Hobbes And Morality

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Morals are something that everyone has. Hobbes and Korsgaard both have their ideas and theories about morality. Whether those morals are what society says are right or wrong is up to the individual person to decide. Hobbes view is called egoism which says that everyone only acts out of self-interest, and that we cannot have obligations without authority. Korsgaard wants to not just explain those obligations we have to each other, but she also wants to justify them. In this essay I will talk about Hobbes and Korsgaard, and their differing positions on morality.
Thomas Hobbes main theory about morality is known as the State of Nature. Hobbes says that right and wrong are based on contracts that we make with each other within in a government. The State of Nature says that all people are born equal, but we do everything in our power to overpower one another. We are less likely to fight each other if we know who is in charge, however, Hobbes says don’t know who is in charge and that is why we fight each other more. Hobbes also talks about the “right of nature”. This basically states that if we as humans, need to hurt someone else in order to better ourselves, then it is okay, not wrong. Anything we need to do to better ourselves, even hurt others is acceptable.
Hobbes also talks about reason and because of reason, there are laws that we can all agree on, these are called natural laws. Hobbes’s natural laws say that 1. Man ought to seek peace, if not he may use advantages of war and 2. Men should be willing to lay down their arms when others do. The first point states that since peace is easier to live with, people should try harder to achieve peace on their own without any kind of fighting or war. An example of the second point is...

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...ty. Practical identity is the way a person chooses to identify themselves with. For example, I identify myself as a good person. Someone else may identify themselves as a bad person, but it is only that individual that can decide what they are identified as.
All in all, I feel that Hobbes and Korsgaard both have their own ideas about what morality is and what it entails. I am going to have to agree with Hobbes on this topic. I agree when he says that everyone acts out of self-interest because it is true. If people knew that they could go to a clothing store or an electronic store and take anything they wanted without any chance of getting caught and no consequences, I think more people than not would jump at the chance. I also agree what he says about the natural laws, rights, etc.. These are all things we see today, so it is very relevant in our culture today.

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