Thomas Hobbes Man without authority is like beast in the wild.

Hobbes believes that man by nature is self-centered and is motivated by self-interest. There must be a continuous and progressive process of mans acquisition of wealth and power in order for him to live and survive. Mans excessive concern is only for its own self and not for the other person. Indeed, as he acquires a number of possessions, man becomes selfish and is capable of ruling the others with an improper use of power. This may result to conflict among individuals as one will harm the others and compete with everyone else in order for him to preserve his power and wealth. It is always a nature of a person to be competitive most especially when he strives for something that he desires. Whatever a man desires, he must take any form of suffering in order to achieve such goal. Yet, the other way of attaining his desire is by using any means he might know whether it may damage the others or not. That is mans self-seeking characteristic that enables him to stay in place. As a result, this makes society a place of constant war and competition, making life nasty and brutish like what Thomas Hobbes said. In this context, individual rights are becoming futile since they are living in a society that is anarchic in nature. Nonetheless, in the creation of the State, mans individual liberty is preserved and protected. According to Hobbes, in order to create sovereign state one must surrender his/her natural rights providing that the state itself is the one responsible for the protection of its people. Indeed, the establishment of a state within a society creates an impact in the level of mans opportunism especially in obtaining power from the rest. The state shall protect its people and shall lead and control societal interactions. Man shall abide the laws of the land provided that the state shall guard their individual rights. There must be an authority that governs among men in order to create harmony and peace.

However, since there is no other entity that can be more powerful than a state, like that of a man, a state is also motivated by its own self-interest and turned to be self-centered and abusive. Everything will go back from where it begins. Hobbesian political principles are realistic. What governs us now is the state where everything runs under its control. People are deprived by their individual rights, and liberty is most likely impossible to attain and that life is nothing but a struggle. This left man to strive hard and continue to compete with everyone else since the state itself is preventing him to enjoy its rights and freedom. Therefore, Thomas Hobbes is right that man is by nature egoistic and society will always be chaotic in nature. John Locke John Locke is a political philosopher that best theorized the idea of empiricism. He believes that the only source of knowledge is something that is perceived. It is through experiences that man can attain wide range of knowledge, which is his sense of perception. In his concept of tabula rasa or which is known as blank page mind tells us that the mind of an individual is like a white sheet of cloth that is free from any form of dirt. However, as man continues to live, he is able to learn and experience things that will render him a source of intelligence. For every action that a man tries to perceive, in the moment of his growth and development and taking into account all his experiences, he is able to put up a good base of knowledge that will give him a better shape of rationality. In the state of nature, man is rational. Man has the capacity to think, that is the power of reason, which makes him the most special creatures among all. Man is becoming more and more rational in the process of acquiring knowledge. An individuals rationality is anchored on the notion of consensus. Consensus is the product of reason of the human beings. In effect to this is the creation of the law. Indeed, the law is the highest form of reason. It is through the government where law is observed and practiced.

John Locke believes that the government itself is the extension of rationality. This means that people, who are born to be rational, come together to form into a single entity and that is called the state. Locke argued that the government derives its powers from the people. Under the state is a government that will nurture the life, liberty, and property of the one being governed. The government will act as an institution that performs strong lawmaking procedures in order to create a productive state. In this notion, the law as the highest form of reason, and the government as the extension of rationality are products of mans constant acquisition of knowledge through his sense of perception and life experiences. Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a political philosopher whose emphasis is on the moral uprightness and values, which of course very distinct to the idea of Hobbes and that of Locke. Rousseau believes that man are born free, but are locked by perpetual chain. Ignorance is the reason why man is barred from its freedom. He also believes that it is not only through knowledge alone, but through a particular will that man can attain his personal end. This means that an application of knowledge enables man to arrive in his desired interest. Truly, Rousseau believes that man by nature is rational. Yet, since he lives in an irrational society, he also becomes susceptible with the nature of the society he lives in. Thus, an irrational society creates an irrational man. Rationality is something to be worked for. This means, there must be an existence of freedom within a society since it is through freedom where a society can achieve rationality. Central to the political philosophy of Rousseau is his concept of general will. The general well-being and common preservation can be attained possibly through general will, which Rousseau claimed as a single body with common interest. It is indeed, a will with the most rational nature. It is through general will that can make a state a successful state. Through it, the state can achieve its objectives. The general will speaks nothing but the equality among people. It talks about how the state protects its people and preserves their individual rights and freedom.

