ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -In Leviathan (1651), Hobbes argued that the absolute power of the sovereign was ultimately justified by the consent of the governed, who agreed, in a hypothetical social contract, to obey the sovereign in all matters in exchange for a guarantee of peace and security.

Detailed explanation-2: -In conclusion, Hobbes’ argument for absolute sovereignty derives from his account of how humans act free of constraint, and the need to control the ensuing violence. The best guarantee of peace for Hobbes is the alienation of individual rights to a unified sovereign.

Detailed explanation-3: -Hobbes stated that city or body politic which is one man or one council is called “sovereign” and every member of the body politics is called a “subject” of the sovereign. Sovereignty consists of the power and the strength that every member has transferred to sovereign from themselves by covenant.

Detailed explanation-4: -Hobbes is famous for his early and elaborate development of what has come to be known as “social contract theory”, the method of justifying political principles or arrangements by appeal to the agreement that would be made among suitably situated rational, free, and equal persons.

Detailed explanation-5: -Hobbes and Locke argued that the state had arisen out of a voluntary agreement, or social contract, made by individuals who recognised that only the establishment of sovereign power could safeguard them from the insecurity of the state of nature.