Final answer:
Thomas Hobbes is the philosopher who viewed a peaceful, cooperative social order as essential. He advocated for a social contract and absolute monarchy to ensure social peace and avoid the brutish state of nature as outlined in his work Leviathan.
Step-by-step explanation:
The philosopher who believed that a peaceful, cooperative social order based on moral rules is necessary for humans to flourish was Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes argued that in the state of nature, life was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short due to constant fear and competition for resources. To overcome this, he proposed the concept of a social contract, where people collectively agree to surrender their natural rights and give absolute power to a monarch as a means of obtaining peace, stability, and order. Hobbes asserted that this form of government would maintain social peace by enforcing the laws of nature, which he saw as rules based on human reason that promote safety and avoid conflict.
Hobbes detailed his views in his influential work, Leviathan, and is known for his belief in absolute monarchy as the best form of government to ensure a cooperative society. He initiated a new direction in political thought, focused on the individual's rights and the artificial character of political order, which marked a departure from the theocratic justifications of government prevalent in medieval Europe.