about the basis of Government Legitimacy

Subject Areas :

Ali Kamalinejad ¹ , Malek Yahya Salahi ² , Seyed Mostafa Abtahi ³

1 - علوم سیاسی ، دانشکده حقوق و علوم سیاسی ، تهران ، ایران / دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد علوم و تحقیقات تهران ، ایران
2 -
3 - Department of Political Science, Science & Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2023-11-03 Accepted : 2023-12-18 Published : 2025-08-15

Keywords: Hobbes, social contract, installation conflict, divine right of the king, natural rights, natural law.,

Abstract :

Thomas Hobbes's theory of "social contract" provided a new basis for the establishment of the gov-ernment, which had fundamental differences with the theories before it. In such a way that he con-sidered the government "constitutional" and not "natural". According to him, before the govern-ment, people lived in a natural state, which is a kind of a state of war, and according to the natural law and the rule of reason, they should have left this state and entered a state of peace. A state of peace requires the "establishment" of the government to provide security. Based on this, the citizens establish the government through agreement and contract and transfer all their rights to it in order to end the war situation and be the final judge of the affairs. This theory of Hobbes was proposed in the field of religious and political ideological controversies, which its roots go back to the late Mid-dle Ages and the conflict between the church and the kingdom regarding the basis of the legitimacy of the government. On this basis, without paying attention to the context of Hobbes's discussion, it is not possible to get a precise understanding of his theory and intention in the "Social Contract" plan. Our goal in this article is to read Hobbes's theory "context-centered" and we use Quentin Skinner's approach. As a result, our question is, in what context was Thomas Hobbes's "social con-tract" about the basis of government legitimacy formed, and what was his intention in proposing it? Our hypothesis is that Thomas Hobbes, in the field of disputes between the church and the kings, based on the two main theories of the absolute authority of the Pope (controversy of installation) and the divine right of kings, to transition from the state of religious-political wars in England, pro-posed a "social contract" and provided a new basis of legitimacy for the establishment of the state.

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