Thomas Hobbes

1. Thomas Hobbes The State of Nature and the Social Contract

2. Background (1588-1679) • Pessimistic view of • human nature • 1642 English Civil War

3. Leviathan Hobbes- Life: solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. The state of nature is a state of war Human action - Specific desires and appetites arise in the human body and are experienced as discomforts or pains which must be overcome. Thus, each of us is motivated to act in such ways as we believe likely to relieve our discomfort, to preserve and promote our own well-being.

4. Man as a solitary creature-this account of human nature emphasizes our animal nature, leaving each of us to live independently of everyone else, acting only in his or her own self-interest, without regard for others. This produces what he called the "state of war," a way of life that is certain to prove "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”. The only escape is by entering into contracts with each other—mutually beneficial agreements to surrender our individual interests in order to achieve the advantages of security that only a social existence can provide.

5. All men work toward contentment in life. All men desire power. Man is not satisfied until he has acquired the maximum amount of power to secure his happiness. Competition leads to enmity and war because man attains his desires through subduing and killing his enemy.

6. The horrors of the situation do not hinge on either party wishing to attack the other. People in this situation are driven to attack one another by the logic of the situation. I look at you and know that you can kill me if you have to; I know that you must have asked the question whether you have to. Do you have to? The answer is not entirely clear, but a plausible reason is that you will have looked at me and have understood that I have every reason to be afraid of you, because you might need to attack me. But if that is true you do need to attack me, and I know that about you, I can see that I must attack you. Modern Parallels?

7. Three causes of strife: Competition, Dissidence, and Glory. The first makes men invade for gain, the second, for safety, and the third for reputation. • All men want praise (vainglory) • All men are equal We all work equally toward attaining our goals. This brings us into conflict when two desire the same thing. • We see here that Hobbes is working from a model of scarcity. • Dissidence

8. The State Of War: When men live without a central force to keep them lawful, they are living in a perpetual state of war. Every man against every man. All men must fear all other men. In the state of war there is no room for industry or the arts because the outcome will be too uncertain. If man is constantly fighting and looking out for himself, then he will have no time to create. If man is always concerned that what he has will be stolen from him, then he will consume whatever he finds and will be unable to save anything.

9. No sense of private property can exist in the state of nature. • Hobbes believes that his view of man is attested to by the way that we act in our everyday lives e.g. locking our doors. • In the state of war there is no sense of justice or injustice. Where there is no common power, there is no law. These are qualities that men can only have as relations in society. • The right of nature- the right of each man to use his power for his own preservation.

10. A law of nature is a general rule found out by reason by which man is unable to do something that is detrimental to his self-preservation. In the state of war every man has a right to everything, even another’s body. The first law- man will see that war is counter to his self-preservation. Man’s passions lead him out of a state of nature. Reason is not enough to do so since man is driven by his passions.

11. Man will recognize the first law of nature through his reason, but it must attach itself to his passions in order to lead him out of the state of nature. The second law- once man sees this he must be willing to seek peace if others are willing as well. Man does not renounce his right, rather he transfers it. This mutual transfer is called a contract. A transfer that is performed by one party, and later to be performed by the other is a covenant.

12. Covenants based on fear are obligatory. Men need a power to hold them to their covenants. In the state of war it would be against the first law of nature to keep a covenant. So the second law of nature is that all men transfer their rights in a contract to a separate body. Problem- If it is against the first law of nature for one man to renounce his right of protection if the other will not do so as well, and no one will keep a covenant without the threat of punishment under a sovereign, then how are we to envision the advent of the first contract?

13. The third law of nature is that all men perform their covenants made. • This is the origin of the notion of justice. This takes us away from innate ideas. The idea of justice becomes a social construct. • Keeping a covenant is a rule of reason since to fail to do so results in punishment and this is contrary to the first law of nature.

14. Human Society • Man eventually is led by his passions out of the state of war. • Man realizes that he must transfer his power to a sovereign body in order to ensure protection. He realizes that all the laws of nature are contrary to human nature unless there is some force inducing men through fear to carry them out. • This cannot be achieved through small groups of men because factions can arise that threaten peace. • Hobbes brings up the fact that bees and ants live in community. Why cannot humans do the same?

15. It is human nature that man will be in competition with his peers. All men want to be considered the best. Because of this envy and hatred arise which lead to war. Another difference is that it men the common good differs from the private while this is not the case in the other creatures. The agreement of these creatures is natural while the agreement among men is through covenant only.

16. Man must transfer their power into one body or assembly, making all wills one will. This unites all men into one person. From this point forward, whatever the sovereign does will be considered the will of the people. The sovereign can attain power in two ways, by natural force or by contract. Problem- Does anyone but the first generation enter into the contract voluntarily?

17. Man is responsible for all bad actions that come down to him from the sovereign, since he is the author of the sovereign’s actions and has therefore sanctioned all of his actions. On the same argument, the sovereign is man so to act against the sovereign is to act against one’s own best interest which violates the first natural law. Dissenters who do not agree with the sovereign must either consent or be thrown back into the state of war where the others have a natural right to dispose of him.

18. The sovereign cannot be put to death or punished, for this is like punishing one’s self. It is up to the sovereign to censure and decide what things/thoughts, are contrary to peace. The declaration of war is up to the sovereign.