Political Science · Western Political Thought
UGC NET December 2015 Political Science
Which one of the following statements of Hobbes was wrong?
AState of nature was pre-political and pre-social
BSovereign was a party to the contract ✓ Correct
CHuman nature was dominated by acquisitive instinct and love of glory
DMan in the state of nature was solitary, nasty, brutish and short
Correct answer: (B) Sovereign was a party to the contract — The wrong statement is that the sovereign was a party to the contract.
Explanation
★The wrong statement is that the sovereign was a party to the contract.
★In Hobbes the covenant is made among the subjects themselves, each surrendering rights to a common power.
★The sovereign is created by that covenant but stands outside it, so it is never a party and cannot be bound by it.
★This is why the sovereign is absolute, indivisible, and not answerable to the people who instituted it.
★Hobbes does hold the other three points, that the state of nature is pre-social, driven by appetite and glory, and that life there is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
★The sovereign's position outside the contract is the foundation of his theory of undivided sovereignty.
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