The classic argument in favour of government is found in social-contract
theories, first proposed by seventeenth-century philosophers like Thomas
Hobbes (see p. 123) and John Locke (see p. 268). Social-contract theory, in
fact, constitutes the basis of modern political thought. In Leviathan ([1651]
1968), Hobbes advanced the view that rational human beings should
respect and obey their government because without it society would
descend into a civil war ‘of every man against every man’. Social-contract
theorists develop their argument with reference to an assumed or
hypothetical society without government, a so-called ‘state of nature’.
Hobbes graphically described life in the state of nature as being ‘solitary,
poor, nasty, brutish and short’. In his view, human beings were essentially
power-seeking and selfish creatures, who would, if unrestrained by law,
seek to advance their own interests at the expense of fellow humans. Even
the strongest would never be strong enough to live in security and without
fear: the weak would unite against them before turning upon one another.
Quite simply, without government to restrain selfish impulses, order and
stability would be impossible. Hobbes suggested that, recognizing this,
rational individuals would seek to escape from chaos and disorder by
entering into an agreement with one another, a ‘social contract’, through
which a system of government could be established.