Philosophies of Government:
Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Baron de Montesquieu’s main ideas
Please read the following excerpts taken from Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government, and
Baron de Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws and explain what each quote means. Next, circle the number on a scale of 1 to 5
corresponding with how much you agree or disagree with the quote. After you summarize the quote, explain why you agree
or disagree with the point of view.
Thomas Hobbes: quotation analysis
1. “During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and
such a war, as if of every man, against every man…To this war of every man against every man, this also in consequent; that
nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice have there no place. Where there is no
common power, there is no law, no injustice”.
a) What does this quote mean?
b) On the scale, below, record whether or not you agree or disagree with the statement
1
2
3
4
5
disagree
neutral
agree
c) Explain WHY you agree or disagree
2. “…where every man is enemy to every man, the same is consequent to the time wherein men live without other
security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no
place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain… no culture of the earth; no navigation… no arts; no letters;
no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor,
nasty, brutish, and short.”
a) What does this quote mean?
b) On the scale, below, record whether or not you agree or disagree with the statement
1
2
3
4
5
disagree
neutral
agree
c) Explain WHY you agree or disagree
John Locke: quotation analysis
1. “The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which treats everyone equally. …[B]eing equal and independent, no
one ought to harm another in his life, health or possessions”.
a. What does this quote mean?
b. On the scale, below, record whether or not you agree or disagree with the statement
1
2
3
4
5
disagree
neutral
agree
c. Explain WHY you agree or disagree
2. “Men being…by nature all free, equal, and independent, no one can be…subjected to the political power of another
without his own consent…To protect natural rights governments are established…Since men hope to preserve their
property by establishing a government, they will not want that government to destroy their objectives. When
legislators try to destroy or take away the property of the people, or try to reduce them to slavery, they put
themselves in to a state of war with the people who can then refuse to obey the laws.”
a. What does this quote mean?
b. On the scale, below, record whether or not you agree or disagree with the statement
1
2
3
4
5
disagree
neutral
agree
c.
Explain WHY you agree or disagree
3. “Whensoever...the [government] shall…put into the hands of any other an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and
estates of the people, by this breach of trust they forfeit the power [of] the people…who have a right to resume their
original liberty, and by the establishment of the new [government] provide for their own safety and security.”
a. What does this quote mean?
b. On the scale, below, record whether or not you agree or disagree with the statement
1
2
3
4
5
disagree
neutral
agree
c.
Explain WHY you agree or disagree
Montesquieu Quotation analysis
1. “Democratic and aristocratic states are not in their own nature free. Political liberty is to be found only in moderate
governments; and even in these it is not always found. It is there only when there is no abuse of power. But constant
experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will
go. Is it not strange, though true, to say that virtue itself has need of limits?”
a. What does this quote mean?
b. On the scale, below, record whether or not you agree or disagree with the statement
1
2
3
4
5
disagree
neutral
agree
c.
Explain WHY you agree or disagree
2. “To prevent this abuse, it is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power. A
government may be so constituted, as no man shall be compelled to do things to which the law does not oblige him,
nor forced to abstain from things which the law permits.”
a. What does this quote mean?
b. On the scale, below, record whether or not you agree or disagree with the statement
1
2
3
4
5
disagree
neutral
agree
c.
Explain WHY you agree or disagree
3. “I should be glad to inquire into the distribution of the three powers, in all the moderate governments we are
acquainted with, in order to calculate the degrees of liberty which each may enjoy. But we must not always exhaust a
subject, so as to leave no work at all for the reader. My business is not to make people read, but to make them think.”
a. What does this quote mean?
b. On the scale, below, record whether or not you agree or disagree with the statement
1
2
3
4
5
disagree
neutral
agree
c.
Explain WHY you agree or disagree
Now: Let’s put it all together:
1. How are the ideas of a social contract involved in Hobbe’s theories?
2. How are the ideas of a social contract involved in Locke’s theories?
3. How are Hobbes’ and Locke’s ideas different?
HOBBES
LOCKE
4. How does Baron de Montesquieu’s ideas relate to the concept of limited government?
5. In your own words, describe how the American Government uses the philosophies of Locke
and Montesquieu TODAY.