Judd Owen, assistant professor of political science at Emory University, attempts to defend the liberal interpretation of Hobbes's political philosophy by demonstrating his promotion of "liberal politics of tolerance” (p. 133). Owen begins by asking the following question: "How can Hobbes's political philosophy be oriented toward a tolerant regime, while being hostile to the granting of unconditional freedoms or rights?" (p. 134). In truth, those who enter a community through the social contract lose almost all of the rights and freedoms they possessed in the state of nature (with the exception of the right of self-defense). However, Owen goes on to explain how the goal of Hobbesian civil society is not the alienation of individual liberties (although individual rights are in fact alienated). On the contrary, this deprivation of rights is only a means of ensuring to the individual the greatest freedom that the individual can truly enjoy. In other words, human beings possess unlimited rights of liberty in the state of nature, but they are neither free nor secure enough to enjoy them without constant threat of violence or death. Thus, individuals consent to engage in civil society because it is the only condition in which they can enjoy a minimum of freedom and true freedom of will. Although the subjects of a Commonwealth must renounce their claims to absolute liberty, sovereign authority and civil law permit a great deal of individual toleration. For example,