Study Questions

Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson

What is the "Leviathan?" Why does Hobbes use this word? Use the picture to help shape your thinking.
By what processes does Hobbes go about naturalizing the nation-state?
Where does God fit into Hobbes's worldview?
What is the "natural" condition of mankind according to Hobbes?
In what way do Native Americans inform Hobbes's worldview? Why does Hobbes need them?
What effects might this worldview have on Native American populations at the time?
Why does Hobbes invoke "reason" and "nature?"

How does Locke justify his opinion of monarchies?
Locke writes extensively regarding the "Law of Nature." Why not just "Law?" What does saying that the law is "natural" imply?
How does Locke's conception of property develop in relation to "The Other?"
How do conceptions of gender and the family play out in the section "Of Political or Civil Society?"
Why does Locke invoke "native peoples" so often in the section, "Of the Beginning of Political Societies?"
In what ways does "By the people, for the people" play out in the section "Of the Ends of Political Society and Government?"
How does Locke deal with the question of revolution/rebellion?
Why is this document written in the way that it is?

What does "progress" mean? What about "development?" Is the term like any other you have encountered in this course?
How does Smith naturalize a Euro-centric progress narrative?
Why does Smith need The Other to conceptualize his narrative?
How does he deal with societies which don't fit his picture of development?
How does Smith naturalize the nation-state in his writing?
How do you define "ease and convenience?"
How do you see progress narratives playing out in the present day?

Why does Ferguson invoke "Nature" so often?
What implicit assumptions are made when Newton and Galileo are used as models of how a society progresses?
Why does Ferguson use different natural phenomena to make his point?
Can progress be stopped? Why or why not? What does it mean if it is stopped?
How can Ferguson's particular worldview be seen as a product of when this was written (1792)