A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE POLITICAL THEORIES OF THOMAS AQUINAS AND THOMAS HOBBES

Eugene Anowai

Abstract


Thomas Aquinas’ political theories (like Aristotle’s) took off from the basic point of ‘natural law’ as an objective order gotten from the eternal law and then promulgated into some human positive law for the aim of organizing the human society. On the other hand, Thomas Hobbes’ political philosophy had ‘natural right’ as an absolutely justified subjective claim which, far from being dependent on any previous law, order, or obligation, is itself the origin of all law, order, or obligation. Such contrasting understandings between both great thinkers on how the state comes into being and is ordered, make for some quite interesting comparative study between the two political theories. For instance, while Aquinas does not believe in the absoluteness of some earthly sovereign ruler, Hobbes posits that the sovereign, produced from the social contract that formed the state, is absolute and beyond injustice. However, whereas the two theories have quite a number of contrasting points, they also have some similarities between them like in their adoption of monarchy as the best form of government. So, this work aims at a critical study of both philosophies to sieve out the parallels and the meeting points between them.

 

Keywords: Natural law, Eternal law, Sovereign, Injustice, Social contract,, Monarchy


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References


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