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Hobbes's view of human nature
Hobbes's view of human nature
The state of nature according to Hobbes
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The Fear of Nature: Hobbes and the State of Nature
Thomas Hobbes is a philosophical thinker that is notoriously known for being born with fear, it is because of this fear that he contemplates the lack of a society, or restrictions on individuals. The state of nature, in which all individuals are equal and have rights to everything, a state in which an individual lives in constant fear and cannot fulfill any self-preservation of their own life, at least, not for an extended period of time. Hobbes provides insight into why individuals prefer to escape the state of nature, and how the escape is accomplished within the Leviathan, including Social Contract Theory and the formation of a society.
The state of nature, for Hobbes, is one of grief, as he describes the many conflicts that may arise in nature, amongst humans, in the Leviathan. The state of nature is pretty self-explanatory, but it includes the lack of laws or a civilization that
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There are cases in which the sovereign may take advantage of their non-revoked rights, such as taking things from others, which Hobbes considers to be taxes, meaning that the sovereign is comparable to a governing authority, Hobbes does not think that contracts will last without a governing force, and, although, threats still exist within the society, whether they originate from others within the society or the sovereign, Hobbes believes, at this point, people are capable of living normal lives in which they are not constantly in a state of
He states that, “Every one with every one...Shall be given by the major part, the right to present the person of them all” (Hobbes [1651] 2013). Thus, a democratic form of governance is beginning to emerge, and the responsibility of the sovereign is to form laws that avoid returning to a state of nature. Essentially, Hobbes presents a way of government that appears optimal, and capable of lasting a long term. The elected sovereign is not to be overthrown because through the unanimous decision of members of the state the sovereign was chosen, and maintain authority through deliverance of suitable laws (Hobbes [1651] 2013). Thus, citizens are more likely to comply with this form of government because they maintain the impression that their sovereign only looks out for their best interests, as well as recognizes what is best for them because he was chosen to be in
...d seek peace. In establishing a covenant and instituting a sovereign, men give up the rights they possessed in the state of nature, as well as the right to live without tyranny. However for Hobbes, those sacrifices are overshadowed by what is gained by living under a truly absolute sovereign. A sovereign, corrupt or not, guarantees order and prevents chaos and death. Those are, word for word, the reasons the social contract was initially established and therefore fully justify the creation of an absolute sovereign. Thomas Hobbes, who wrote Leviathan during the English Civil Wars, looked out his window at chaos and decided that survival should be pursued at all costs.
Thomas Hobbes believes that the optimal form of authority is one that has absolute power over its people, consisting of just one person who will retain the exclusive ability to oversee and decide on all of society’s issues. This Sovereign will be constituted by a social contract with the people. With that, the Sovereign will hold all of the citizens’ rights, and will be permitted to act in whichever way he or she deems necessary. The philosopher comes to this conclusion with deductive reasoning, utilizing a scientific method with straightforward arguments to prove his point.
Likewise, enhancing culture by producing art, music, or writing would not be practical in a state of nature, because the lack of security and compensation would make perusing such a field unsafe. Without law, there would be no viable way to publish a person’s work. Instead of sharing with others, humans would merely live to fear death. Therefore, Hobbes concludes the passage by saying that the state of nature would lead to “continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”1. Without the contracts that bond a society, humans would fear other humans. They would always be at risk to the “danger of violent death”1 as humans would act violently towards other humans to achieve their desires. So, in a state of nature, a human would likely maintain a solitary lifestyle to avoid conflict with other humans. A human would also live a “poor, nasty, [and] brutish”1 lifestyle without seeking the help of other people who have their own strengths. Also, without the influence of culture, a human may struggle to assign themselves an identity or a goal to pursue. Life
Thomas Hobbes is now broadly viewed as one of a smaller group of truly extraordinary political thinkers, whose major work was the Leviathan rivals in meaning the political writings of Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, and Rawls. Hobbes is most known for his for his early and elaborate development of what has come to be known as “social contract theory”, the method of justifying political principles or arrangements by appeal to the agreement that would be made among suitably situated rational, free, and equal persons. He is most famous for using his theory on the social contract to submit that human beings should submit to an absolute—undivided and unlimited—sovereign power (Lloyd, 2014) Hobbes wanted to ascertain the clear values for the construction of a civil organization that would not be subject to destruction from within. Hobbes maintains the ideology that people should look at their government as having absolute authority, while arguing that the government has absolute power he reserves the idea that we have the liberty of disobeying some of our government's instructions. He argues that subjects retain a
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.
