Hobbesian social contract
E145015
The Hobbesian social contract is a political theory that people collectively surrender certain freedoms to an absolute sovereign in order to escape the chaos and violence of the natural state and secure peace and security.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Hobbesian social contract canonical | 1 |
| Hobbesian sovereignty | 1 |
| Hobbesianism | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1268317 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Hobbesian social contract Context triple: [Thomas Hobbes, subjectOf, Hobbesian social contract]
-
A.
Doctrine of Right
The Doctrine of Right is the part of Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy that systematically analyzes the principles of law, justice, and external freedom within a rightful civil and political order.
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B.
The Social Contract
The Social Contract is a seminal 1762 political philosophy treatise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau that argues legitimate government is based on a collective agreement formed by the general will of the people.
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C.
Two Treatises of Government
Two Treatises of Government is a seminal 17th-century political philosophy work that argues for natural rights, government by consent, and the right of revolution against tyranny.
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D.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society
An Essay on the History of Civil Society is a 1767 work by Scottish philosopher Adam Ferguson that analyzes the development of human societies, social institutions, and civic virtue within the broader context of Enlightenment thought.
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E.
Foundations of Natural Right
Foundations of Natural Right is a seminal philosophical work by Johann Gottlieb Fichte that systematically develops a theory of law, rights, and the state grounded in his transcendental idealism.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Hobbesian social contract Target entity description: The Hobbesian social contract is a political theory that people collectively surrender certain freedoms to an absolute sovereign in order to escape the chaos and violence of the natural state and secure peace and security.
-
A.
Doctrine of Right
The Doctrine of Right is the part of Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy that systematically analyzes the principles of law, justice, and external freedom within a rightful civil and political order.
-
B.
The Social Contract
The Social Contract is a seminal 1762 political philosophy treatise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau that argues legitimate government is based on a collective agreement formed by the general will of the people.
-
C.
Two Treatises of Government
Two Treatises of Government is a seminal 17th-century political philosophy work that argues for natural rights, government by consent, and the right of revolution against tyranny.
-
D.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society
An Essay on the History of Civil Society is a 1767 work by Scottish philosopher Adam Ferguson that analyzes the development of human societies, social institutions, and civic virtue within the broader context of Enlightenment thought.
-
E.
Foundations of Natural Right
Foundations of Natural Right is a seminal philosophical work by Johann Gottlieb Fichte that systematically develops a theory of law, rights, and the state grounded in his transcendental idealism.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
concept in political philosophy
ⓘ
political theory ⓘ social contract theory ⓘ |
| aimsAt |
order
ⓘ
peace ⓘ security ⓘ |
| assumes |
humans are driven by self-preservation and fear of violent death
ⓘ
pre-political state of nature is a condition of war of all against all ⓘ rational individuals will consent to strong authority to avoid chaos ⓘ |
| basedOnWork | Leviathan ⓘ |
| category | early modern political philosophy ⓘ |
| contrastsWith |
Two Treatises of Government
ⓘ
surface form:
Lockean social contract
Rousseauian social contract ⓘ |
| critiquedFor |
justifying absolute authority
ⓘ
pessimistic view of human nature ⓘ weak protection of individual rights ⓘ |
| developedBy | Thomas Hobbes ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
fear of violent death as a motive for political obedience
ⓘ
need for undivided sovereignty ⓘ priority of security over liberty ⓘ |
| entails |
authorization of sovereign power by the people
ⓘ
limited right of resistance when life is directly threatened ⓘ obligation of subjects to obey the sovereign ⓘ transfer of natural rights to a sovereign ⓘ |
| field |
political philosophy
ⓘ
political theory ⓘ |
| hasCoreIdea |
aims to secure peace and security
ⓘ
individuals collectively surrender certain freedoms to a sovereign ⓘ legitimacy of political authority arises from a contract among individuals ⓘ purpose is to escape the state of nature ⓘ |
| historicalPeriod | 17th century ⓘ |
| influenced |
debates on authoritarianism and security
ⓘ
modern theories of sovereignty ⓘ realist political thought ⓘ |
| justifies |
creation of a commonwealth
ⓘ
submission of individuals to common laws ⓘ |
| namedAfter | Thomas Hobbes ⓘ |
| presupposes |
absence of overarching authority in the state of nature
ⓘ
mutual fear among individuals in the state of nature ⓘ |
| relatesToConcept |
civil society
ⓘ
natural rights ⓘ political obligation ⓘ sovereign ⓘ state of nature ⓘ |
| requires |
absolute or near-absolute sovereignty
ⓘ
centralized political authority ⓘ monopoly of coercive force by the sovereign ⓘ |
| viewsHumanNatureAs |
roughly equal in vulnerability and capacity to harm
ⓘ
self-interested ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Hobbesian social contract Description of subject: The Hobbesian social contract is a political theory that people collectively surrender certain freedoms to an absolute sovereign in order to escape the chaos and violence of the natural state and secure peace and security.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Hobbesian sovereignty
this entity surface form:
Hobbesianism