Hobbes vs. Locke: Contrasting Visions of Politics, Freedom, and Property in Shaping Legitimate Government

Content:In this assignment, you are asked to compose an essay on an important thematic question concerning Machiavelli’s Prince, Hobbes’s Leviathan, and/or Locke’s Second Treatise in response to one of the prompts below. Your task is to explain and analyze the relevant philosopher’s or philosophers’ thought(s) through rigorous interpretation of their writing(s). The idea is for you to make an argument about what they think on the basis of careful consideration of evidence from the text(s). Since they all convey their thoughts in a highly elusive and indirect way, doing this will require close and deep engagement with the text(s) relevant to your chosen prompt. Showing that you have done this is essential to doing well on this assignment.Compare and contrast Hobbes’s and Locke’s respective understandings of the purpose of politics. Be sure to address the differences in their understandings of the relation of freedom and property to self-preservation. How are the similarities and differences between their understandings of the purpose of politics reflected in their conceptions of the structure of legitimate government? (Discussion of Chapter XVIII of Hobbes’s Leviathan, which is included on D2L but was not required reading, will be necessary.) Whose position is superior? Why?Instructions:Your essay should be 3-4 typed, double-spaced pages in length; use 12-point, Times New Roman font; and have 1-inch margins. You should give your essay a title. Do not include your name or any other identifying information in the document as the document will be entered into the Turnitin database. When quoting, paraphrasing, or explaining passages from the text, be sure to cite the page or paragraph numbers for those passages parenthetically in the text of your essay. For The Prince, cite the page number, e.g., (15). For Leviathan, cite the chapter and paragraph numbers, e.g., (XVII.1). For The Second Treatise, cite the paragraph number, e.g., (132). Generally, the author to whom you are referring should be clear in the text and therefore needn’t be included in parenthetical citations. Include the author’s name only if this isn’t clear, e.g., (Hobbes, XIII.3). Only indicate the title if you are discussing multiple works by the same author in the same essay and the work to which you are referring is not clear in the text. There should be a “work(s) cited” or bibliography page at the end of the paper even if you’re writing on only one text (this does not count toward the required 3-4 pages). This is not a research paper, so you are not permitted to use secondary literature.