Hobbes has presented to the reader a geometric and organized map of an ideal governing situation. Man is a product of nature. But the interpretation of nature is purely a social construction. Nature is what it is; yet man, through his own filter of subjectivity, creates his own understanding of nature and its universal purpose. So the concept of truth in nature is hardly truth at all, but merely a creation of man so that he can understand the incomprehensible. Then what exactly is the truth of man's existence? To put it plainly, man has little power over nature. This causes the life of man to be, in Hobbes's own words, "nasty, brutish, and short." Fundamentally, in man's "natural condition of mankind" there is a constant, mechanical search for sustenance- food, housing, and power. Man is put in a situation of constant battle of wills in order to survive. In Hobbes's terms this is the State of Nature. Man needs to escape this state, and Hobbes offers a theoretically viable solution. By accepting the basic Law of Nature (the right of self-preservation) man hereby accepts a social contract. The contract generally provides man with peace, and ...
One of the most important foundations of Hobbes political philosophy is his reasoning for the importance of government. Hobbes argues that without the presence of government human life would be unbearable, in fact he even goes as far as to say that without government we would live a life of everlasting war with one another. In this paper I will support Hobbes’ claims as to why government is vital, I will also compare Hobbes’ description of the state of nature to the state of the world today.
Thomas Hobbes begins The Leviathan by establishing the idea that all men are created equal, although every man perceives himself as smarter than the next. As Hobbes says: "[men] will hardly believe there are many so wise as themselves; for they see their own wit at hand, and other men's at a distance" (25). He then argues for psychological egoism, describing mankind as driven by self-interest and, ultimately, only self-interest. This leads mankind to a constant state of war where human beings will pit themselves against each other in competition because "if any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies: (25). Hobbes explains that in a natural state of war, chaos ensues and man will do whatever is necessary to preserve their own lives and genetics, even if it means lying, stealing, murder, or rape. He also approves of such actions in a state of war, because, according to Hobbes, it is every human being's Right of Nature to seek self-preservation. The only thing that prevents people from going about doing these things are the Laws of Nature. A Law of Nature is a general rule discovered by mankind through reason that forbids a person from doing anything self-destructive and gives them the right to self-preservation. Hobbes' Laws of Natures are the means by which, in a state of chaos, order can be established, giving each person their best chance at survival.
In sophisticated prose, Hobbes manages to conclude that human beings are all equal in their ability to harm each other, and furthermore that they are all capable of rendering void at will the covenants they had previously made with other human beings. An absolutist government, according to Hobbes, would result in a in a society that is not entirely focused on self-preservation, but rather a society that flourishes under the auspices of peace, unity, and security. Of all the arguably great philosophical discourses, Hobbes in particular provides one of the surest and most secure ways to live under a sovereign that protects the natural liberties of man. The sovereign government is built upon the idea of stability and security, which makes it a very intriguing and unique government indeed. The aforementioned laudation of Hobbes and his assertions only helps to cement his political theories at the forefront of the modern
Hobbes explanation of the state and the sovereign arises from what he calls “the State of Nature”. The State of Nature is the absence of political authority. There is no ruler, no laws and Hobbes believes that this is the natural condition of humanity (Hobbes 1839-45, 72). In the State of Nature there is equality. By this, Hobbes means, that there is a rough equality of power. This is because anyone has the power to kill anyone (Hobbes 1839-45, 71). Hobbes argues that the State of Nature is a violent, continuous war between every person. He claims that the State of nature is a state of w...
����������� Thomas Hobbes is an important political and social philosopher. He shares his political philosophy in his work Leviathan. Hobbes begins by describing the state of nature, which is how humans coped with one another prior to the existence of government. He explains that without government, �the weakest has the strength to kill the strongest� (Hobbes 507). People will do whatever it takes to further their own interests and protect their selves; thus, creating a constant war of �every man against every man� (Hobbes 508). His three reasons for people fighting amongst each other prior to government include �competition,� �diffidence,� and �glory� (Hobbes 508). He explains how men fight to take power over other people�s property, to protect them selves, and to achieve fame. He describes life in the state of nature as being �solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short� (Hobbes 508). Hobbes goes on to say that if men can go on to do as they please, there will always be war. To get out of this state of nature, individuals created contracts with each other and began to form a government.
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).
...rbitrary power to transfer. Secondly, a government which is not bound by standing laws is really no government at all because it remains in a state of nature with its citizens. Thirdly, the Hobbesian sovereign’s right to take away his subjects’ property makes the establishment of this form of government absurd, because the purpose of government is primarily the protection of property. Absolute arbitrary government comes about when the legislature exceeds its authority. A legislature that abuses its power against it’s subjects’ interests is guilty of rebellion. In essence then, the government which Hobbes proposes to exit the state of war, would, for Locke either directly introduce or set the stage for civil war.
Hobbes believes that if there is no government then it will lead to a state of war. This is because the people can have different judgement which cause them to not have an agreement on what the government should contain. This means that the people did not view each other as equal and did not have the same morals as Locke would believe in. It can also lead to a state of war if the people don’t have the right to property since it will cause the peace to break. However, the only type of state Hobbes believes in is the Leviathan state that has only one