What Is Thomas Hobbes’ Social Contract Theory?
The Social Contract Theory states that some amount of individual liberty must be given up in favor of common security. Thomas Hobbes stated that men would always be in a condition of war if they did what they wanted all of the time.
Thomas Hobbes devised the Social Contract theory in the 17th Century. It stated that common security should be favored and that a bit of individual liberty should be sacrificed by each person to achieve it. Under the Social Contract, the natural right to liberty would be mutually transferred. An example of this would be if someone gave up his right to steal property from his neighbor while the neighbor also gave up that right. Hobbes claimed that this agreement to give up some of the natural right is not an explicit one because we are all born into a civil society with laws and contracts in place.
