Early LiberalsThomas Hobbes

Why Hobbes?John Locke

• People can be rational and have ‘NATURAL RIGHTS’• But people are competitive and self-interested• State of nature: A war of everyone against everyone• Man should therefore exchange his natural rights for protection, peace and stability from a ‘mortal god’.

• People have natural rights – life, libertu, property ownership, pursuit of happiness.• People are social and can work together and man should take into account interests of others - TOLERANCE.• Government has to be established by consent – SOCIAL CONTRACT• If government abuses NATURAL RIGHTS the people have the right to cancel the contract and dissolve government.

Utilitarianism

• Closely linked to the thinker JEREMY BENTHAM.• Saw notion of NATURAL RIGHTS as ‘nonsense on

stilts’• All humans are dominated by drives that lead

them to pursue pleasure and avoid pain.• Believed it was possible to calculate how much

‘utility’ (satisfaction/happiness) each individual could derive from consuming certain goods.

• So governments could add to sum of utility by taking certain actions which most people preferred.

• Can you identify three major problems with this view?

1.Simplistic view of what motivates individuals. A new car vs an education..

2.Opens door to excessive government intervention.

3.Could lead to the ‘tyranny of the majority’

ENTER, John Stuart Mill!