In the Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes has many different things to say about human nature and what drives men to commit certain actions. All of the actions committed by men and Thomas Hobbes theories revolve around two central ideas, competition and desire. And because of competition and desire, people can never reach true happiness. Man’s own desires and need to be better than the next person will stop true happiness. But in order to understand why Hobbes believes this, his view on human nature has to be looked at first. In Chapter 11 of the Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes places great emphasis on desire. Hobbes says that mankind always does whatever it needs to in order to accomplish its desires. When we accomplish one desire, we simply move on to whatever we want next. The progress that is made in accomplishing one desire and moving on to the next one is what he calls Felicity (Leviathan Ch.11). The reasons that men have desires in the first place are because we have a life style that we love and enjoy. So naturally, humans want to do everything they can in order to keep that lifestyle.
So naturally, man will put all of his effort and resources into getting more power and making sure that his wants and desires are met. According to Hobbes, power seems to be the only way man can assure that his lifestyle, wants and needs are maintained. In the Leviathan, Hobbes makes a comparison to Kings. He talks about how kings have all the power in their kingdom and in order to maintain their power, they have to get more. In order to get more power, they take over and conquer other lands. Hobbes says that man is the same way essentially. Men have a need to dominant and take over those that are inferior. Man has a need to cause other bat...
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...In Hobbes world, happiness is not possible because of the selfish desires of man. Men have a constant need for dominance, competition, and being recognized. Man will always have a need to be better than the next man. In order to be better than everyone else, man has to constantly attain power. Getting power always leads to constant violence and death. Basically man is to busy winning wars and being dominant over others to notice what is best for the good of the people. Men only think of themselves instead of contributing to the overall good. When there are a bunch of people who only think of themselves and want they want, overall happiness can’t possibly exist. There will always be a need among men to be better than the next and get more power. Until this type of thinking stops and they focus on the greater good, according to Hobbes, happiness cannot exist.
What is power to a human? As time has gone by, there have been many forms of control and influence in the world. Many strive to achieve total rule over a society or group of individuals. Yet the question still presents itself to the average man. Why does man desire power so greatly even though there is visible trouble that follows? Shelley’s Frankenstein, Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, whether through the situation or the character themselves, depict the evils and hardships due to an imbalance and poor management of power.
Machiavelli divides all states into principalities and republics, principalities are governed by a solitary figure and republics are ruled by a group of people. With Hobbes’ Leviathan a new model for governing a territory was introduced that can no longer be equally divided into Machiavelli's two state categories. Hobbes combines the concepts for governing principalities and republics into a new type of political thought that is similar to and different from Machiavelli. Hobbes, unlike Machiavelli, is on the side of the people and not the armed prophets. Hobbes believes that the function of society is not just merely living, but to have a safe and comfortable life. He believes that by transferring all rights to a sovereign the threat of the state of nature will be diminished. A sovereign elected will be able to represent and protect everyone equally, they are not a ruler of the people but a representative. The Leviathan differs from a principalities and a republics by establishing the institution of the commonwealth through the social contract.
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...
Hobbes and Locke both picture a different scene when they express human nature. Even though they both believed that men naturally have to some extent equality and freedom, what makes their concepts different is the presence or absence of the natural law. In Hobbes' theory, men in their natural state are at constant war, the war of all against all. Another Hobbes belief is that most people are selfish and tend to do everything for their own reason. To Hobbes humans are driven to maximize personal gains so in a world where there are no rules humans are in constant fear of each other as they each try to get as much as they can, enough is never enough.
We will give Hobbes’ view of human nature as he describes it in Chapter 13 of Leviathan. We will then give an argument for placing a clarifying layer above the Hobbesian view in order to account for acts of altruism. Hobbes views human nature as the war of each man against each man. For Hobbes, the essence of human nature can be found when we consider how man acts apart from any government or order. Hobbes describes the world as “a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man.”
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.
Louis P. Pojman uses Leviathan, (1651) author Thomas Hobbes to relate to the situation in the novel Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding’s. In the Lord of the Flies, Golding’s tells a story about how a group of young boys became shipped wrecked on an unidentified, deserted island, and became savages as a result of losing their moral compass through killing. In the mist of being saved at the end, one can only reflect on how ironic that they were saved by a Navy ship that was inadvertently doing the same thing just on a larger scale, and more civilized, than that of which the children were doing. In The Moral Life, Pojman shows Hobbes explanation of this behavioral state by stating “…Human beings always act out of perceived self-interest,
Hobbes argues that human beings are desirous creatures, we are driven by our passions. He suggests that human beings biggest desire is survival. If the desire of survival is satisfied then we seek to pursue our other desires, such as acquire luxury items (Hobbes 1839-45, 58). Hobbes suggests that when we are in conditions where we are not concerned about survival, then we begin to accumulate things (Hobbes 1839-45, 58).
