key thinkers

Question 1

Thomas Hobbes
1588-1679

Answer 1

Leviathan - 1651
-born in an era characterised by the search for stability in an inherantly unstable world- shaping his world view
-argues that all forms of social order are preferable to an absence of social order- strong law and order and hierarchy
-pessimistic view of human nature as flawed, selfish and unchangable
-antithesis to englightened liberal ideas
humans need to submit to authority
submission to a strong govt

key ideas
-order- an ordered society should balance the human need to lead a free life
-human nature- humans are needy, vulnerable and easily led astray in attempts to understand the world around them

’ a perpetual and restless desire for power after power that ceaseth only in death’
‘solitary,poor,nasty,brutish and short’
‘a war of all against all’

Question 2

Edmund Burke
1729-1797

Question 2

Micheal Oakeshott
1901-1990

Question 3

Ayn Rand
1905-1982

Question 4

Robert Nozick
1938-2002