Critique of Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan

W remediate State University Modern Political ism Essay 1 Critique of doubting Thomas Hobbess Leviathan Wes Miller PHL 432 Donovan Miyasaki 10/9/2012 Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher best known for his 1651 text Leviathan. In Leviathan Hobbes suggests that pityinge reputation is one of competition, shyness, and glory. I will moot against this assertion, claiming that hu worldly concern constitution is not one of fight and mistrust, tho one of cooperation and collaboration. I will conclude by stating that man works together to procure the common goal of survival, happiness, and advance workforcet of the human race.Hobbes begins his explanation of the state of char acquiter in chapter 13 of Leviathan by stating that solely told hands are touch on in nature. Although one man may be stronger or more(prenominal) intelligent than an separate, humans are relatively equal in every(prenominal) way because of their ability to manipulate and form alliances For as to t he specialization of body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machination, or by confederacy with others, that are in the same danger as himself. 1 Because men are all equal, Hobbes believed that they propensity the same things. If two men share the same desire, they become enemies.If all men are equal, in that respect is no way for one man to be master of all other men. If a single man were to attempt to gain creator over all other men, he would be overthrown by those he was trying to puzzle power over. Considering that all are of course equal, and all naturally desire the same things, the nature of man, according to Hobbes, is struggle So that in the nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrel. First, competition secondly, diffidence thirdly, glory (293). In this unremitting state of war thither is no desire for both technological advancements or culture because there would be no use for either.Many other aspects of life a re thrown excursus as well no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be merchandise by sea no commodious building no instruments of moving, and removing much(prenominal)(prenominal) things as require much force no knowledge of the daring of the earth no account of time no arts no letters no cabaret and which is worst of all, continual tending, and danger of vehement last and the life of man, solitarily, poor, nasty, brutish, and short (293). Hobbes claims that in this state of nature, there is no place for any type of justice or understanding of right and wrong.Because there is no society, there is no agreement on any type of guidelines between men. Because there are no guidelines, there is no way to be unjust. at that placefore, every action in the state of nature is just. For example, it is perfectly just to steal from someone if they hold something that you desire (such as food, shelter, etc. ) Hobbes goes on to explain that the all reasons that humans would be in a state of peace would be the fear of death and the desire for commodious living. Hobbes gives a very pessimistic suasion of human nature.If his claims that the human nature is one of competition, diffidence, and glory were correct, the world that we live in straight off would be impossible to achieve. If every man was constantly at war with every other man as Hobbes claims, there would be dead no room for any technological advancement. He says this himself In such condition, there is no place for industry because the fruit thereof is shy (293). If what Hobbes claims is true, the human race would not make up exist. Mankind would have undone itself before it was able to create any kind of society.Simply by feel back at how the world evolved to be the way it is today, anyone send away entrance that the human race as a whole has been extremely successful. domain worked together, formed alliances, and constantly took steps to achieve a more balance society. Although many o f these attempts have been unsuccessful, they were still attempts nonetheless. The incident that the advancement of society was even attempted proves that humans had to have worked together. I agree with Hobbess view that no man can be master of all men, but I do, however, believe that some men can be master of some men.For example, the monarchial systems of England and China were successful for thousands of years. Humans have a subscribe to mentality, much like wolves. Some are leaders, and others are followers, this has been true since the finish off of man. There have always been chieftains, kings, and presidents leading a concourse of other humans. Because of this system, all men are not entirely equal. Some men have power over other men. The situations in which men can be at peace with each other is exactly what Hobbes said, fear of death, but is it not true that all men fear death?If man did not fear death, the human race would die out. There has to be a fear of death in o rder to survive. So, if there must be a fear of death to survive, and all men have a natural fear death, would this not mean that mans nature is one of peace? One might argue that the societies in place today are constantly at war with each other, that societies are groups of people acting as an individual, proving that Hobbess intellection of a human nature in which we are constantly at war is correct. I would reply, however, with another question.Isnt society a subject of a mass amount of collaboration between human beings? Because the societies at war are made up of a large group of people acting as an individual, one can come to the final stage that before societies were created, there was only cooperation. If human nature is one of constant conflict and mistrust, societies could not have been created in the first place. So, if before society existed there was only cooperation, one could say that society itself is the cause of all conflict, the opposite of Hobbess suggestion. I have argued that Hobbess idea of the human nature being one of constant conflict and mistrust is false. Humans have always trusted each other and worked together to advance the species as a whole. If there wasnt cooperation before society, society would have neer existed at all. Hobbes states that human nature does not allow industrial advancement, but industrial advancement has obviously been achieved. He claims that man can only be at peace when he fears death, yet men naturally fear death, indeed mans nature is one of peace.The occurrence that Societies are constantly at war does not prove Hobbess theory correct, it does the opposite. Societies are a result of humans working together, therefore human nature is one of cooperation. It is difficult to know how humans would act in a complete state of nature, but merely the fact that man exists today is proof that our nature is not one of war. 1. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, in Political Philosophy The Essential Texts, ed. Steven M. Cahn (New York Oxford, 2011), 293