In 1671, Thomas Hobbes described the natural state of mankind before organized government as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. He described a world where “every man was enemy to every man” and a constant state of fear existed whereby it would be impossible for civilization as known in his time to exist . The three authors subject of this short study; Niall Ferguson, Ian Morris, and David Landes in their works: “Civilization”, “Why the West Rules-For Now” and “The Wealth and Poverty of Nations” respectively, attempt to understand how and why our ancestors were able to adapt and came to dominate their environments and the original natural, geographical and physical constraints and challenges presented by life on planet Earth. In addition, all three works address the question of the current multi-century phase of economic dominance by the “west”, and in attempting to understand that economic dominance they also attempt to determine if there are economic themes or patterns that can predict economic development especially as we know it today.
In “The Wealth and Poverty of Nations”, Landes sets out to answer through historical research, the questions of how and why did we get here, how did the rich countries get so rich, and the poor so poor, and why did Europe become the leader that changed the world. His analysis is based on the economic histories of key countries and regions including Europe and the United States as the base comparators, Japan, China, Latin America, and the Arab regions . Landes’ work is not a recounting of the events or personal deeds involved in the economic history of those regions or countries, but a search for underlying causes, including some that he himself admits have been unfairly discarded b...
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...e physical challenges of surviving on earth.
Although some of this may sound on the surface as deterministic or geographic lock-in as described by Morris, he does not argue that geography is insurmountable. Morris also has a series of themes such as information processing or the ability to make war,
Works Cited
Ferguson, Niall. Civilization - the West and the Rest. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2011.
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press Edition, 2010, 1651 Original
Landes, David. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999.
Morris, Ian. Why the West Rules-for Now: The Patterns of History and What They Reveal About the Future. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010.
The foremost aspects to consider from the Leviathan are Hobbes’s views on human nature, what the state of nature consists of, and what role morality plays. Hobbes assumes, taking the position of a scientist, that humans are “bodies in motion.” In other words, simple mechanical existences motivated solely to gain sati...
Throughout the early chapters of his Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes employs metaphorical devices from such diverse fields as mathematics, mechanics, and even the biology of the human body to describe his political community. In reference to the inception of the body politic, Hobbes compares its artificial origins to the Leviathan, a monster in the Book of Job: "For by art is created that great LEVIATHAN called a COMMONWEALTH, or STATE" (Hobbes 3).1 A biblical monster may initially seem to be an implausible metaphor for Hobbes to choose as a means of advocating his political regime. In addition to Hobbes’s animosity towards conventional Christian practices, the metaphor of the monstrous Leviathan holds negative connotations about the brutal force of the political community for, according to the Book of Job, "None is so fierce as to stir him [the Leviathan] up" (Job 41:10).2 However, the depiction of the body politic that emerges from a comparison with the Leviathan in the Book of Job reveals inherent benefits of Hobbes’s political system that might not be readily perceivable.
Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan provides ample evidence for the tremendous importance of religious frameworks in early-modern Europe as well as religions importance as a lens through which people judged their lives and experiences. Hobbes starts the argument of his political system by describing the nature of man without organized political society. "Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called Warre [war]; and such a warre, as is of every man, against every man."
Available at: http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/thomas_hobbes/leviathan.html Hume, David, 1772 (reprinted in 2004) An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (New York, Barnes and Noble)
Gaynor Ellis, Elisabeth, and Anthony Esler. ""New Economic Thinking"" World History: The Modern Era. Prentice Hall. 186. Print.
The final sentence of that passage, “And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short,” seems to sum up what Hobbes has been leading up to in the first twelve chapters of Leviathan: that without a sovereign power, without Leviathan, the natural life of man is simply horrible. It is a life in which people naturally and constantly seek to destroy one another.
Above anything else, Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan is a creation story and an investigation of human nature. The story begins in a time of chaos and death and through a journey of human development culminates in the establishment of a sustainable and rational society—the commonwealth—led by a sovereign. At a first casual glance, Hobbes’ reasoning of the transformation from the state of nature to the commonwealth is not airtight. A few possible objections can be quickly spotted: the contradictions of natural law with suicide and the civil law to honor even harmful covenants. Hobbes deals with some of these issues and seems to ignore others, but he does address in detail the most significant objection to his theory: the unlimited and unchecked power given to the sovereign. The establishment of the commonwealth culminates in a covenant that grants the sovereign absolute power in enforcing the civil laws of the state, but also guarantees the sovereign’s status as above the law. How does this ensure peace and survival, as is the point of the commonwealth? Hobbes provides many convincing reasons why it would be difficult, counterproductive, and impossible for the sovereign to not be above the law, but in the end, disorder and chaos are worse than any tyranny.
Hobbes, T. (1839-45) The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury; Now First Collected and Edited by Sir William Molesworth, Bart. Vol. 3. Leviathan. London: Bohn. Accessed via: http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/hobbes-the-english-works-vol-iii-leviathan
McNeill, William H., 1998. How the West Won. New York: The New York Review of Books, 2-4
Reich, Robert. “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor Poorer.” The Work of Nations.
Rist, Gilbert. 2002. “Some Thoughts on What is to be Done.” Pp. 238-248 in The History of Development: from Western Origins to Global Faith. London, England: Zed Books.
Coles, Clifton. "Mapping poverty: researchers strive to delineate the world's wealth gaps. (Demography)." The Futurist May-June 2003: 16. Student Resources in Context. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Analysing The West: Unique, Not Universal. Throughout history, Western civilization has been an emerging force behind change in foreign societies. This is the concept that is discussed in the article, the West Unique, Not Universal, written by Samuel Huntington. The author makes a very clear thesis statement and uses a variety of evidence to support it. This article has a very convincing point.
Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, published coincidentally the same year as the Declaration of Independence, is considered by many economic scholars to be the early framework of capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system based on the exchange of goods and services in the marketplace. Supporters of capitalism are convinced that the economic integration of globalization is rooted in the Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” metaphor explains how the entrepreneurial motivation of the individual, a strong workforce and a decentralized market are the driving forces for economic prosperity.
"Causes and Effects of Poverty." Cliffs Notes. Cliffs Notes, n.d. Web. 27 Nov 2013. .