Hobbes on Democracy
| Published date | 01 September 1999 |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-9256.00101 |
| Author | Alan Apperley |
| Date | 01 September 1999 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
HHobbesobbes On DOn Democracyemocracy
Alan Apperley
1
Hobbes is often cited as a precursor of
modern liberalism, both on the grounds of his
individualism and of his endorsement of
intellectual and moral autonomy. Yet Hobbes
supports absolutist government rather than
democracy. This is partly explained by his
rejection of autonomy understood as self-gov-
ernment. But Hobbes's case against democ-
racy is more comprehensive than this. This
article considers Hobbes's case against
democracy.
Introduction
Hobbes is often treated as a precursor of
modern liberalism, and it is true that there
are elements of Hobbes's political philoso-
phy that many modern liberals would feel at
home with. Hobbes's individualistic (or ato-
mistic) premises, and the fact that he endor-
ses equal natural rights (i.e. liberties) and
holds them to be conceptually prior to
society, lend credibility to the claim that
Hobbes breaks decisively with the Aris-
totelian world and, in doing so, opens the
way for the rise of modern liberalism (e.g.
Macpherson, 1962; Rapaczynski, 1987;
Strauss, 1936). Hobbes's conduciveness to
modern liberalism is also manifest in his
endorsement of the idea of autonomy, an
idea itself central to much contemporary lib-
eral political theory.
Yet despite these liberal credentials,
Hobbes defends, not the liberal-democratic
institutions now endorsed by modern liberal
theorists, but absolutist government. Given
that many liberal arguments, starting from
roughly Hobbesian premises, issue in defen-
ces (more or less quali®ed) of some form of
democracy, it is important to understand how
Hobbes's argument develops, the better to
sharpen our own (more or less quali®ed)
defences of democracy. Much has been writ-
ten on this, and I will not review this vast lit-
erature here. Instead, I propose to take a
more direct line: I will consider Hobbes's
case against democracy.
Hobbes and autonomy
I noted a moment ago that Hobbes endor-
ses the idea of autonomy. This is a concept
that can be understood in many ways, each
having more or less bearing on arguments
about the form of government appropriate
to autonomous beings. It is important then
to consider Hobbes's own understanding of
this idea, the better to understand his rejec-
tion of democracy as a viable form of gov-
ernment.
As Alan Ryan has pointed out, Hobbes
endorses two kinds of autonomy (Ryan,
1988). The ®rst is intellectual autonomy.
Hobbes rejects deference to authority and
endorses self-reliance in the gathering of
knowledge about the world and one's situa-
tion within it: `he that takes up conclusions
on the trust of Authors, and doth not fetch
Politics (1999) 19(3) pp. 165±171
#Political Studies Association 1999. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK
and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. 165
Alan Apperley, University of Wolverhampton
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