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Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan Controversy and Political Theories of the 17th Century

Explore the life and works of Thomas Hobbes, English political theorist and author of Leviathan, amidst the 17th-century political turmoil. Learn about the divine right of kings, social compacts, laws of nature, and the exit from the state of nature. Unravel the impact of English Civil War on political philosophy.

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Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan Controversy and Political Theories of the 17th Century

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  1. Hobbes,LeviathanIntroduction PHIL 2345 2008-09

  2. Thomas Hobbes

  3. Who was Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679)? • Tutor in noble family • English political theorist • Translator of Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 1628 • Author of De Cive, 1642, and revision: Leviathan,1651 • Controversy surrounded this work

  4. Who Rules? • 17th cent. theories of Gov't • Date back to Middle Ages • Divine Right of Kings • King is responsible to God alone • Anointing in coronation ceremony • God will punish him if he is a bad ruler • People must accept whatever he does as if it were God’s will • They may not overthrow the king!

  5. Mayflower Compact, 1620 • Compact, covenant, contract = syns. • Social compact model in separatist churches (Reformation, 16th cent.) • Also joint-stock Companies • Mutual agreement (‘covenant’)—all adult males signed • ‘Civill body politick’ • For ‘generall good’ (like ‘general will’—Rousseau).

  6. Influence of English Civil War(1642-1651) '... the estate of Man can never be without some incommodity or other; and ... the greatest ... in respect of the miseries, and horrible calamities, [is] that [which] accompan[ies] a Civill Warre’ ... (ch. 18).

  7. State of Nature = State of War • SoN = War of all against all (ch. 13): • ‘every man is Enemy to every man’; • No economy or trade b/c no industry, no farming is possible; • No shelter • No arts, letters or science • ‘continuall feare and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short’.

  8. Right and Laws of Nature • Right of Nature: • permissive liberty to preserve oneself (not obligatory, however) • 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.

  9. Laws of Nature • Science of Laws of Nature based on • Science of Good/Evil • Good/Evil = Appetites/Aversions • Epicurus (ancient Greece) bases his philosophy of pleasure/pain • Passions are no Sin (ch. 13) • No ref. to Christian morality in this stage

  10. Exit from SoN/SoW (ch. 13) • equality of hope & ability (everyone can hurt everyone else; see also ch. 15) • fear, danger of violent death • own judge/executioner • rt. to each other's bodies • material deprivations • no sociability w/out a power to awe

  11. Why do we exit? • Our Passions = key to choice to exit: • fear of death; • Is this a true Prisoner’s Dilemma? • Death is the consequence of remaining in the SoN; • desire for comfort; • hope to obtain them.

  12. 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‘.

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