Comment on the Hobbesian notion of Political Obligation in 150 words
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 define obligation (duty to obey state/law) → stake: nearly unlimited, self-imposed to flee war of all against all
Route 2 start from fear / state of nature → escape needs one final authority → obedience is the price of peace
covenant as ground → Ebenstein: sovereign is the creation, not a party; pact is among subjects → each authorises sovereign’s acts as his own → disobedience contradicts one’s own will → relapse into state of nature
obligation not blind → holds only while sovereign protects life → self-preservation inalienable → no duty to obey a command of self-destruction
Route 1 ground debated: Taylor’s prudence vs Warrender’s natural law → fear + consent + duty, yet bounded by right to live
Route 2 obligation strong but conditional → protection is the real measure → individual never fully absorbed by Leviathan
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
Also asked on this head
Western Political Thought — 29 questions in the Vault.
- Mill’s work was crucial to the development of liberalism, because it straddled the divide between classical and modern theories. Analyze.
- “Fortune favours the brave.” In the light of this statement, discuss Machiavelli’s concepts of ‘virtue’ and ‘fortune’.
- Hannah Arendt analysed a few categories of vita activa. Explain.
How this is taught
The same flow snapshot, built for every head of the syllabus, with the answer written in class.
The first session of Foundation 2027 is published in full.
Six programmes across three levels.