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Hobbes, Leviathan State of Nature, cont. PHIL 2345 2008-09. John Rawls on Hobbes. ‘greatest single work of political thought in the English language’; H.’ materialism not key—rather his common sense observations are; H.’s system does not have a theological basis;
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Hobbes,LeviathanState of Nature, cont. PHIL 2345 2008-09
John Rawls on Hobbes • ‘greatest single work of political thought in the English language’; • H.’ materialism not key—rather his common sense observations are; • H.’s system does not have a theological basis; • It is ‘a secular moral system’ • He seeks to provide ‘philosophical knowledge’ of the SC, not explain its origins. • See Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy (Belknap Press, 2007).
Hypothetical character of SoN • Hobbes and Locke claim the SoN has actually existed some time, somewhere; • They invoke ‘America’ as a key example; • ‘…there are many places where they live so now. For the savage people in many places of America…have no government at all;and live at this day in that brutish manner…’ (ch. 13); • H. was unaware of the manner in which the indigenous peoples of the New World governed themselves; • Hence his SoN is effectively hypothetical; • So is the social contract (historical examples are suggestive models only).
Why should SoN = SoW? • If fighting is not actually always occurring, • The threat is always there • We show our awareness of this threat by • Carrying arms (U.S.) • Locking our houses, securing our possessions • Hiring nightwatchmen • And this is where there are police!
Criticisms of SoN = SoW H. ignores the necessity of social relationships, • e.g. of mother-child bond, hunting bands, etc. for human survival. • posits a state that could never have existed; • had it existed, we could have never left it; • in such a state the survival of the species would, arguably, not have been possible. Cf. Aristotle: those outside society are either beasts or gods, not human beings.
Criticisms, cont. • H. has imposed on humans in the S of N attributes that they only first acquire in society–the desire for Gain, Safety and Reputation (Rousseau’s criticism in his Discourse on the Origins ofInequality, Pt. I); • According to Rousseau, the S of N is a reasonably secure and peaceful condition, in which there is little contact among people, and, no war among them; • Human relations with animals are peaceful: • ‘no animal naturally attacks man, except in the case of self-defence’. The savage knows his skills surpass those of animals so he need not fear them. This is not a fearful creature desiring safety and commodious living.
Right of Nature • ‘…the Liberty each man hath, to use his own power.. for the preservation of his own Nature’; • permissive liberty to preserve oneself (biology: survival instinct) • A further right or permission in SoN is ‘to every thing; even to one anothers body’ in pursuit of first right; • We cannot covenant to abandon or transfer this right: • ‘there be some rights, which no man can be understood by any words, or other signes, to have abandoned, or transferred. As first a man cannot lay down the right of resisting them, that assault him by force, to take away his life…’ (ch. 14). • a subject of the Sovereign, after the Social Contract is made, may still resist arrest—this is always his right.
Laws of Nature Prudential, eternal rules derived by reason (rational choice): 1st: endeavour Peace, but in its absence, use 'helps of...Warre'; 2nd: surrender right to all things if others do so as well (mutual cooperation; Prisoner’s Dilemma?); 3d: 'performe Covenants made'--foundation of Justice/Compact.
Laws of Nature • Science of Laws of Nature based on Science of Good/Evil, where • Good/Evil = Appetites/Aversions • Epicurus (ancient Greece) bases his philosophy of pleasure/pain • Passions are no Sin (ch. 13) • Key passion: desire for ‘power after power’, i.e. anything we might want; • No ref. to Christian morality in this stage
Question on SoN (ch. 13) • In the state of nature, every man against every man. There is no society. Men are solitary. • Question: Do humans have offspring and reproduction in the state of nature? • Family is a kind of society. Is family necessary for human reproduction? • Do humans have a natural drive for reproduction, like most animals? • Is it rational to have offspring? • Individual: beneficial? Dangerous? • “Social” (considering all human): better to have more people or less?
Reasons to cooperate/ leave SoN/SoW (ch. 13) • equality of hope & ability • i.e. everyone can hurt everyone else • fear, danger of violent death • own judge/executioner • rt. to each other's bodies • material deprivations • no sociability w/out a power to awe
Why do we exit? • Our Passions : • Especially, fear of death; • Is this a true Prisoner’s Dilemma? • Death is the consequence of remaining in the SoN; • desire for comfort, safety, security, a long life; • hope to obtain it.
Conditions of Compact: • Unconditional covenant of every one w/ every one; no exceptions/free riders: • 'This is more than Consent, or Concord; it is a reall Unitie of them all, in one and the same Person, made by Covenant of every man with every man ...' • Duress allowed? • Yes: 'Covenants entred into by fear, in the condition of meer Nature, are obligatory' and enforced by Fear of reprisal (ch. 14; also ch. 18) • Use of force to enforce the compact: • 'Covenants without the Sword, are but Words‘.
What is Leviathan? • A sea monster representing evil and the forces of chaos (The Bible, Job, 13-29): • Many-headed, scaly, fire-breathing; • Why would Hobbes select this for the title? • ‘that great Leviathan, called a commonwealth or state (in Latin civitas) which is but an artificial man…and in which the sovereignty is an artificial soul’ ( ). • ‘a real unitie of them all’ ( ).