In The Leviathan Thomas Hobbes argues for the establishment of a society that does not contain the elements of its own demise. Hobbes views civil war as a society’s ultimate demise, and the only way to avoid it is for the citizens initially to submit to an absolute political authority. For Hobbes, civil war is inevitable in every type of government except an absolute government. In order to sustain this absolute government, the citizens not only must submit to the absolute political authority, but they must also not partake in activities that actively undermine the absolute political authority’s power. For these reasons, it is clear that Hobbes believes in political obedience and its ability to influence the peace of a society. Furthermore,
Something else that Hobbes made clear in The Leviathan that, similar to himself, all men desire peace. After making this statement, he must justify why, if in fact all men desire peace, they often find themselves in a state of war. This brings about the point that, by nature, all men desire to be better and superior to the men that surround them. However, if all men are created equal, then how can one man be better than all the rest? The answer lies within the equality of man himself. If every man has the means and the ability to acquire what he wants, then when two men that are in close contact with each other desire the same thing, a conflict is inevitably going to arise. There are two motivations for men to seek objects, power, wealth etc. One of these motivations is to preserve ones life. When seeking to preserve ones life, a man will seek only what he needs to survive and he will neglect the luxuries of life that are, in reality, unimportant when one is seeking to maintain ones life. Also, when one seeks to maintain ones life, one will attack and, if need be, kill anyone who threatens their life. In addition to that, when one se...
Hobbes believes that all men are equal insofar as that the weakest man has the power to kill the strongest man. Thus given that every man is vulnerable to any other man, all men have a very strong desire to escape the state where killing each other is acceptable, escape the state of nature. This can be done, simply put by endeavoring peace which coupled with not making war except to defend oneself, is the first law of nature (Leviathan 1, 14).
Hobbes’ Leviathan and Locke’s Second Treatise of Government comprise critical works in the lexicon of political science theory. Both works expound on the origins and purpose of civil society and government. Hobbes’ and Locke’s writings center on the definition of the “state of nature” and the best means by which a society develops a systemic format from this beginning. The authors hold opposing views as to how man fits into the state of nature and the means by which a government should be formed and what type of government constitutes the best. This difference arises from different conceptions about human nature and “the state of nature”, a condition in which the human race finds itself prior to uniting into civil society. Hobbes’ Leviathan goes on to propose a system of power that rests with an absolute or omnipotent sovereign, while Locke, in his Treatise, provides for a government responsible to its citizenry with limitations on the ruler’s powers.
Hobbes believed that human beings naturally desire the power to live well and that they will never be satisfied with the power they have without acquiring more power. After this, he believes, there usually succeeds a new desire such as fame and glory, ease and sensual pleasure or admiration from others. He also believed that all people are created equally. That everyone is equally capable of killing each other because although one man may be stronger than another, the weaker may be compensated for by his intellect or some other individual aspect. Hobbes believed that the nature of humanity leads people to seek power. He said that when two or more people want the same thing, they become enemies and attempt to destroy each other. He called this time when men oppose each other war. He said that there were three basic causes for war, competition, distrust and glory. In each of these cases, men use violence to invade their enemies territory either for their personal gain, their safety or for glory. He said that without a common power to unite the people, they would be in a war of every man against every man as long as the will to fight is known. He believed that this state of war was the natural state of human beings and that harmony among human beings is artificial because it is based on an agreement. If a group of people had something in common such as a common interest or a common goal, they would not be at war and united they would be more powerful against those who would seek to destroy them. One thing he noted that was consistent in all men was their interest in self-preservation.
In Leviathan, Hobbes seems to underestimate the motives of mankind. His pessimistic view of human nature sheds no light on the goods that men do. While human nature may create a sense of personal survival, it does not imply that human nature will lead towards violent behavior. When left to provide for themselves, mankind will work toward a peace that benefits them all. There will always be evil in the world which will disrupt the peace, but in the end the strength of men should triumph.
As discussed previously in earlier chapters, Hobbes continues with the concept of appetite. He introduces the most crucial appetite of human nature, the appetite for power. Power is split up in two different types; natural and instrumental. Hobbes defines natural power as “the eminence of the faculties of body, or mind; as extraordinary strength, form, prudence, arts, eloquence, liberality, and nobility” (Leviathan 54). This meaning that the power obtained by this individual is organic and in good form. On the other hand, riches, friends, and reputations obtain the instrumental power. This chapter speaks a lot of what others deem “worthiness” and what others signify as “dignity.” The measurement of individuals’ qualities in terms of wealth