POLITICAL AND LEGAL VIEWS OF THOMAS HOBBES AND JOHN LOCKE ON STATE POWER

Abstract

The article examines and analyzes the political concepts of T. Hobbes and J. Locke, defines the main aspects of the state of nature, the formation and functioning of the state according to T. Hobbes; the main aspects of the state of nature, the formation and functioning of the state according to J. Locke are defined; common and distinctive features of the political theories of prominent philosophers are examined. In the political philosophy of T. Hobbs, the idea of internal disobedience, freedom of conscience as «the rights of man and citizen» was developed, that the state government must recognize, and not just allow, the personal independence of its citizens, their right to act at their own discretion. The notions and concepts he used were later applied by Locke in his own theory. It is noted that J. Locke formulated the state-legal ideal of bourgeois society for the first time, and his teaching had a significant impact on the formation of legal knowledge and the establishment of bourgeois constitutional government in the countries of not only Europe, but also America. T. Hobbes and J. Locke, justifying the nature of the state, took the theory of the «social contract » as a basis, which in itself endows their philosophical views on the origin of the state with a number of common features. However, philosophers differently interpreted the state of nature, the content of the social contract, the public state, and, ultimately, the state itself. So, despite the common basic theory and construction, they end up with almost diametrically opposed state systems. The concept of T. Hobbes is defined by many researchers as absolutist, and J. Locke as liberal. Locke is the founder of the liberal-democratic tradition in Western political thought, his influence is visible both in the American Constitution and in the manifestos of the times of the French Revolution, and later in the development of modern liberalism, and his works played a significant role in the development of theories of natural rights, constitutionalism and tolerance Hobbes made the first systematic study of the political mechanism from the point of view of its authoritarian nature. That is, the first conceptual analysis of the nature of power, which is at the core of any political mechanism as such. It is concluded that considering how the works of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke influenced the development of modern Western liberal political theory, the study of their political concepts helps in understanding the path taken by European legal thought, which is important for understanding modern political processes.