Hobbes's contractarian framework, which Spinoza directly engages and rejects, treats sovereignty as transferable, whereas Spinoza holds that natural right cannot be permanently alienated.

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Key Terms

Alienated(as describing what happens when ethical life breaks down): A state where people feel separated from their work, community, or own humanity—where life feels imposed on them rather than genuinely theirs.
Contractarian framework(political philosophy and ethics): A way of thinking about society based on the idea that people agree to follow rules and accept duties in exchange for protection and benefits—like an imaginary contract everyone signs up for.
Hobbes: # Hobbes Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher from the 1600s who wrote about how governments and society should work. He is most famous for arguing that without a strong ruler or government, human life would be chaotic and dangerous—a state he called "the war of all against all." His ideas greatly influenced modern thinking about why we need laws, governments, and social order to protect people from harming each other.
Natural right(as something Spinoza believed cannot be given away permanently): A right that people are born with or that comes from human nature itself, like the right to survive or act freely—as opposed to rights given by government.

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Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza was a 17th-century Dutch philosopher who argued that God and nature are the same thing, and that everything in the universe is interconnected as one unified whole. He believed that understanding how things work through reason and logic—rather than through emotion or superstition—leads to happiness and freedom. His ideas were revolutionary for his time and continue to influence modern philosophy, theology, and how we think about the relationship between mind and body.

Hobbes's contractarian framework, which Spinoza directly engages and rejects, treats sovereignty as transferable, whereas Spinoza holds that natural right cannot be permanently alienated.

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