Episode 36: Leviathan

Social Contract Theory is a theory that the State's legitimate and justified authority over the individual is based on a mutual agreement between the individual and the State. In theory, we agree to give up certain rights (e.g. the right to steal your neighbor's cows) and in exchange, the State protects our other rights (e.g. the right to private property). Thomas Hobbes was one of the earliest proponents of Social Contract Theory. Writing in the bloody aftermath of the English Civil War, Hobbes argued that the State's authority is only justified if it can maintain peace and prevent civil war. However, Hobbes concluded that the only way a State can prevent civil war is if it is ruled by a Sovereign with absolute, unlimited power: the Leviathan.