Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were two philosophers who lived during the Enlightenment Era that had opposing views on human beings and their behavior. Despite their differences, they both agreed on the fact that wealthy family connections and patronages were very shallow and hypocritical. To other artists that did not have this kind of patronage, the wealth of families was a motive for envy and want. John Locke believed in every human being’s right to have “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” He thought that humans were naturally good and that, if left to their own means, humans would thrive in a peaceful environment. Despite these beliefs, he thought that wealthy family patronages were an unfair way to gain advantage in the world of art. Even during the Enlightenment, artists struggled profusely to be successful. But in this case, since the artist has a patronage, the he can just do anything he wants because he will be paid by the wealthy family. Patronages also came with a certain price because they had to always satisfy contributors, otherwise, less people would be willing to donate. The second philosopher was Thomas Hobbes, his view on human beings was the opposite of John Locke’s beliefs about human beings. Hobbes thought that humans were naturally selfish and evil and if given the opportunity, humans would always fight and never agree on anything. Therefore, Thomas Hobbes thought that artists who obtained patronages were just selfish human beings who always looked to gain advantage over other fellow artists. Even though during the previous periods artistic patronage was very sought after, during the Enlightenment, many writers, painters, etc. wanted to demean those who did have a family supporting his works of art.
You did a good job contrasting the perceptions Enlightenment thinkers Hobbes and Locke had on Restoration society's social inequity. It is clear that research was done not only superficially on Hobbes and Locke, but also on their viewpoints of wealthy family patronages. It’s interesting how you tie in their individual beliefs with how Hobbes or Locke positively and negatively viewed their society at the time. Focusing first on the two Enlightenment thinkers and then on their personal philosophies was a good method of comparing their beliefs and how despite that, their thoughts converged on the same idea that patronages were widely envied throughout the Enlightenment. Your team’s synthesis question adequately answered the synthesis question without being too wordy or confusing.
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