Hobbes Leviathan State of Nature cont PHIL 2345
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; • 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 So. N • Hobbes and Locke claim the So. N 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 So. N is effectively hypothetical; • So is the social contract (historical examples are suggestive models only).
Why should So. N = So. W? • 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 So. N = So. W 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 of Inequality, 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 selfdefence’. 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 So. N 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): 1 st: endeavour Peace, but in its absence, use 'helps of. . . Warre'; 2 nd: surrender right to all things if others do so as well (mutual cooperation; Prisoner’s Dilemma? ); 3 d: '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 So. N (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 So. N/So. W (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 So. N; • 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’ ( ).
Hobbes’s Leviathan: full-size title page
Hobbes’s Sovereign, or ‘Leviathan’
- Slides: 16