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POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Hobbes, Leviathan, and Locke, "The Social Contract"
1. How does Hobbes' account of the State of Nature differ from Locke's? Does the difference in the ways the two philosophers characterize the state of nature have consequences for the provisions of the social contract? If so, what? Which is more plausible?
2. What, according to Hobbes, is the right of nature? What is the law of nature? How are they related to each other? Can there be a conflict between them? If so, how can this conflict be resolved? If not, why not? How do they bear on behavior? On morality?
3. What, according to Locke and Hobbes, are the limits on the social contract? What is it impermissible to sacrifice in order to achieve a state? What justifies these limits?
4. A free rider is someone who takes advantage of the benefits society has to offer but does not shoulder her share of the burdens. Why do free riders constitute a problem for Hobbes' theory? Does Hobbes have the resources to solve the free rider problem?
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