Immanuel Kant Kantian principle teaches us that individuals must treat each other as ends. However, as people live in a society, they tend to increase their level of necessity. Man is a wanting animal indeed. It is the very nature of man to desire things even he has potentials to achieve such goals or doesnt have at all. Thus, there is a situation that whenever a man needs something that is unreachable, he will try any kind of means in order to achieve it. As said, man will try to get everything according to his wish. In relation to the use of power, man will always preserve his supremacy to constantly enjoy the benefits he gets. In politics, the government has the biggest potential in the exercise of its power towards the people. If the government is oppressive, people will react on it and will manage in establishing reasons for reformation. What Kant believes is realistic that even that even governments right now has lost its essence as the peoples protector of freedom and rights. Whenever a government is corrupt, it creates a chaotic society where man is also chaotic in nature. Presence of wars is most likely to happen. Thus, the attainment of peace and order become more and more unrealistic. Kantian principle states that every man in a society should be treated as ends, not as means. It can only be achieved once the moral basis of conduct is determined and if society will live by the norms that observe and uphold the principle of non-contradiction. Man should live by the norms and must conform to the laws of the land. By this, equality among men is visible. Central also to the principles of Immanuel Kant is the preservation and protection of intellectual freedom. This means that one must observe the right conduct in dealing with to the opinions of others. One must not allow prejudice and must respect the views of others to create a harmonious society that will later on produce a rational and responsible man.

Adam Smith Adam Smith is known as the Father of Classical Economics who contributed important elements in the study of allocating scarce resources. He introduced in his book, The Wealth of Nations, the theory of Laissez-Faire. Laissez-Faire means let-us-be economics. He believes that a market is a self-regulating market and there is only a minimal intervention from the government since the market will fix itself. This is the notion of the term invisible hand. This is a principle of Smith that believes in a self-correcting market. In means that the market will work on its own in order sustain its self. In line with this is the study of the nature of man, which Smith defined as selfish and egoistic. Indeed, man by nature is a protecting individual. It simply means that man will allocate himself a number of resources to sustain everything he desires. If he succeeded in the process of acquisition of wealth and power, he will become a man with great possessions. In this context, Adam Smith theorizes that man allocates resources to sustain his needs and wants. The acquisition of power that threatens the welfare of the others is an example of an economic panorama that best illustrates man as self-centered individual. That is the notion of self-interest advantage. It is in the nature of man to enrich his interests by serving himself at first and leaving the others as part of his possessions. Self-interest advantage in the world of economics helps us understand societys division of classes. We can see it in the presence of capitalism, most especially in countries that are capitalist in nature. When you try to visualize it, you can clearly see the division of social classes. Capitalists, those who are self-centered animals are manipulating the market and only paying their laborers in the manner of following the minimum wage policy. The presence of capitalism in the unpredictable world of economics is, indeed, tantamount to self-centeredness, which in effect only those who are powerful will enjoy in the market. This is Adam Smiths idea of self-interest advantage. Truly, capitalism procreates a number of competitions in the market. This gives as the idea that man is by nature competitive. Since man fight for the attainment of his wants, he continues to struggle and compete with the others. This makes man as a competitive animal. Indeed, man will continue to struggle to reach the level of satisfaction.

Submitted to: Mr. Elias Patriarca

Submitted by: Reynaldo D. Ponteras Jr. ABPO4