Who described freedom as 'silence of laws'?

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Accepted Answer

The correct option is 1:

**The correct option is 1:** Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), an English philosopher best known for his work *Leviathan*, is the political thinker who famously described freedom, or liberty, as the 'silence of laws'. In his political philosophy, Hobbes argues that the absolute power of the sovereign state is necessary to maintain security and prevent a return to the 'state of nature', which he viewed as a 'war of all against all'. Since man transfers almost all rights to the sovereign in the social contract to gain security, the individual's remaining liberty exists only in those areas where the sovereign has not deemed it necessary to legislate. Where the law is silent, the subject is free to act or forbear at their discretion. This view prioritizes security over liberty, establishing a clear link between the authority of the law and the boundaries of freedom.

**The incorrect option is 2:** Isaiah Berlin

Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997) is renowned for his essay *Two Concepts of Liberty*, where he distinguished between negative liberty ('freedom from') and positive liberty ('freedom to'). Negative liberty is the freedom from interference by others, often equating to the absence of external obstacles, including laws. However, Berlin's framework is far more nuanced than Hobbes's 'silence of laws', and he did not use this specific phrase. His contribution lies in identifying the dangers inherent in the pursuit of positive liberty when it is confused with forced self-mastery.

**The incorrect option is 3:** Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) was a prominent British philosopher, logician, and social critic. While he wrote extensively on social and political issues, including the role of the state and individual freedom, his philosophical contributions are mainly associated with logic and analytical philosophy. He did not propose the doctrine of 'silence of laws'; his views on liberty were generally framed within modern liberal thought, which emphasizes rights and legal guarantees rather than defining liberty purely by the gaps in legislation.

**The incorrect option is 4:** John Locke

John Locke (1632–1704), another key social contract theorist, viewed liberty differently from Hobbes. For Locke, liberty in the state of nature is governed by the Law of Nature, and in civil society, freedom means being under no legislative power but that established by consent. Locke famously argued that "where there is no law, there is no freedom," contrasting directly with Hobbes's assertion. Locke believed that law is what *preserves* and *enlarges* freedom, not merely defines its absence, making the phrase 'silence of laws' inconsistent with his core political philosophy.