Transcript Hobbes’s Sovereign, or ‘Leviathan’
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 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 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 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
SoN; is the consequence of remaining in the
desire
life; for comfort, safety, security, a long
hope
to obtain it.
Conditions of Compact:
• Unconditional covenant of
every
one; no exceptions/free riders: one w/ every – '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’ ( ).